A source has told us that Sony has already started testing a fix for the recent exploit and plans to have it coming out as soon as Monday as an OTA update. If this is correct that means that after you receive this automatic over-the-air update you will no longer be able to run the “recovery downgrade” or perform the recovery exploit to root your Sony GoogleTV. We advise all users to perform the recovery downgrade as well as the software root as soon as possible. The current custom kernel included in the root works very well and there are more custom kernels coming soon! If anything, the main reason to perform the exploit is to preserve your box from receiving the next update (which from what we’ve heard is only a security update). Then you will still have the option to revert back to the normal OTA at anytime. You will also however have the option to run one of our new upcoming kernels which we guarantee will make you all very happy. Otherwise, if you haven’t already performed our root, and your box does take this automatic update you will be stuck with using only official Sony GoogleTV builds, no Hulu/content provider bypass and no root.
As we’ve stated in the previous post, the guide and information about the process can be found at our wiki. Also just a note, the guide below states that you need 4 thumb drives to accomplish the exploit but with a little more work you are able to accomplish the entire process with 1.
We give to you our latest release, a root for all current Sony Google TV devices that we call “The GTVHacker Sony Recovery Downgrader & Rebooter”. This method will allow you root and run custom unsigned kernels on your Sony Google TV device.
The process in the guide above will walk you through downgrading the system to an exploitable version. Then using another exploit, we hijack the devices boot process and reload a new kernel. This completely bypasses the signatures normally used by the system, including those used in the bootloader, kernel, and init binary. The kernel reload process happens automatically each time the box is powered on, and the USB drives required for the install are not needed again. After loading our attached unsigned kernel you will notice a new splash screen (featuring the Sony and GTVHacker logo) as well as the following perks:
Modified flash plugin with random per box flash string for Content Provider Bypass.
Crippled update feature to prevent box from receiving automatic updates.
Completely RW system, cache, and rootfs partitions
BETA: Enable NTFS Support for Sony Google TV devices (see wiki for instructions on how to add: GTVHacker.com: Sony NTFS)
Between the speediness of the 3.2 upgrade and the unsigned kernels we finally have the box that we’ve always wanted from the Google TV. We recommend this update to everyone as it only requires 4 USB sticks and is a 100% softmod (No soldering required!).
The guide and information about the process can be found at our wiki:
We’ve just removed the wrapper off our present and already it seems bugs and issues are popping up. One user reports
Bug #1
programs pre-installed in Android Market do not list as installed, but states “not compatible”
Bug #2
Tried to install a program not pre-installed, Big Picture Google TV, on the install page states “installing” forever, cannot open from this page, but then going to all applications page shows it was installed, but when opened, displays only first picture of a series, later pictures remain blank
Have you come across any bugs or issues with the recent release? We’d like to know!
With the impending death of the Revue coming, we have issues the following call in hopes we can continue developing and improving the platform.
We love the community that has emerged since we started working with the Revue. As Logitech has dropped the ball, we would like to pick it up and continue improving the Revue. We have started a petition in hopes of getting this.
Logitech recently announced that they would no longer be making the revue after the current holiday season. After this period the device will receive very little attention and will have a very angry base of original supporters. To help avoid this Logitech should provide a “developer boot-loader” for the Logitech Revue to allow developers to create there own kernels and updates for the device. At its current state the Logitech Revue is completely locked down making it very difficult for developers to add modifications or fix bugs on the device. There are also already a number of teams creating custom ROMs for android devices, unlocking the boot-loader would allow these groups to port current custom ROMs or generate new custom ROMs to the Logitech Revue. With the release of a development boot-loader that allowed such modifications the device would continue to grow and would help un-tarnish the reputation that this device has given Logitech.
Please sign our petition and join the movement! We want to take it from awesome tool, form factor to something really amazing.
Posted: November 13th, 2011 | Author:resno | Filed under:Logitech Revue | Comments Off
Seems like the media has spun the world in a tizzy about what was said during a recent Logitech presentation. It seems like the sites out there all parrot each other continuing to spread the same story without doing real investigations into the matters said, one of the guys over Gnarld decided to take a hard look… or better yet a hard listen into what was really said at the press conference.
He reallys digs down deep comparing what popular sites quote and what Logitech CEO Guerrino De Luca really says. Check it out!
Posted: October 19th, 2011 | Author:resno | Filed under:Uncategorized | Comments Off
Below is a method to flash the old “un-neutered” HC recovery onto the new userdebug build. This will allow you to update by USB to the official HC build that Google will hopefully release in the coming weeks. The method below requires that you have installed adb from the android sdk. Please make sure to enter the commands below after entering the directory that the recovery.img was extracted to (or to change the “adb push recovery.img /tmp/recovery.img” command to “adb push /path/to/recovery.img /tmp/recovery.img”).
Warning: Using any recovery other than a properly signed recovery will brick your box, only use the recovery supplied. You also may to ensure you have a good network connection to your revue before continuing.
Recovery:
Step 1.) Get IP Address of Revue (settings->network->status).
Step 2.) Enable adbd (settings->applications->development), then check “Remote Debugging”.
Step 3.) Add the IP Address of the computer you are connecting from (“Debugger Ip Address in settings->applications->development).
Step 4.) Connect to adb from computer using the following (Replacing with your ip) adb command:
adb connect
Step 5.) Restart adbd as root by executing the following:
adb root
Step 6.) Reconnect to adbd on the revue using:
adb connect
Step 7.) Paste each line of the following (one at a time).
adb push recovery.img /tmp/recovery.img
adb shell flash_image recovery /tmp/recovery.img
Successfully running the last line should output something similar to the following:
Greetings to our friendly overlords at Logitech? It turns out our work here hasn’t gone entirely unnoticed by the corporate androids; we recently found something very well hidden and quite unexpected in the recovery binary on the Logitech Revue. Namely, we’ve stumbled upon our own names, along with this interesting message:
”@gtvhackers pbatenghyngvbaf vs lbhe ernqvat guvf cyrnfr cbfg n abgr ba lbhe sbehz gb yrg zr xabj ”
When decoded from rot13, the message reads:
@gtvhackers congratulations if your[sic] reading this please post a note on your forum to let me know
After a little poking around in recovery, [mbm] managed to grab the screenshot to the left showing the easter egg in context. We’re quite amused to be immortalized in such fashion, and we’re curious to see what other easter eggs will show up.
Plus at the time of this posting you will also receive free shipping!
Even though, the recent Honeycomb update to the Revue has been slow and much anticipated we remain hopeful that its right around the bend. In the meantime, if you have a virgin box you can Root it, or Install HC3.1 leaked.
If you buy a few extras, we are always looking boxes to work on/with.
”
