Rooting beenfits

fs1023 · Aug 28, 2014

Hi all

Think it would be about £25-£30 to get all the kit to root the Chromecast, which then will most probably not be used again. Can anyone please explain the benefits of rooting? Such as what the rooted ROM's will give me over official firmware. For example am I able to run XBMC from it?

I have most probably been lucky in the past because it has cost nowt to root my smartphones, tablets etc?

I am all for rooting Chromecast but not sure of the benefits.

Regards
fs1023

Asphyx · Aug 28, 2014

fs1023 said:
Hi all

Think it would be about £25-£30 to get all the kit to root the Chromecast, which then will most probably not be used again. Can anyone please explain the benefits of rooting? Such as what the rooted ROM's will give me over official firmware. For example am I able to run XBMC from it?

I have most probably been lucky in the past because it has cost nowt to root my smartphones, tablets etc?

I am all for rooting Chromecast but not sure of the benefits.

Regards
fs1023

No it won't let you run XBMC....

Two most noteworthy benefits to root...One may actually be something you might like.

1 - You get to use the Eureka Whitelist which can allow some apps to work earlier than they they would because Google has delayed whitelisting it. (Screen Mirroring was available to rooted users even before Google announced it because rooted users had it whitelisted while Google waiting until Google IO) What those Apps are varies as they are released and as Google adds them to their list so a comprehensive list is not really possibe.

2 - (And the one that might interest you most since you appear to be in the UK)...Rooted makes it much easier to use VPNs and custom DNS settings so you can access region blocked content without the need for complex settings changes on your router which can sometimes affect other services. As time goes on this may be the most used feature for those not in the US and want to access full content from Netflix and Hulu. or even those in the US who would like access to content that is blacked out in the US and only available in Europe.

In time as more people are able to get root you might find some more developers willing to create apps that take advantage of the rooted CCast but there are Millions of units sold and I'm not sure but I'm betting less than 100K actually have achieved root in the initial hack and perhaps now many more will be able to boost those numbers.

theronkinator · Aug 28, 2014

Is that £25-30 including the Chromecast price. Because if you have a memory stick already, the teensy and usb otg Y cable is about £10.

fs1023 · Aug 29, 2014

Asphyx said:
No it won't let you run XBMC....

Two most noteworthy benefits to root...One may actually be something you might like.

1 - You get to use the Eureka Whitelist which can allow some apps to work earlier than they they would because Google has delayed whitelisting it. (Screen Mirroring was available to rooted users even before Google announced it because rooted users had it whitelisted while Google waiting until Google IO) What those Apps are varies as they are released and as Google adds them to their list so a comprehensive list is not really possibe.

2 - (And the one that might interest you most since you appear to be in the UK)...Rooted makes it much easier to use VPNs and custom DNS settings so you can access region blocked content without the need for complex settings changes on your router which can sometimes affect other services. As time goes on this may be the most used feature for those not in the US and want to access full content from Netflix and Hulu. or even those in the US who would like access to content that is blacked out in the US and only available in Europe.

In time as more people are able to get root you might find some more developers willing to create apps that take advantage of the rooted CCast but there are Millions of units sold and I'm not sure but I'm betting less than 100K actually have achieved root in the initial hack and perhaps now many more will be able to boost those numbers.

Asphyx thanks for your knowledgeable reply, you have convinced me to root.

theronkinator said:
Is that £25-30 including the Chromecast price. Because if you have a memory stick already, the teensy and usb otg Y cable is about £10.

theronkinator thanks as well for your reply. Looked at prices in OP and they seemed to be more that £10. Thanks anyway I will shop around.

Will this product do the same as the Teensy? A-Star 32U4 Micro

ClarkyCat · Sep 2, 2014

fs1023 said:
Will this product do the same as the Teensy? A-Star 32U4 Micro

I managed to root my four chromecasts using an A-Star 32U4 micro.

The LEDs don't light up at all during the process and there's no reset button so you have a short a couple of pins, but apart from that it works fine.

Tim

fs1023 · Sep 2, 2014

ClarkyCat said:
I managed to root my four chromecasts using an A-Star 32U4 micro.

The LEDs don't light up at all during the process and there's no reset button so you have a short a couple of pins, but apart from that it works fine.

Tim

Thanks for the reply Tim. No sure what you mean by " there's no reset button so you have a short a couple of pins". I have tried to put the teensy hex file on it but it does not work. Do I need to do this part of rooting? Can you please explain the process of how you rooted your 4 casts?

Regards
fs1023

ClarkyCat · Sep 2, 2014

fs1023 said:
Thanks for the reply Tim. No sure what you mean by " there's no reset button so you have a short a couple of pins". I have tried to put the teensy hex file on it but it does not work. Do I need to do this part of rooting? Can you please explain the process of how you rooted your 4 casts?

Regards
fs1023

You need to get the A-Star into bootloader mode in order to load in the HubCap teensy files (I used regular_16664.hex). There's no reset button on the board so you have to short the GND and RST pins twice within 750ms. The board LED kind of pulses when it's in bootloader mode.

Have a read of the docs here: http://www.pololu.com/docs/0J61/5.3

I programmed the board using:

Code:

avrdude -p atmega32u4 -c avr109 -P /dev/ttyACM0 -U flash:w:regular_16664.hex

Perform the root in exactly the same way as in the youtube vid. The only difference is that the LED on the A-Star doesn't flash in the same way as the teensy++ in the vid does. You just have to watch for the Chromecast LED colour change.

