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Google TV hack!

Greetings Programs!
I have found the recovery menu for Sony's Google TV/BluRay player!
Here are the details on how to access it (from my original post here: androidforums.[COM]/google-tv/201827-sony-google-tv-hack.html)
OK... so I found out how to get into recovery mode on the Sony Google TV/BluRay player that was released yesterday.
1.Have everything plugged into the unit except the power coord. Have the power coord in your hand.
2.Press and hold the power button and plug the unit in.
3.Continue to hold down the power button for 3 seconds after plugging it in, then release the power button.
4.Wait a couple of seconds and it will say Sony, then you will see the recovery screen.
5.After it loads, press and hold the connect button on the unit. Then follow the directions at the bottom of the screen (Press and hold ALT+ENTER) for 8 seconds/until the bottom message changes. It will change back to it saying that you have to press the CONNECT button, but your remote IS connected.
6.You can now press the numbers assigned to the commands!
WARNING: This could possibly brick your unit and could possibly void your warranty. I am not responsible for anything that happens to your device.
I am going to work on trying to find working drivers and I am going to try to use the Android SDK Tools to install some applications, or at the least try to execute some shell commands. Hopefully we can root it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lets start hacking!

awesome, I will have to keep my eye on this. google TV plus angry birds would be awesome.

Looking forward to seeing this thing cracked! I'm hoping someone will be able to get a USB tuner to work on one, so those without cable or satellite will be able to get TV content without the hassle of another set-top box.

Nice.... Wonder what the possibilities are
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

OK Guys, I am still working on it. Heres a video of me booting it into the recovery mode.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L21guovXDsc

Thanks for the information about recovery, I tried it, and was able to get into recovery. I tried writing the logfile to USB, and it "seemed" to work, but after mounting the USB stick on my linux machine, I didn't see any files there.
I bought the Sony NSZ-GT1 so I could port my Android app Better Terminal Emulator Pro onto Google TV. I already ported it to Android-x86 in preparation for this, but seems like I could not ADB into the Google TV over Ethernet. Frustrated, I decided to take a screwdriver to my Google TV, and did a "teardown" as a result. You can see what the guts look like here:
http://www.magicandroidapps.com/wiki//index.php?title=Main_Page#Sony_NSZ-GT1_Google_TV_Teardown
Sorry the pictures are not that great, I used my Moto Droid to take them, and the lighting was terrible.
-Howard

hharte said:
Thanks for the information about recovery, I tried it, and was able to get into recovery. I tried writing the logfile to USB, and it "seemed" to work, but after mounting the USB stick on my linux machine, I didn't see any files there.
I bought the Sony NSZ-GT1 so I could port my Android app Better Terminal Emulator Pro onto Google TV. I already ported it to Android-x86 in preparation for this, but seems like I could not ADB into the Google TV over Ethernet. Frustrated, I decided to take a screwdriver to my Google TV, and did a "teardown" as a result. You can see what the guts look like here:
magicandroidapps.com
Sorry the pictures are not that great, I used my Moto Droid to take them, and the lighting was terrible.
-Howard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ETHERNET? Hasnt anyone tried USB A to USB A cable? I've been busy all day. Gonna go get one tomorrow and figure it out for myself I guess. Can't stand that they have ALREADY corrected the hulu fix for the thing. Why shouldn't I be able to access my paid July plus account? Oh well.
Try USB a to USB a!!!!!

