this is very much NOT true. if you take the source the provide you can
compile a kernel that will run on the tivo, the only thing you have to do
(on some models) is to change the bios to skip the step that checks if the
kernel has been tampered with.
in fact, people have ported the nessary changes all the way up to the 2.6
kernels (the tivos run a 2.1 derived kernel). you can buy hard drives to
plug into your tivo with newer kernels (and yes, you do get source from
those folks as well)
by the way, the first hacks that disabled these checks were done by people
who were interested in getting their tivo to boot faster (they found an
expensive bios routing that wasn't nessasary to boot), they weren't
interested in loading different software on the box. when they released
the hack other people realized that they had opened the door for other
changes.
David Lang
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