Dreambox Guides, Tutorials, Tips and Hints

You might want to connect your dreambox to your PC for a number of reasons; stream MP3s or movies from your PC to the dreambox, record from the dreambox to a shared folder on your PC, to update the image, services or bouquets, etc.

What is needed

If your dreambox is going to be connected straight to your PC then you will need a crossover ethernet cable. This is not the same as a standard patch ethernet cable that you get with your router or cable modem, the send and receive wires are crossed, hence the name. This cable is more commonly used to connect ethernet equipped PCs together without a hub or router. But we need it to connect to the dreambox as well.

Configuring your PC

One side of the crossover cable needs to be connected to your PC, obviously. Most PCs only have one ethernet connection and it’s usually used for the internet connection. It’s advisable to buy a second network card and keep it solely for the use of the dreambox, these are about £5 from your local computer shop. But this guide will show you how to connect it to you existing ethernet connection.

I’m using Windows XP Pro but the steps may be different for other operating systems.

Go to the Control Panel then Network Connections. Find the ethernet connection that you would use for your internet. Right click it and select Properties. Scroll down to ‘Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)’ and select Properties. If you do use this connection for your internet then it should have the ‘Obtain an ip address automatically’ selected. Change the settings so that it looks like this…

Select OK and reboot your PC. Remember at this point you will not have any internet access so make sure you have a copy of all the guides and tools that you need. Or connect your modem via USB.

Configuring your Dreambox

I will use an enigma image in this example, neutrino can also be used and the same values should be used although the menus may look different and be in a different place.

Go to Menu > Setup > Expert Setup > Communication Setup

Change the settings to look like this…

Select Save and exit from the other menus.

Connecting to the Dreambox

To connect to the dreambox we are going to use an FTP Client. There are many programs available for this, FlashFXP, CuteFTP, Filezilla and SmartFTP are some examples. For this guide we are going to use FlashFXP.

Once you’ve downloaded it, run the flashfxp.exe file and the program will load.

In the left window is where the dreambox file system will appear after we connect. In the right window is your PC file system. Treat both windows like any other windows explorer window. To transfer files between the dreambx and PC, cimply drag the file from one window to the other and wait for it to transfer. The bottom left window shows a history of the files transferred and the progress of current files during transfer.

Near the top, on the toolbar, you should see an icon with a lightening strike on it, click it and choose ‘Quick connect’ (you can also press F8 on your keyboard). Configure the options to look like this…

Server or URL: 192.168.1.101

Username: root

Password: dreambox

Port: 21

Click Connect.

You should now see the file system of the dreambox on the left, i.e. /bin, /dev, /etc, /hdd, /sbin, /var, etc etc.

Congratulations - you are now connected to your dreambox.

If you need any help with this guide, please visit our Dreambox Forum.

Good Luck!

Tags: connect, dreambox, flashfxp, FTP, PC, tcp/ip

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 7:44 am and is filed under General Dreambox Topics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.