I've had a toppy for over a year now and the lack of an EPG has been an ongoing source of frustration.
So last weekend I bit the bullet and took out a three month subscription to the IceTV EPG. I'm pretty happy with the way it works.
Dumping up the Guide....
I already had a USB cable in place as I'd previously used it for copying off files, so plugging in the laptop and  fetching the daily update was the easy choice. Actually doing that for the first time took longer than I expected because of the needlessly complicated instructions on the IceTV website.  Once I had the utility in place and configured it was rediculously easy to plug in the laptop once a day and do the update.
EPG Automation....
So only two days later I'm actively considering ways to automate the process. I just wanted it to work with no user intervention.
Options I considered were:
1. USB connection with an extender arrangement.
2. Connect the Toppy to the network using my Cisco NSLU2 (Slug - now overclocked and running unslung)
3. Netgear WGT634U
** I discarded option 1 mainly because my wife would have killed me if I'd added another cable to the room. The USB solution also seemed a little boring.
** I already had a SLUG onhand and I seriously considered using it. I upgraded the firmware to unslung and started playing aroung with puppy, however, the more I looked into it, the more the range of other options for this device became apparent and I started to think it would be a waste to use it on the toppy. Plus to be honest I was feeling a little lazy.
** So off to get a WGT634U.
Netgear Router....
Having read the forum I downgraded my wifi security from WPA in advance.
I downloaded the IceTV firmware, plugged in the router and using a standard cat5 cable plugged in my laptop.
No joy. I couldn't see the router admin page.
Read a little bit of the online doco and saw that I'd assumed the router would default to 192.168.0.1 as all other Netgear devices do. I needed to use 192.168.1.1
Fixed that and bingo!
I flashed the firmware and it rebooted.
Tried to get back to the admin page and crap!!!! - no response.
Read a little bit of the online doco and realised I had used the wrong network port on the router. Only the port closest to the USB port was active with the new firmware.
Fixed that but still no joy.
Read a little bit more of the online doco and saw that the router was now defaulting to 192.168.1.17
Tried that and the IceGuide Page came up. So cool!
OK - After all that, configuring the router was a doddle. I guess I mucked about for 15 minutes to get it all working to my satisfaction.
Went to network settings and plugged in my SSID and WEP encryption and activated it.
Went to fetch settings and plugged in my EPG userid and password.
Did a fetch - worked fine.
Played around a bit more and updated the firmware a further two times as there were updates available.
Fetched the guide a few more times just because I could. ;)
Next Day....
Everything seems to be working fine.
As I'm typing this message everything looks sweet.
I guess it took about 45 minutes all up from unpacking the router through flashing, configuring and finally placing it in it's spot in the home theatre cabinet. I had a few minor heart palpitations after the firmware flash but really it was just me not reading all the doco.
Highly recommended.
So last weekend I bit the bullet and took out a three month subscription to the IceTV EPG. I'm pretty happy with the way it works.
Dumping up the Guide....
I already had a USB cable in place as I'd previously used it for copying off files, so plugging in the laptop and  fetching the daily update was the easy choice. Actually doing that for the first time took longer than I expected because of the needlessly complicated instructions on the IceTV website.  Once I had the utility in place and configured it was rediculously easy to plug in the laptop once a day and do the update.
EPG Automation....
So only two days later I'm actively considering ways to automate the process. I just wanted it to work with no user intervention.
Options I considered were:
1. USB connection with an extender arrangement.
2. Connect the Toppy to the network using my Cisco NSLU2 (Slug - now overclocked and running unslung)
3. Netgear WGT634U
** I discarded option 1 mainly because my wife would have killed me if I'd added another cable to the room. The USB solution also seemed a little boring.
** I already had a SLUG onhand and I seriously considered using it. I upgraded the firmware to unslung and started playing aroung with puppy, however, the more I looked into it, the more the range of other options for this device became apparent and I started to think it would be a waste to use it on the toppy. Plus to be honest I was feeling a little lazy.
** So off to get a WGT634U.
Netgear Router....
Having read the forum I downgraded my wifi security from WPA in advance.
I downloaded the IceTV firmware, plugged in the router and using a standard cat5 cable plugged in my laptop.
No joy. I couldn't see the router admin page.
Read a little bit of the online doco and saw that I'd assumed the router would default to 192.168.0.1 as all other Netgear devices do. I needed to use 192.168.1.1
Fixed that and bingo!
I flashed the firmware and it rebooted.
Tried to get back to the admin page and crap!!!! - no response.
Read a little bit of the online doco and realised I had used the wrong network port on the router. Only the port closest to the USB port was active with the new firmware.
Fixed that but still no joy.
Read a little bit more of the online doco and saw that the router was now defaulting to 192.168.1.17
Tried that and the IceGuide Page came up. So cool!
OK - After all that, configuring the router was a doddle. I guess I mucked about for 15 minutes to get it all working to my satisfaction.
Went to network settings and plugged in my SSID and WEP encryption and activated it.
Went to fetch settings and plugged in my EPG userid and password.
Did a fetch - worked fine.
Played around a bit more and updated the firmware a further two times as there were updates available.
Fetched the guide a few more times just because I could. ;)
Next Day....
Everything seems to be working fine.
As I'm typing this message everything looks sweet.
I guess it took about 45 minutes all up from unpacking the router through flashing, configuring and finally placing it in it's spot in the home theatre cabinet. I had a few minor heart palpitations after the firmware flash but really it was just me not reading all the doco.
Highly recommended.