USB A to A will definitely not work. All of the USB ports are connected through internal SMSC 4-port hubs. There are two hubs in the unit, one in the back with 3 ports going to external connectors, and one going to the WLAN module. Up front there is another 4-port hub going to the front USB connector, and presumably to a BT module, but I didn't take mine far enough apart to be sure.
There is one large connector over near the CPU that might have some debug stuff on it.There are also about three 4-pin connectors populated, one of which might be a UART. There is also a footprint for another. Tomorrow I'll get my oscilloscope out and see if any of those pins wiggle on boot.
-Howard

hharte said:
USB A to A will definitely not work. All of the USB ports are connected through internal SMSC 4-port hubs. There are two hubs in the unit, one in the back with 3 ports going to external connectors, and one going to the WLAN module. Up front there is another 4-port hub going to the front USB connector, and presumably to a BT module, but I didn't take mine far enough apart to be sure.
There is one large connector over near the CPU that might have some debug stuff on it.There are also about three 4-pin connectors populated, one of which might be a UART. There is also a footprint for another. Tomorrow I'll get my oscilloscope out and see if any of those pins wiggle on boot.
-Howard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, the big long/wide plug. I was looking at the inside of my box too. First day jitters. Anyway, I was also going to start looking for a serial port connection through one of those ports. Good luck and post right away if you find something!

If somene with an ethernet sniffer who has not booted their box yet can catch a sniff of the update download, it might be possible to get the update.zip URL, then we could try hacking the update and install it via recovery. This method was very popular with Android devices... but there you could get the update URL from the logcat
-Howard.

Have we not figured out how to use log copy? It doesn't seem to like anything i plugged in to copy to...

Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Great job guys! My friend is going to be getting a GTV later this week, and I will try to get it from him before he boots it up. Guess I will stop trying USB A to USB A.
Will post results later tonight.

Another possibility is to try and find the kernel source. If you look in Settings, system Information, Open Source Licenses, there is a site on Google Code that is supposed to contain the GPL'd components:
http://code.google.com/p/googletv-mirrored-source/
Going there doesn't show much except one user space component, and a link to a Sony mirror site:
http://products.sel.sony.com/opensource/
I couldn't find anything useful on the Sony site, but maybe someone else will have better luck.
I'll also try plugging in a USB Serial adapter, but my expectations are pretty low that I'd be able to get a console from that. It's interesting that there are so many USB ports on the Google TV. I wonder what other USB peripherals might be supported? I can see the front port being used for a USB memory stick, and maybe one on the back for a camera, but that still leaves two unused ports. Any idea what Sony/Google might have intended them for?
-Howard
http://www.magicandroidapps.com - Home of Better Terminal Emulator Pro

hmm
I have this unit and usb keyboards and mice do work . Also iremember a rep saying the logitech cam would work with the sony blu-ray also. I think you would need to wait for the android store to open though for an app that uses it.

hharte said:
I couldn't find anything useful on the Sony site, but maybe someone else will have better luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you look here : sony.net/Products/Linux/TV/NSZ-GT1.html

That looks like it, thanks! Nice that they have minicom and busybox listed there, so there is hope that some hacking tools are preloaded on the Google TV.
-Howard

Not sure if this helps anyone or not, but i ran a port scan on my box and there are 2 ports 9551 and 9552 that are accepting TCP connections.
nmap -p - <IP address of NSZ-GT1>
result :
PORT STATE SERVICE
9551/tcp open unknown
9552/tcp open unknown
I tried to get ADB to connect to those ports but did not work.
Steps that I tried :
1) export ADBHOST=<IP address of my PC>
2) adb kill-server
3) adb devices
No ADB devices were returned
4) adb connect <IP address of Sony NSZ-GT1>:9551
5) adb shell
Got error "error: device offline"
6) repeat steps 4 and 5 except with port 9552 and got same result
I am no expert in any of this stuff so the above might just be sending someone down a rabbit hole but I figured I might share in case it might be helpful to some of the smarter people on here.

Try "adb devices" and see if it show anything.
I looked at the kernel from the Sony site:
http://www.sony.net/Products/Linux/TV/NSZ-GT1.html
Here are some findings:
Linux kernel version: 2.6.23.18_nl-btv
Kernel config:
arch/i386/configs/btv_defconfig
CONFIG_USB_SMSC9500=m
Note the SMSC 9500 USB/Ethernet is one of only two loadable modules in the kernel config. Maybe this has some significance, like maybe they use a second Ethernet port for development.
-Howard

Very interesting.... I am thinking of getting a second unit to try to intercept the update.zip.... would anyone be able to tell me how I would do this?