Cheers,
Tim

ClarkyCat · Sep 2, 2014

ClarkyCat said:
The only difference is that the LED on the A-Star doesn't flash in the same way as the teensy++ in the vid does. You just have to watch for the Chromecast LED colour change.

Actually, try the hex files I attached to my post on the HubCap thread.

I've rebuilt them with A-Star 32u4 LED support, so it blinks the same way as the teensy2++ does in the vid.

Tim

fs1023 · Sep 3, 2014

ClarkyCat said:
You need to get the A-Star into bootloader mode in order to load in the HubCap teensy files (I used regular_16664.hex). There's no reset button on the board so you have to short the GND and RST pins twice within 750ms. The board LED kind of pulses when it's in bootloader mode.

Have a read of the docs here: http://www.pololu.com/docs/0J61/5.3

I programmed the board using:

Code:

avrdude -p atmega32u4 -c avr109 -P /dev/ttyACM0 -U flash:w:regular_16664.hex

Perform the root in exactly the same way as in the youtube vid. The only difference is that the LED on the A-Star doesn't flash in the same way as the teensy++ in the vid does. You just have to watch for the Chromecast LED colour change.

Cheers,
Tim

Once again thanks Tim your help is much appreciated.

Not really sure what I am doing here but I have installed the Winavr software. When I click on run I get dialogue box error message - Error loading "C:WinAVR-20100110/bin/avr-gcc.exe": not in executable format: File format not recognised.-

Any idea what i am doing wrong?

Regards
fs1023

ClarkyCat · Sep 3, 2014

fs1023 said:
Once again thanks Tim your help is much appreciated.

Not really sure what I am doing here but I have installed the Winavr software. When I click on run I get dialogue box error message - Error loading "C:WinAVR-20100110/bin/avr-gcc.exe": not in executable format: File format not recognised.-

Any idea what i am doing wrong?

Regards
fs1023

I used linux, so I'm not sure about using winavr - is it supposed to provide some kind of cygwin-ish shell? Perhaps you need to run it with Admin privileges?

You'll need to change the -P parameter to whatever format windows needs. The user guide suggests "\\\\.\\USBSER000".

Tim

fs1023 · Sep 3, 2014

ClarkyCat said:
I used linux, so I'm not sure about using winavr - is it supposed to provide some kind of cygwin-ish shell? Perhaps you need to run it with Admin privileges?

You'll need to change the -P parameter to whatever format windows needs. The user guide suggests "\\\\.\\USBSER000".

Tim

Ok thanks Tim. I will buy a Teensy as this looks easier to work from. Would have bought one in first place but hard to find online for UK.

Regards
fs1023

reggaetonero · Sep 5, 2014

Hello people, quick noob question.
I can stream something from a website to my phone but when I mirror my phone to tv, the tv screen goes blank and just hear the sound.

Is this something I can fix with rooting chromecast?

Sent from my LG-D802 using XDA Free mobile app

fs1023 · Sep 5, 2014

reggaetonero said:
Hello people, quick noob question.
I can stream something from a website to my phone but when I mirror my phone to tv, the tv screen goes blank and just hear the sound.

Is this something I can fix with rooting chromecast?

Sent from my LG-D802 using XDA Free mobile app

Hi reggaetonero

I have not yet rooted the Chromecast so I don't know what root brings. Sorry I can't help. You might be best either starting a new thread with with your question or maybe posting it here.
http://xdaforums.com/hardware-hacking/chromecast/root-hubcap-chromecast-root-release-t2855893

Regards
fs1023

bhiga · Sep 6, 2014

reggaetonero said:
Hello people, quick noob question.
I can stream something from a website to my phone but when I mirror my phone to tv, the tv screen goes blank and just hear the sound.

Is this something I can fix with rooting chromecast?

Rooting Chromecast won't help in this case as the problem is likely some capability missing from your phone or its ROM.

miniminus · Sep 9, 2014

ClarkyCat said:
Actually, try the hex files I attached to my post on the HubCap thread.

I've rebuilt them with A-Star 32u4 LED support, so it blinks the same way as the teensy2++ does in the vid.

Tim

hey, is there any chance you could help me by showing which section you altered in the source to change the LED pin ?
as im trying to get a sparkfun board LED going ! cheers

EDIT cannot see where to delete post, as i think you just answered this in a dif thread ! as i posted this ... Thankyou EDIT

fs1023 · Sep 10, 2014

Deleted. It was a bit OTT, have had a bad day. Sorry if I offended anyone who has previously helped.

miniminus · Sep 10, 2014

fs1023 said:
What a waste of money to root this thing. £20 odd for the teensy £5 odd for the OTG cable. I have sent various posts asking how you view eureka whitelist after root, as well how you use ssh and what the cc password is because when i have tried ssh in putty it asks me for username then password. I may as well have saved my money because all i have are the same apps as what i can get from google. total wast of money.

think yourve missed the point a bit then !
plus you didnt HAVE to spend that amount to get it going,
a under £10 ATmega 32U4 equiv is ok, plus you can make a OTG cable for free...
plus its future proofing IF sothing come out later
and its a great hobby too !

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