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go to
http://www.i-opener-linux.net and look around.
There are lots of new hacks with or w/o opening the
box.

I think they recommented the code making it easier to understand

From http://www.i-opener-linux.net/:

Thats it..its over. sean_k from #i-opener-linux has devolped a program to decrypt ANY qnx password. Because of this we were able to extract these passwords:

Root: osiw$6.4
Regular user: one2go
Thanks to everone who helped him. Source to the program is here

From http://www.i-opener-linux.net/:

Thats it..its over. sean_k from #i-opener-linux has devolped a program to decrypt ANY qnx password. Because of this we were able to extract these passwords:

Root: osiw$6.4
Regular user: one2go
Thanks to everone who helped him. Source to the program is here

You can get the source code and binaries here.

The QNX operating system crypt algorithm was cracked a while ago in order to get the root password for the I-opener. This is certainly nothing new. You can grab the program and the source here.

Here is a link to a site that mentions how Compusa has I-Openers in stock now for $99 + tax cash and no contracts no signature or anything. Second it also has a number of less than optimal hacks for the I-Opener. Most involve chipping epoxy away and swapping bios chips around with older bios chips. Finally at there is a discussion forum available including several people coming up with better solutions. Possibly flashing the BIOS in the while in QNX for example and also writing an open source replacment BIOS that will boot linux and other operating systems. So the while the "unhackable" versions are not as easy to hack it still can be done.

All you need to do is dial the unit up using its native QNX (either to the Netpliance-provided ISP or, if you've wriggled your way into the internals, by using pppd itself with your own ISP), FTP a compressed boot/root filesystem image, and write that image to the raw SanDisk device.

Poof. Instant Linux installation. It's been done with BSD and there are already Linux "distros" (images) available to do the same. Check out their web site and the FAQ.

Original wording was that units shipped after the 20th would no longer be able to be modified. People who had unit's shipped after the 20th have confirmed nothing has changed. There is buzz now that unit's manufactured after the 20th may be protected, but as was said in a previous message, to implement a change within a week would have to be small and easily beaten. check i-opener-linux for the latest news on the new protection.

sqweak

You can find it at www.i-opener-linux.net. You have to go to the menu on the upper right hand side, and click on "Original site".

I don't see how they could have modified the hardware so quickly to do this. Some discussion on i-opener-linux.net (where I saw this story last night) considered whether this was possible or not, and the upshot was that maybe the BIOS could have been modified, but there hasn't been time for a hardware modification. And BIOS that has been changed once can certainly be changed again (although this might be difficult w/o a floppy drive). The terms-of-service argument doesn't bother me at all, since I didn't agree to any at Circuit City, and I don't plan to even boot the thing until after adding a Linux drive and so forth. You only see the warning linked from the story above if you buy an i-opener from Netpliance's site.

I ordered my i-opener on 3/16, so I'm not sure if this announcement will apply to it or not. I haven't received it yet, but on the other hand it may have been shipped from Netpliance before 3/20, and just not received by Circuit City yet. If the worst case is true and it's unhackable, my CC receipt allows for 14-day returns (with 15% restocking fee).

It is strange how Netpliance has bounced back and forth on the mod issue - sometimes they seem to be really cool about it, but then they go and do something like this. I hope the open, "friendly" personality eventually comes through, because I'd be happy to recommend one of these to a relative who wanted a simple web browsing appliance, and I'd even consider buying a more-expensive i-opener-type device which was specifically designed for modification. Meaning more and more accessible serial/parallel/USB ports, VGA output, a slightly larger case to allow more room for onboard drives, etc., official developer's information such as pinouts, etc.

We can only hope that the way they decide to sell it is as a loss-leader for some kind of networked service... (like Netpliance). $200 for a mostly-complete 600Mhz system will still be a great deal in a year. If it is $400, though, the price/performance may not be there.

The price is the big issue, along with exactly when they can get it to market. But we cannot know these things with any certainty until they actually ship.

Most of the attention out there at modifying i-openers has been towards Linux, but a lot of the information is applicable to any x86 operating system, really. *NIX systems are just easier to install and get working, since the hardware setup is weird.

i-opener-linux.net and a FAQ.