[Q] Can the XOOM act as a USB Host?

Hi, can anyone who owns a XOOM pls let me know if you can plug in:
1) a USB flash drive to the XOOM, and view and open files on the drive?
2) an external hard drive and view and access files from your XOOM
Many thanks

masrinz said:
Hi, can anyone who owns a XOOM pls let me know if you can plug in:
1) a USB flash drive to the XOOM, and view and open files on the drive?
2) an external hard drive and view and access files from your XOOM
Many thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does the Xoom have a USB port? Pretty sure it only has MicroUSB. I guess they do have microusb flash drives not that I look.

Hi. Yup its only got micro USB, but I guess you could use the included adapter cable to plug in a flash drive.... we don't have the XOOM here yet, but the functionality of being able to connect a flash drive, move files e.g. PDF or .doc and then view them is important to me.

masrinz said:
Hi. Yup its only got micro USB, but I guess you could use the included adapter cable to plug in a flash drive.... we don't have the XOOM here yet, but the functionality of being able to connect a flash drive, move files e.g. PDF or .doc and then view them is important to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As of today what you want is not avab. The cable it comes with doesn't take input. They do have a cable online that will do this one day, but doesn't do it yet.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

The cable that Motorola "will" be selling is a micro-usb to standard usb (female) adapter. I'll look around for the sources, but I know that I saw this detailed in a few videos from Motorola techs and at least one reviewer site.
The cable is not just a straight conversion of form factor, but has the necessary pinout to instruct the Xoom to jump into usb host mode. From the reports that I saw, it would absolutely provide the ability to plug usb drives, cameras and other accessories into the xoom for direct access. In fact, the reviewer that I saw, made a comment that they had verified the functionality by plugging in a couple usb keyboards... supposedly worked like a champ.
Lame that we need a "special" adapter, but I can imagine that if it is just a pinout issue, it may be possible for the good folks here at XDA to craft a software solution that would allow us to bypass the motorola-branded cable... It would have been WAY cooler if it was a standard usb port, like some of the other tablets on the horizon.

Thanks. They mention in many reviews and I think Google mentioned it too that you can attach a mouse or keyboard by cable (I know about Bluetooth) which suggests that it should support input, so is it just a hardware interface thing or an actual firmware OS/software issue?
Edit: thanks for the great response gigglebox.... we posted simultaneously

Is this it?
http://www.clove.co.uk/motorola-xoom-camera-connection-kit

masrinz said:
Is this it?
http://www.clove.co.uk/motorola-xoom-camera-connection-kit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Visually, yeah. Looks like they took it off their site for some reason. In fact the only times that I saw this on Moto's site, was in the day or 2 leading up to the launch... when typing in xoom into the search bar on their landing page, it would spit out a drop-down menu listing the Camera Connection Kit (by name and pic).
I dont like the fact that they call it a "camera connection", but they werent pulling any punches about it serving as a host. They did note that the external storage (thumbdrives, etc) were not yet supported, but that they would be. The cameras and (according to them) keyboards were working now.

I believe it is possible but right now it is a software limitation.
More info here: https://supportforums.motorola.com/message/329075

Droid4All said:
I believe it is possible but right now it is a software limitation.
More info here: https://supportforums.motorola.com/message/329075
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, the engineer from moto definitely says the hardware should accept any usb 2.0 or higher device, but it's a software issue. Toshiba have a straight usb and a micro usb port on their device so hopefully they're working on this.
We don't have the XOOM here yet, but hopefully by the time it becomes available (approx April) we might have the option of the Toshiba as well.

