6 newbie questions

[Helvetica]

I just received a s/h 7000S and firt got it going with a bit of telephone help (the seller had the network thingy password protected). The seller kindly sent me a USB stick with it, loaded with the latest Gemini (4.4?) and a Dreambox image. I have DreamboxEdit on my laptop.

This is my first Dreambox and is so different from my previous boxes (Echostar, Topfield) that I really need a bit of help. I am a quick learner so I hope I don't need to pester you all that often..

My first questions:

1) When I first started up my s/h 7000S on Wednesday, it booted on the Dreambox image, not the Gemini (didn't have time to grab the remote control). I configured my motor with VBox II and all my satellites in the Dreambox image. When I booted up using the Gemini image today I didn't have any satellites etc. I've now got all my channels on it thanks to DreamBoxEdit but it's a) not recognising my "devilish" cam and it's not moving the dish because I have to install all the sats again.
So is there any way of transferring my satellite settings / rotor position numbers etc. from the Dreambox image to the Gemini image, because I rather like the look of the black Gemini screens.

2) Is there a better kind of EPG - a plug in or something (a bit like the TAPs for Topfields)? Standard EPG on my Topfield was great - I could scroll left and right through the channel list on 28.2 East and it'd show me the current TV picture at top right, the EPG of the next few channels on the left, more detailled info at bottom right and the frequency and polarity of the channel at the bottom. The Dreambox usually just says "No program info avail" except on very few channels (even those which DO have EPG) and I seem to have to be on that channel to see the info.

3) When I set new satellites, download channels form favourites (bouquets) - is this info stored in the Dreambox or on the stick ?

4) If I remove the stick for any reason, do I lose all my information ?

5) I am currently using DreamboxEdit and my laptop using a cross-wired ethernet cable but am planning on using a 20m cable to attach the Db to my router (it's that far away). Trolling through several postings here, some say you need a straight wired cable, others say you possibly need a cross-wired. My router is a Netopia 3357NWG and 20m (66 ft) cables are a bit dear over here (I was just quoted the equiv. of £20 for a 20m cross-wired cable inc postage), so can anyone confirm what sort of cable I need? straight or crossed ?

6) My 7000 only has one USB socket. Would it be possible to insert a USB hub and have, say, the flash stick in one hub socket and a wireless stick in another ? Would that work ?

7) Is there any way either in the All Services or Bouquets list that I can make the Dreambox show me the frequency of the channels as I run down them? When I download new channels (e.g. the currently FTA channels on 5 East) I want to add them to my Sirius bouquet quickly but when I see 8x Discovery Channels on Sirius (5.0 is displayed at bottom right but that's all), I can't see which frequencies they are and so tend to add the wrong ones. Knowing which frequencies I just downloaded would be a great help. (I know I could download the list to my laptop using and do it there, but it'd be a lot of time just to move 3 or 4 channels)

Thankyou for any help anyone can give and I hope to be able to help other people once I get a bit more experience with the Dreambox.

 

[mhku]

Welcome to the forum

My answers are based on using a 500s and 7020s with a Gemini image so may not 100% apply to a 7000.

1. Probably not but you may be able to use gotoXX- this is described in the Idiot's Guide- I don't use it so can't describe it much more.
2. There are a few xml based EPGs but they're all pretty rubbish. There may be a picture-in-picture plugin but not sure- might only be available for twin tuner Dreamboxes (haven't tried it).
3. If the image is USB stick based it will probably be stored on the stick.
4. The information will still be on the USB stick.
5. Use a normal CAT5 cable to connect a Dreambox to a router. Crossover is only for connecting a Dreambox to a PC.
6. Never tried it. If you have a hub spare try it and let us know. We like and encourage feedback and particpation.
7. Don't know but if it is it'll either be in the Blue Panel or the Expert Setup pages.

