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Homechoice: Unsupported Operating Systems

How do I connect to Homechoice 512k using FreeBSD?

This assumes you are running FreeBSD 4.x

1) Download the work-in-progress usbwork-020824.tar.gz from
http://www.ingenotech.com/tmp

2) Follow the instructions in the README file.  
Make the connection using ppp as per "How do I connect to Homechoice using 
FreeBSD?"

3) You should be able to connect at the old speed of 115,200

4) The secret of getting it to go at 512k is going to be in a chat script,
not yet developed.  Essentially it will follow this procedure:

i) Open the serial port at 115,200;  Send ~~, the STB will respond with:
VNL STB version 106

ii) Send: ~BAUD4ABDE~

iii) STB responds with: ~BAUD1D~
If not, repeat step (ii) until it does.

iv) The STB will now have switched to 1,500,000 bps.
You need to change the serial comms line speed to match.
The ported uftdi driver as-is has 4800 baud aliased to 1,500,000.
$ stty -f /dev/cuaU0 speed 4800

v) You should now be cooking with gas.

Good news and Bad news
5) I now have a Script that automates the above process.

It is only about 50% reliable, half the time it fails to connect.

When it is connected, I'm getting a maximum of 28k/sec downloads, 
about half the 56-odd k/sec experienced under Windows 2000.

One of the keys is to ensure that handshaking is set to XON/XOFF not RTS/CTS.