I use this USB host cable and it works great. Have tested it with my 750gb Oyen and 320gb WD Passport external HDD's, several usb flash drives (8-16gb), San disk USB memory card reader, and a USB keyboard.
For those having issues getting their Xoom to recognize USB storage devices here's what I've got and did to get it to work: I flashed my XOOM (3.1) to the 2.6.36.4 Tiamat_Xoom-v1.4.4-Full_Throttle Kernel and was unable to get the USBMount to recognize drives or storage at first. I installed USB Mass Storage Watcher from the market (it's free) and it works awesome! Can mount any storage I want (NTFS, FAT16/32, HFS, HFS+, EXT2, ETX3, EXT4) with any capacity. I think this app will work with any rooted Xoom (or other devices). Under my Kernel my USB host is located under/usbOTG.
Hope this helps.

FYI ... I've checked it and stock ROM Xoom without root is able to operate standard PC keyboard/mouse using basic one-to-one usb->microusb adapter (without any electronics onboard).
Probably with proper dual socket usb adapter (also without electronics onboard) it would be possible to connect both keyboard and mouse at once.

irekd said:
FYI ... I've checked it and stock ROM Xoom without root is able to operate standard PC keyboard/mouse using basic one-to-one usb->microusb adapter (without any electronics onboard).
Probably with proper dual socket usb adapter (also without electronics onboard) it would be possible to connect both keyboard and mouse at once.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you have a Logitech keyboard and mouse that connect by the unifying receiver,or mostly any keyboard+mouse combo that connects by one receiver, then only a standard OTG cable should work.

HDMI and USB at same time

Hi,
Saturday I had some time to open the HDMI dock (for Galaxy Tab 7) and mod it to have alternative power input.
After that I was able to use the HDMI output and USB host at same time. The setup is:
- HDMI out for Samsung TV
- wireless USB keyboard
- external HDD connected with a powered HUB
In this setup I was able to use the keyboard and video files from external HDD while watching on TV screen.
The only problem is that the "MTP Application" notification is still there and the tablet is not full powered from external power supply, it discharges slowly the battery.
After some investigation I've seen that on the original charger there seems to be some resistors between USB lines and Vusb and GND. If I connect the original charger (not inserted on power outlet) the tablet is full powered and the MTP Application is not displayed (when I put the tablet in dock). After that if I remove the cable and insert the USB host cable everything is OK and tablet is full powered with USB host and HDMI working.
The docking is powered with 5V/2A PDA DC adapter.
When I'll open the dock again I will make some picture.
Your are welcome for questions and suggestions.
Emil

HOW MUCH?
Cant believe this is my first post on any message board EVER but what better reason! First i would like to know how much would u charge to make the modification for me? I would provide the dock and any other materials that u need of course. Secondly, since the dock works with ALL tab variants(PERSONALLY ONLY TESTED WITH P1000, P7100, P6200, P6210 BUT 99% CERTAIN), u might want to post your development in every other versions forum. I believe this would generate a LOT more interest in this project because there actually has already been a few threads created in which several attempts were made but no one could find the magic combo(plus it could mean a few extra bucks in your billfold!). I waited to post in hopes that u would update with pictures and/or a tutorial but still would rather you perform the actual surgery. Congratulations on accomplishing what samsung should have done from the start...a TRUE multimedia dock! I guess the only suggestion i could offer is if it were possible to actually add a few usb ports into the base of the hdmi dock itself, which is how i feel samsung should have made it originally...definitely not a priority.
Here are a few reference threads if interested & i've already provided a link in each one pointing to your original post for those interested (hope u dont mind!)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1610832
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1155065
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1149442

Sorry, but I can't do this for you.... It's complicated.
Now I work to found a solution to put an USB connector on the dock and to put a power connector to.
The big problem is that the tab enters on MTP mod when powered this way. As described on other threads there is a way with USB lines to activate full external power.
When I'll have a full modification dock I'll put some pictures and instruction for that.

waiting for pics and further info please...

