Something I don't understand about 'images'

[mahouligan]

Hi there,

I am totally new to not only Dreambox and satellite TV but to TV generally as I haven't had one for 12 years ....

Anyway, I'm just waiting for a null modem cable to drop through the door to fix up my as yet unused DM500s (I broke it totally at the 1st attempt) and there's several things that puzzle me:

The DM500 is a Linux box and Linux is open source right?
How come you can't just go to the website of the folks who are writing the various images, see what they're doing, see the source code (not that I would understand the source), read readme files, howtos, manuals and so on?
I've been trawling around as I wait for my cable to decide what image to use but there are largely only personal opinions on forums along the lines of "gemini is the best" or "nabilosat is the one".
Are they all just quite small and totally undocumented projects?
And could anyone give an overview of all of them and their 'family tree' or relationship to one another? (Since some of them are based on others, right? eg "Enigma based").

Thanks for reading,
Mh

[krazylegz]

hi mahuuligan:)

yes mate dreamboxes are open source.

you can compile a image using a linux based pc or linux software such as knoppix....but tbh if you've only just ur box you'll be way above your head in ntry to build a image.

if i were you i'd stay away from gemini images because if your box is a clone gemini images will kill your box and will need to be jtaged to bring it back to life.

dreamboxes are either enigma1 or enigma 2.

all earlier boxes such as 500,600,500+,7000,7020 are enigma 1 and newer boxes such as 7025 or 800 are enigma 2.

images are based on 2 formats either neutrino or enigma and basicly they're just a different GUI (graphics user interface) to one another but most images for dreambox are neutrino.

hope this helps m8

[mahouligan]

Hey Krazy,

Thanks, it does help a lot.

The biggest revelation is that the different images are just different GUIs - I had no idea! So there's no difference between them functionality-wise and I might just as well use the manufacturer's one?

My box is about 2 years old, a DM500, I'm sure it's not a clone, by the way.

Does Enigma = Dreambox manufacturer?
And if so, where did Neutrino originate from?

And ... can you explain what the "erase image" is and is for?

Mh

[krazylegz]

on m8.......neutrino and enigma images have a different GUI and slightly different functionality but on the whole operate mainly the same way.

the standard factory image is no good m8 as it has no keys/roms/emu which is needed to descramble "hacked" channels.

each image as wierd as it may seem can act differently on ecah box, some can freeze and be blocky others can be spot on and all have different addon servers with different plugins available...so a good test of them to see which you prefer i would recommend.

erase image is a file that you flash to box and completly wipes out every trace of any image and gives you a nice fresh box for install of new image