Quote:
Originally Posted by Phoenix32
Terry touched on something that has always been an "itch" for me about the GOS units. The GOS units are an NAS box running on modified variation of Linux, simple as that. I am NOT a software guy, much less a Linux guy, but it seems to me that there should be no reason why a person could not install other Linux applications onto a system running a variation of Linux, right? Please feel free to jump all over me and tell me how and why I am wrong here, or even maybe how it might be done.
|
In theory, that should work. The GPL states that customers must be provided with an opportunity to acquire the source code.
That only covers the parts that are GPL'd. For example, the GPL tarball for the Linksys / Cisco NSS4000 and NSS6000 doesn't include the menu system, just the underlying utilities.
Sometimes vendors get "creative" and prevent the GPL code they give you from running. The TiVo and the PhatBox are 2 products that are like that - they both require code to be "signed" before it will run. The PhatBox ROM has been patched for quite a few years; I'm not sure what the TiVo user community is up to.
Quote:
In this case, why not be able to load up a Linux version of Twonky Media (a DLNA Server program) running in the backgroundon top of a GOS NAS?
Can it be done?
How?
|
First, you need a development environment to build the code you want to run. The Snap boxes were x86-based, and I assume the GOS ones are as well. That means you can easily use a desktop system. Some other devices use different CPUs, which makes it a bit more difficult as you need to build on one architecture for execution on a different architecture.
Second, you need a way to get your code executed on the target system. The most common way is to get shell (console terminal) access by some means. Some devices have incomplete console hardware in them already - for example, the NSLU2 has a TTL console port which needs to be converted into either RS-232 serial or USB serial in order to connect it to a PC using a terminal program. Sometimes there is no console hardware in the box, and you need to get a network connection via telnet or SSH.
Once you have a command prompt, you need to make your new program visible to the operating system. On a Snap box, that would mean copying it to the reserved partition (which you can do from the debug console). I have no idea about the GOS boxes.