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.

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!

Root Achieved on All Google TV Devices

We are proud to announce we have rooted all available Google TV devices with a one click root method. We are very excited to be releasing this new method out to the world.

This doesnt require the use of hardware hackings like previously done on other boards and has been shown to work on most every Google TV Device. The other benefit is that, since the Market and SDK havent been released, we are able to allow market apps to be installed on all devices.

Lastly, this new system works on all statuses. So devices that have been used can now enjoy root!

For instructions click here.

(This is a April Fools joke.)

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?

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