Galaxy Tab Dock modified
Now I have a full functional dock, modified.
So, after receiving the Galaxy Tab Plus media dock from ebay I've found that I can change the tab fixing part with the one on the old Galaxy Tab Dock.
So, now I have old Galaxy Tab multimedia dock full compatible with my Galaxy Tab Plus.
Then I modified the dock to include standard power jack and standard miniusb connector for OTG.
The USB Host is powered from the external power supply, this helps to not discharge the battery when using tab and slow charging.
I made some pictures with details for connections and modification.
You can view at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/buzdumil/sets/72157630734690786
There was some work to do...is not very easy. The best thing that can be done is to make a PCB. That PCB, at in my pictures, could be fixed near metal weight. Also there the clips of the case need to be cut, but there is no problem because at same position exist screws for fixing.
The problem with MTP application started when power connected or tab inserted on dock remains. But now is easier to use external HDD, usb keyboard & mouse and television to watch movies.

That's amazing, Emil! That's the dock accessory Samsung should have sold in the first place. After looking over your pictures, I'm ready to go order a soldering iron and get to work!

Hi emil b just letting you know i was playing around with my dock and found how to get rid of the red x from when power is applyd.
First connect power and get red x....
Then disconect the earth and re connect it again..
This forces AC Charge mode...
No resisters or shorting data lines are needed..
So good for being in host mode...
All you need to do is put a on/off switch inline on the earth
Where you supplied power to the dock.
Doesnt need to be inside the dock..
Give it a try and let me know...
Just have to play with it and hit switch a couple of times...

Im looking at all options concerning the modification of this dock. One question that comes to mind is: If I only use the red and blackwires to send power to the USB connector, will I still be able to use the OEM 30 power connector??

OP, I am going to attempt to make this modification myself. Would you be able to provide any additional instructions/suggestions to the pictures up on Flickr?
Thanks,
cypher

mr_esmit said:
Im looking at all options concerning the modification of this dock. One question that comes to mind is: If I only use the red and blackwires to send power to the USB connector, will I still be able to use the OEM 30 power connector??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No because the origonal charger has the resisters on the data lines...
you are better to add just power to pin 7(9) and earth to pin (1)30..
then add a otg dongle..

[Q] Superpad Flytouch 7/8 serial over USB host?

Hi,
I'm trying to learn about serial communication with devices from an Android tablet via USB host mode. I have a tablet, I have the devices, I have the apps... they just won't talk. It's most likely something to do with the firmware on my odd tablet, or maybe I'm just missing something stupid.
The tablet:
SUPERPAD FLYTOUCH
10.2" >24GB< ANDROID 4.0 TABLET A10 1.5Ghz CPU | 1GB RAM
"About this Tablet" says:
Model: BC1003
Android 4.04
Baseband ver 1.5rc4
Kernel 3.0.8 [email protected] #2 Mon Aug 6 15:23:31 CST 2012
There are 2 USB-A ports on this device. One has a physical switch that goes from device to host mode, comes with a male-male cable for attaching to a PC. The other port is host only. I can connect a USB thumb drive and it mounts just fine, shows up in the file manager, no problems. Same for a USB keyboard. It powers any USB device I've plugged into it.
The problem:
It works well enough for most things. But, I've now run into two applications that won't use the host USB port on the thing. Both seem to want to do basic serial communication. At this point, those 2 apps are about the only things I actually want to do with it, so I'm willing to experiment.
I have a USB oscilloscope that comes with an Android app. The app installs and runs fine, but it won't recognize the hardware usb device I've plugged in. Annoying, but I don't really need it. I've recently purchased some digital scales(DROs) for my lathe/mill. There's an Android app that interfaces these scales to an Arduino device via USB. Installs fine, won't connect to the Arduino. Okay, now this is starting to get annoying. Also, for what it's worth, the Android app for doing general Arduino stuff didn't work either.
So, the USB hardware works enough to connect a USB thumb drive or keyboard but the firmware won't use said hardware to do what I want.
The questions:
Am I doing something wrong? Is there an app I can install that enables serial communication over USB host mode? Am I missing something stupid?
Is there any other firmware I can run that will allow this communication? I think I've got the Windows utility that will allow me to flash the rom. I've watched the youtube vids on dis-assembly so I can pull the internal tf/sdcard and make a full dd backup. I'm assuming it contains the roms and everything else. Actually, I'm thinking about just pulling said card and replacing it with a smaller one for experimenting. Will I still be able to flash it using the windows LiveSuite utility even with a blank card inserted?
At this point, I'm willing to play. I mean, it's still useful enough to be careful, but I'm willing to take some chances and put a little work into it. If I can get it running with the DRO software while talking over USB to the Arduino, I'd sacrifice everything else. GPS, battery life, wifi, screen rotation, sound, whatever. I'd just bolt the thing next to the mill and that's that. Failing that, I'll put it back to stock and stick it on the fridge for my wife to look up recipes, Yeah, poor tablet... motor oil and metal swarf or cooking oil and flour. No happy retirement for this tablet, sitting in a drawer gathering dust.
Any hints, links, recommendations, or directions appreciated.
David...