Sorry to be a bit vague but hopefully there'll be enough info to get you started. It's very hard to kill a Dreambox and feel free to post as often as you like

 

[Helvetica]

Thankyou very much for your answers
- I can't use the gotoxx function with the vbox - as far as I know this is only for Diseqc motors with USALS. I tried the gotoxx function with my Topfield and it stripped the gears of my motor because it kept trying to turn to find satellites outside of my Vbox's electronic stops (USALS overrode them). No problem, I can set the sats up again in the Gemini image.
- For my D___o cam I will check the settings in the Dreambox image (it works there) and see if I can apply them to the Gemini image. (Not experienced enough for cccam and softcams etc. yet.
- I do have a wireless stick but need to get myself a small hub (the one I have is ancient and huge from back in the days when USBs had just been invented)

thanks again and if anyone else can add to mhku's replies it would be nice to read them.

 

[Analoguesat]

if you are adding multiple channels to user bouquets the easiest way to do it is with DreamboxEdit via your lan when you get it set up.

FTP the current settings onto the computer, make the changes you want and fire it back over to the DB.

Welcome to the wonderful world of DBing!

 

[HB13DISH]

A6: I use a 4-port USB 1.1 Hub and I am able to connect a USB stick and a USB keyboard and they both work OK, leaving me with 2 spare ports.
Tried another USB stick lately, but it disabled my flash USB stick.
The problem was that the new USB stick had an application on it which was impossible to delete which may have caused this to happen, so perhaps trying another USB stick might be OK.
As your 7000S has a CF slot as well, you can try moving the /var to the CF and use the wireless stick in the USB connector.
But first try the wireless stick and see if it is doing what is supposed to do.
Just shutdown box, remove the flash USB stick, insert the wireless USB stick and then switch on.
Never plug/unplug peripherals without shutting down box.

 

[compufunk]

2) You could try the Evolution EPG _http://epg.evolution.project-x.us/ .

I havent tried it (No internet connection) but it looks good, It only works for some of the providers, currently Viasat, Canal Digital, Sky UK, Sky IT, Boxer, Comhem, Other DVB-C and DVB-T providers that have same channels as Viasat/CD .

This is a plugin to dreambox with enigma1 for advanced EPG functions. Instead of using the DVB EPG it downloads the EPG from a webserver giving you a alternative source for EPG. The benefit is 7 days EPG, a easy overviewed gui and alot of smart functions one button away...

 

[Helvetica]

Thankyou all so much, it is overwhelming to find so much help to specific problems in such a short time.

Well, it's day 3 and my husband has managed to utterly crash it twice - the only two times he's used the remote control despite my telling him what to press to find the bouquets and his very own favourites bouquet. I have no idea what he is pressing because I wasn't up yet. So I got up twice now to find a dead / frozen box and none of the remote control keys or buttons on the front worked. (I tried pressing the Dreambox button in case he'd switched it to TV but no luck). So it's been unplugged twice so far to reset it..

I got all my sat infos into the Gemini image today, though for some peculiar reason, the sat positions had shifted overnight - where before my vbox II was showing "576" for the position of Astra 28E, it needed to be changed (dish moved) to 636 to get my strong Astra 28E back again, so I needed to change them all.

Analoguesat: Many thanks, my son-in-law, bless his cotton socks, has rigged DreamboxEdit up for me on my laptop. Works fine so far as long as I remember to change things on the laptop and click the UPLOAD to Dreambox and not DOWNLOAD from Dreambox button ('nuff said..)

HB13dish: Thanks for the information. If the OS is on the flash stick, will the Dreambox still start up ok if I remove it ? I thought the entire caboodle was on the stick. I will get myself a little usb hub next week and give it a try. But the CS card sounds like a good idea.

Compufunk: Thanks for the link. I'll try this when I receive the ethernet cable and my son in law will be coming round again to help me with the connection.

By the way, what is the SHIFT button for at the top left of the remote control ?

thanks again everyone ! About the only thing I could contribute at the moment is an Idiots Guide on how to set up the 7000 with a V-Box II. Would that be of any interest for the Guides page?

