Ultimate Edition Forum

Thought I would pick the brains of long time Linux gurus... I have a Topfield PVR which has stood the test of time and I really want to be able to access it using Linux. I have tried the Topfield site which has some good tips and TAPs for use with the Topfiled but, not much for Linux. mostly Windows of course. Which is really quiet funny because the Topfield is an Open Source machine. never mind, I am new to FTP and have tried using gFTP which tries hard to get access to the machine but, can't quite make it.

I get the devices address opened automatically when gFTP opens and I enter my username and password and hit the button with two monitors on it as I'm supposed to and the program tries but, times out.
I believe it may be a driver problem. I know that Puppy Linux is supposed to be able to allow access through the command line but, it sounds like it would be quite cumbersome and I doubt that will allow me to do everything that I want to.

If I use Windows I can run the Altair program and load a USB driver for Windows to allow communication with the machine and then I can transfer files to and from it.
The TAPs are system files that programmers can write just as in Linux or Windows and they control the actions of the machine at start up.
I have already used Altair very well for all that I have needed to do but, I don't want to go back to using Windows. I would have to borrow my wife's laptop to do this too.
So, any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated. Oh and the system can see the Topfield when I switch it on and connect through USB but, can't access the files. I can see folders and files and so on but, just can't access them.

Try installing the windows program in Wine and seeing that does the trick.

I tried that last night but, couldn't get the USB driver installed. There is no program to install it. Normally you would right click on the .inf file to install it in Windows but, obviously there is not that option in Ubuntu.

Thanks.

Was wondering what model Topfield PVR you have? Also from what i have seen in researching this is that puppy works and they have a gui version called guppy . You can also try to see if they have information Here.

Thanks for the info about Guppy Meister. I did know about Puppy but, didn't want to use the command line. I like to 'see' the files, yes I know it's silly. I do remember the days of DOS and Xtree Gold, which was an excellent file manager. But, I am just wanting to get on with a bit of housekeeping on the Toppy.
It is a 5800 model and has done us very well.
Up-sized the hard drive and replaced capacitors before things became iffy.
Want to install new batch of system files to try to cure a glitch with the recordings timer.
I'll post my outcome.

Thanks to Meister - Guppy works with this proviso... after installing the program you have to run with root privileges or it won't see the Topfield machine.
So, 'sudo guppy' is the command in Terminal.

I have successfully transferred some big files and plan to do a lot more.

great! glad we (and by we I mean Meister, ha!) could help