Bug Report for Official OTA 3.1

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!

Logitech: Release an “open” boot-loader for the Logitech Revue

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.

http://www.change.org/petitions/logitech-release-an-open-boot-loader-for-the-logitech-revue

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.

The Real Story Behind the Revue

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!

http://gnarld.com/the-truth-about-logitech-ditching-google-tv/

Secret Transmission Follows

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.

Arrq orre zbarl – tgiunpxref.

Logitech Revue for $89.99

There has been a recent drop in the price of the Revue once again! You can now pick up one these little beauties for $89.99!

Check out this http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=219622139.

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.

UPDATED: The price has jumped up.

HC 3.1 on Revue

Since the release of HC on the Reuve, the worlds been discussing all the things possible. You can follow and join in the dicussion on our forums.

Heres the post we received from an unknown source.

Here it is everyone, Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) BETA On the Logitech Revue.

http://www.load2all.com/files/BE2FD2F97/1b3a6b1aa9fd.mp-signed-ota_update-b55579.zip.html

This is BETA, it is not meant to be widely used and has bugs. If that’s something you don’t care about and would like to risk it anyway, install the update. Also, If you want to help Logitech and Google out buy another Revue ( preferably from logitech.com ), at $99 its worth every penny.

If you want to help, mirror this file in as many places as possible. I’m sure it’ll be taken down quickly

Thanks!

Finding the Revue Software Root

It has been a few short weeks since we released the hardware root on the Logitech Reuve and the community has really sprung up in support of the progress we have made.  Almost immediately, people began requesting root for non-virgin boxes,(Passed the initial setup phase) and which did not require opening it to solder onto the board.

Although  we remain committed to reaching the overall goal of opening the Revue up to the masses, our best efforts have still not resulted in what we all want, the elusive ROOT.

It took a team of people countless hours… literally countless hours to make the progress that has been made, and we realize there is more work to be done.  Rest assured, we are trying most every avenue available to us, and once we have made progress we will release it to the world! Keep your eye on gtvhacker for the latest in developments.

Do you have a Revue? If so, did you hear about root in time to use it?

Live wallpapers on GoogleTV?

With the hardware root under our belt, we have been able to try a few other things.  Here’s one cool thing thats been reported so far, Live Wallpapers! If you have an Android phone, you know them well.  They are essentially wallpapers with different animations.

Have you been able to do anything on your rooted GoogleTV?

Logitech Revue Software Root?

It has now been over a month since the GTVHacker team acquired a recovery mode root shell on the Logitech Revue. Since that time we have learned a lot about the internals of the Revue which allowed us to release the BreakVue script for enabling ADB support along with a trivial hack to demonstrate how certain content provider restrictions can be overcome.

Throughout January, we have received a flood of requests for a software based root technique. Specifically there is a lot of talk about rooting the Revue through malicious web content. This has been possible with Apple’s iOS as well as other systems which make use of Apple’s WebKit so it is often assumed that similar attacks should be possible on the Revue. As of yet however the most successful browser based attacks are only able to trigger a ‘Kill Page’ dialog from Chrome. The likely reason for this is that Chrome page rendering is being sandboxed through a chroot jail such that access to a malicious web site results in a crashed page rather than a compromised system. My personal opinion is that there is a better chance of compromise through specially crafted video files played through the Logitech Media Player than there is of getting root through a browser exploit. (Of course I am not much of an exploit developer and would love for someone to prove me wrong on this.)

Overall I have observed that the Logitech Revue is a very well hardened system and I strongly suspect that, if not for the slight oversight of leaving a root shell attached to UART1, we would still be scratching our heads about how to get root. Even now that we have root, the hardened kernel still has numerous protections in place:

1. read-only /system partition as per the flash layout in Logitech’s Linux kernel
2. Module signing is enforced to prevent untrusted loadable kernel modules
3. DEVMEM restrictions are in place to prevent tampering with kernel structures even by root

While we keep trying, it appears that a software one-click-root solution will most likely have to wait until official Market support is enabled on the Logitech Revue.  Until then, feel free to check out our wiki where I have documented a few internal details of the Logitech Revue kernel: http://bit.ly/RevueKernel

–Craig
craig_at_gtvhacker_dot_com