 

[Analoguesat]

If you are having problems with the box hanging or locking up make sure you have the swap file turned on

Blue
3 Extras
down to swap file.

make sure enable/disable swap file is ticked, and make it at least 32mb - Ive got mine set on the usb pen drive. My 7020 can get very crash happy without the swap activated. Over the couple of years Ive had my 7020 Ive found it has a tendency to hang when I select a scrambled channel that cant be decoded, although the swap has reduced this a lot. It still hangs occasionally if it doesnt get a full switch off and I just drop it into standby at the end of a session.

It can take ages to get to know all the ins & outs of the DB, so dont get discouraged if it doesnt do quite what you expect it to - theres loads of DB users on here now so theres always going to be help on hand!

 

[Analoguesat]

Use DBedit to take a regular back up of your settings - a DB is only a computer and sooner or later you will do something that doesnt go to plan, and at that point its far easier to ftp your image straight back over rather than starting from scratch

Be VEREY careful if you start playing with the satan key updater - if it cant connect to its server for any reason it has a nasty habit of completely trashing the image thats running. I got caught out several times last Christmas.....

Use the hacksat updater instead - that one doesnt throw a wobbly if it cant connect.

 

[Helvetica]

Ok, I just ticked the smartswap box. At the bottom it says (green) Start Swap and (yellow) create new swap file.
Do I need to press yellow?
What does the swap file do ?

 

[Analoguesat]

I think its create it then start it. It just gives the box more memory to run in.

This screengrab shows what the settings look like on my box

 

[Helvetica]

OK, I did that, thanks.
I thought it may place a copy of the image's infos somewhere so it would automatically swap to that in case of a crash.

So what I really need now for my husband is a special remote control with only the black Bouquet button, the blue button which only works when the black bouquet button is pressed, up/down buttons, OK and a yellow button which only works for two certain German portals on 19 East...

 

[Helvetica]

@hb13sat (or anyone else)
Can the USB hub be one which is Windows compatible and which doesn't need a driver ?

 

[Analoguesat]

OK, I did that, thanks.
I thought it may place a copy of the image's infos somewhere so it would automatically swap to that in case of a crash.

So what I really need now for my husband is a special remote control with only the black Bouquet button, the blue button which only works when the black bouquet button is pressed, up/down buttons, OK and a yellow button which only works for two certain German portals on 19 East...

Just smack him over the head with a rolling pin

 

[Helvetica]

haha.. Just off to bed and have prepared the channel for the F1 at Silverstone. All he has to do is switch on the tv, press the yellow button and select the F1. I will get up with trepidation...

 

[HB13DISH]

@hb13sat (or anyone else)
Can the USB hub be one which is Windows compatible and which doesn't need a driver ?

Yes. The 7000S USB interface is 1.1 standard, but I am sure that it will work with a hub for USB 2.0

 

[mhku]

Going back to the swap file it may be a good idea to only enable this if you have a USB stick otherwise it will be reading/ writing to the hard drive everytime it uses the swap file. It's not a feature that I've used so this is just a guess

 

[Helvetica]

hb12: thanks, I found one on our local Swiss auction site (not fleabay, another one), only a couple of quid incl. postage so I got that.
mhku: yes, the Gemini is on a stick.

One more question: Is it the wisest thing to shut the Dreambox down overnight? Hubby switched the TV on today, (I'd left the Db switched on at the appropriate channel), he only got a pixellated screen, thought he'd crashed it again and switched the Db off until I got up.

 

[mhku]

I leave mine on 24x7 - just habit rather than for any reason; if I remembered I'd put into standby. Standy probably uses less power = greener

 

[HB13DISH]

I usually use shutdown so that there is less power consumption for the circuitry, prolonging the life of the box and especially the LNB will get no power at all. Using standby, the LNB will have power on all the time.