Livebox (Inventel DV4210) Wireless ADSL Modem Router

  • 03 Feb 2009. Still not a lot of luck with the source code, Thomson have released some sources on their site but they have not included the .config for the 2.6.12.6 kernel, the config for uClibc, or the toolchain to build the 2.6.12.6 kernel with. Without these files it will be very difficult to build any working binaries that could use the shared libs, or any kernel modules. I will keep trying with Thomson but it would help if others also bugged Thomson regarding the GPL source code. I initially started by contacting Customer Services and it went from there. My current contact is their compliance engineer whose email address is JanDOTReniersATthomson.net. Maybe someone else will be lucky as I am starting to get rather fed up with the attitude of Thomson and Orange regarding GPL code compliance.
  • 25 Jul 2008. Updated to include new serial port schematics, instructions for using JTAG, writing to flash, building a new filesysem and generally tidying up the documentation. My email address has now changed to a_g_p@uwclub.net (without underscores, anything with underscores will be rejected).
  • 03 Jul 2008. Changed ISP so moved all files to here. I am currently in the process of upgrading my Livebox to v5.08.15.2-fr which uses a 2.6.12-6 Linux kernel which I obtained via Livebox on wikipedia. So far I have started to modify the images (usr_fs and usr_2_fs) to allow root access without a password. In order to allow for Ctrl-C to function in RedBoot I have downgraded the version of RedBoot to a copy dated Jul 19 2004. This version does not understand the sqsh filesystem which the new firmware uses so I boot it via tftp from a networked server. This method of booting works perfectly and I now have command line access. I am still looking to see what else I can do with new firmware.

    • There is still no word on the release of the GPL sources although there is a very early copy available on the Thomson website. This copy was for the earlier 2.4.17 kernel but does not build correctly. I have requested the latest sources from Orange and from Thomson but I appear to be getting the runaround from both of them as the source has not appeared yet, even though the note contained in the dwb directory on the Thomson released Livebox CD specifies that the sources are available on www.inventel.com (which is no longer available).

    So far I have managed to do the following,

    With earlier versions I managed to do the following and am currently modifying the current firmware on my Livebox to suit. How to do this is now documented in building a new filesystem.

    AndyP