4Hak3rs

Today I decided to check the status of the two NSLU2s I have and do a little testing.
The first one is flashed with unslung. I also ran the process ‘unsling’ which copies the OS to an external device, I am using either a USB key or a hard disk. The advantage of using the USB key is that you can use any USB hard disk even one that is formatted fat32 because the OS is on the USB key and not the hard disk, unfortunately,that is could lead to problems because the USB key has a limited number of ‘writes’ so it can wear out and you will wake up one day to find that your NSLU2 does not work any more. Using the hard disk instead of a USB key has the advantage that it does not wear out like a USB key, that you have the other USB port available, but this drive needs to be formatted ext3, so you can’t just plug it into your Windows box and copy files.

An interested note is that you can run the NSLU2 without any USB devices that have gone through the ‘unsling’ process, meaning that the OS is run from the internal memory of the NSLU2. You can still access any USB storage device you connect, but you cannot install any packages to the NSLU2 to add functionality. You need to ‘unsling’ to add optware package which add more features like upnp av, itunes, ccxstream etc…

The second NSLU2 I have, I just flashed with SlugOS, which does allow you to install packages to the internal memory.

Awhile ago, I came across an article on hacking the WD WorldBook. It’s simlar to all the other My Book devices, which are hard disk drives in an enclosure, only this version has an RJ-45 jack that connects the device to your network and allows you to stream content from the device to other devices on your network, like a PC. Pretty Cool.
However, once you start using one of these devices and transfer files using the USB port, you may discover that although you can stream content to your PC, you can’t copy a whole bunch of filetypes using the network connection. I guess WD decided to prevent you from copying videos, etc. Probably to try and prevent piracy, thinking that network access would make it to easy. Duh.

Anyways, the hackers got into this machine and changed things for the better. Now you can copy and stream anything.

Improving on this device, WD decided to create a device that can actually connect to your TV or sound system and play the content. Really Cool! Your media files are on it anyways, so why not connect it directly to your TV. One other major difference is that it is no long a USB enclosure, but just a player, not a bad thing because it does have two usb ports, so you can have your content separate from your device, and change the drive for a bigger one at any time. Another major difference is that the WDTV does not have an RJ-45 jack. So in the end, a pretty much completely different device.

The advantage of the WDTV is that it is a Media Player, and it plays alot of different codecs AND it is HD. Connects directly to your HDTV using HDMI.

The only thing that could make this device better is if it could connect to your network and stream content from another device or make content on the device available to computers on your network. If only… Ahh hackers, got to love ‘em.

Well now there are at least two different custom firmwares out there that promise to do just that.
WDLXTV and EXT3-boot will give you additional features. Try them out and add network support and more.

l8r.