How to build a complete image for your dreambox

Choosing your Platform

First of all, you will need a platform to create your image. There are many versions of linux that you can use, I have used VMWare with Ubuntu and also a dedicated linux PC running Ubuntu. Both variations will work just as well.

If you want to use VMWare, you can download it at _www.vmware.com/download/player

If you want to use a dedicated PC, either with Ubuntu as the main OS or as a dual-boot system, you can download Ubuntu for free at _www.ubuntu.co

The VMWare method is probably easier if you are trying it out for the first time. You can always uninstall it if it's not for you.

Configuring your Ubuntu

The following packages need to be installed in your ubuntu before you start creating any images.

Click on System, Administration, Synaptic Package Manager.

You will need to search for the following packages and install them:

- cvs
- autoconf
- automake
- libtool
- gettext
- make
- makeinfo (texinfo)
- tar
- bunzip2 (bzip2)
- gunzip (gzip)
- patch
- infocmp (ncurses-bin / ncurses-devel)
- gcc
- g++
- flex
- bison
- pkg-config
- wget
- libpng2 or libpng3 (DirectFB)
- ftpd (or other ftp server)

The latest versions of these packages should work ok. Click Apply to install them.

Compiling an Image

Now we'll move on to downloading and compiling our image. Most of this will be copy and paste but you'll get used to the commands.

Open a terminal window and paste the following commands:

Creating a working directory


Code:

mkdir tuxbox-cvs
Change into the working directory


Code:

cd tuxbox-cvs
The following can now be copied and pasted in, line by line. Wait for the command prompt to be displayed before pasting the next line.


Code:

export CVS_RSH=ssh

Code:

cvs -d anoncvs@cvs.tuxbox.org:/cvs/tuxbox -z3 co -P -rdreambox .
### Note the dot at the end of the command, this is important ###


Code:

cd cdk
Code:
chmod 755 prepare
Now we need to alter the 'prepare' file to personalise our image

Go to /tuxbox-cvs/cdk and open the 'prepare' file with the text editor. It should look like this:


Code:

#!/bin/bash
cd .. && CURRENT_PATH=`pwd`;
cd cdk
./autogen.sh;
# boxtype dm500 dm56x0 or dm7000
TYPE=$1
if test -z "$TYPE"; then
TYPE=dm7000 //change to box type
fi
./configure \
--with-boxtype=$TYPE \
--with-webif=standard \ //change to webif=expert
--prefix=$CURRENT_PATH/root \
--with-cvsdir=$CURRENT_PATH \
--with-cpu=405 \
--enable-maintainer-mode \
--with-targetruleset=flash \
--with-epg=private \
--with-mhw-epg=no \ //change to -epg=yes
--with-flashtool=standard \
--with-reiserfs=no \ //change to -epg=yes
--with-ext-flashtool=yes \
--with-enigma-debug=yes
Change the lines in red. Save the file and return to the terminal window.

Back to the copy and pasting.


Code:

./prepare dm500
Code:
make checkout
Code:
make dreamboximage_root
The last command will take a long time to complete, depending on the speed of your PC and internet; up to about 2 hours.

The following command creates the folders that you normally see on your box, i.e. /bin, /etc, /var, /var_init, etc.


Code:

make rebuild-flash
The following command compresses all your folders into an .img file.


Code:

make flash-compress
If all has gone ok and you didn't get any errors, you should have a file called complete.img in /tuxbox-cvs/root/cdkflash. This is your actual image file that you flash to your box. There will be two other .img files but don't worry about them.

Now this will be a basic image, no addons or emu managers or anything. It will be like the dream original image only up-to-date.

Next you need to modify it to your needs.

Good luck!