One half of the screen does not work the touch screen

Hello everyone, I have been reading and respecting you for a long time.
They gave me a Mediacom tablet with Android to repair or throw away as a favor, I'm not asking for money and I'm not a professional, just self-taught. It basically had half the screen where the touch screen didn't work, so in addition to trying with the "pizoelectric" lighter as seen on youtube and various apps, I decided to try replacing the touch screen as well. Once done, the problem remained as it was. I tried to do the factory reset and now I'm stuck in the installation because I can't click on the buttons to finish the installation. I used to at least rotate the screen and run it on the good half. But now I'm stuck in the installation. I also tried to take a usb dongle to attach a mouse to it, but it doesn't see it, also tried on the smartphone, but it doesn't see it anyway. 1. Confirmed that it is not damage to the touch screen. Can I finish installation via adb shell? What do you think is the problem? is it software? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thank you

It's hard to advise anything without writing the model name of the device. Adb host will not work when it is not enabled in the device.

ze7zez said:
It's hard to advise anything without writing the model name of the device. Adb host will not work when it is not enabled in the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The model is smarpad iyo 10, but I doubt it serves as information, since it is probably an Android 9 problem. I thought it was possible at boot to enable a shell and complete the installation or maybe rotate the screen.
Thank you for answering.

The Rockchip A55 RK3566 processor in the Mediacom IYO 10, supports USB OTG, so a mouse connected to an OTG adapter should work.
Which adapter did you use?
The touch screen for the Mediacom IYO 10 is not outstandingly complicated and has no chipset in it. So the touch is controlled by the mother or daughter board electronics, which you probably did not replace when you replaced the screen.

ze7zez said:
The Rockchip A55 RK3566 processor in the Mediacom IYO 10, supports USB OTG, so a mouse connected to an OTG adapter should work.
Which adapter did you use?
The touch screen for the Mediacom IYO 10 is not outstandingly complicated and has no chipset in it. So the touch is controlled by the mother or daughter board electronics, which you probably did not replace when you replaced the screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Otg adapter is from Tek-one to-g-15, it may be that it doesn't work, in fact it doesn't work on the mobile either, I try to change it.
As you said, the touch had no chip, just a connector to the motherboard.
An information that I have omitted may be useful, at the beginning the tablet also had another problem, in some circumstances that I have not explored, the screen or the resolution was resized in half, presumably in the working half. Almost immediately the scaling issue was fixed by randomly activating a gui option in hidden developer mode.
Now, excluding the Otg that I'm going to change, do I have any possibility of continuing the installation via shell?
Thanks for the precious information.

You probably don't have TWRP so you won't do anything with the build.prop file.
The lack of a shell is the result of not enabling debugging in the developer options, available only after starting android.
Look for a working OTG adapter.

Maybe this thread will help you.
Is there any emulator for Amazon fire stick?
If i develop an app for amazon fire stick but I don't have a Fire stick so how can I check my app? Is there any emulator for Amazon fire stick ?
stackoverflow.com