Pioneer BDR-L08SHB on Linux

[bobsobol]

So, I've been hoping I could use my BRD drive (initially purchased for backup) to play BluRay video, as I do DVDs, since I haven't had a TV in a long long time … So I purchased some HD BRDs, and then I hit this encryption nonsense. I've not tried UHD, but that would be a very nice bonus.

From what I'm reading, the drive firmware date may make it suitable for flashing with a LibreDrive firmware, though it's certainly not on any of the lists of compatible, or incompatible drives. So maybe I'm wrong? Either way, it seems people here would like to get hold of a copy of the firmware I have presently, (to analyse and add to the lists as possible or not) and it seems like the flashing software can back up the existing firmware before writing out, which seems very sensible. I've not seen any indication of where I should submit my firmware, if I can read it.

If I can flash it, the instructions all tell me I need Windows 11. … I don't use Windows. (at least not outside work) I have some old Mac machines, BSDs, Android and Linux all over the place, and even some old DOS, and Amiga machines, but nothing Windows. Can I use wine to flash the firmware, (initial attempts suggest not, wine exits immediately with errors locating or setting up a driver) or is there another option? Maybe a VM, with 11 unactivation and destroy the VM once I'm done? (it's easier to attach hardware directly to a VM, wine reads optical drives through native drivers and filesystems … and a VM is a common work around for binary blob drivers on BSD) Or maybe there is Posix source for something simple? (simpler code, probably harder to use)

wine attempt:—

Code: Select all

0080:err:ntoskrnl:ZwLoadDriver failed to create driver L"\\Registry\\Machine\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\nsiproxy": c0000003
011c:err:module:find_forwarded_export module not found for forward 'icuuc68.u_charsToUChars_68' used by L"C:\\windows\\system32\\icu.dll"

Any and all advise, much appreciated.

Drive details below.

Code: Select all

Drive Information
OS device name: /dev/sr1
Manufacturer: PIONEER
Product: BD-RW BDR-L08SHB
Revision: 1.12
Serial number: MFDL040234WL
Firmware date: 2014-12-18
Highest AACS version: 31

LibreDrive Information
Status: Possible, not yet enabled
Drive platform: Pioneer RS8301
Firmware version: ID92

[Coopervid]

Seems to be a 208 that can be flashed to S11 and will be UHD capable. Windows is mandatory. Wine might work. VMWare will. Respond if you want to try.

[bobsobol]

Thanks Coopervid! Definitely want to give it a try.

Let me find a VM solution that works. (Don't have VMWare to hand) I'll assume if I can read the firmware, it should be able to write a new one out.

[Coopervid]

Thanks Coopervid! Definitely want to give it a try.

Let me find a VM solution that works. (Don't have VMWare to hand) I'll assume if I can read the firmware, it should be able to write a new one out.

Let me know when you have the VM running.

[Sayaka]

An example of the utter nightmare of downloading and installing VMWare (on Windows but the steps are very similar on Linux) can be found here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avsRdS2w5IQ
Please enjoy, even though you probably will be wondering why they made it so difficult.

(Everything in this video is 100% legal, by the way, since VMWare has been free to download - assuming one can manage it - for some time now.)

[Coopervid]

An example of the utter nightmare of downloading and installing VMWare (on Windows but the steps are very similar on Linux) can be found here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avsRdS2w5IQ
Please enjoy, even though you probably will be wondering why they made it so difficult.

(Everything in this video is 100% legal, by the way, since VMWare has been free to download - assuming one can manage it - for some time now.)

Since Broadcom aquired them this is very cumbersome, I agree. But when installed it's still the best VM in my opinion.

[Sayaka]

Just so there's no misunderstanding, I too think VMWare seems to be a good product from what I've seen of it, and I wasn't really trying to dissuade anyone from attempting to install it, as otherwise I would not have posted the link to the video. In fact, I was trying to help bobsobol install it (if they feel like it). My sarcasm was just me taking a jab at the Broadcom website for being user-unfriendly.

[Coopervid]

Just so there's no misunderstanding, I too think VMWare seems to be a good product from what I've seen of it, and I wasn't really trying to dissuade anyone from attempting to install it, as otherwise I would not have posted the link to the video. In fact, I was trying to help bobsobol install it (if they feel like it). My sarcasm was just me taking a jab at the Broadcom website for being user-unfriendly.

Agree 100%. And for professional use they raised their licence fees tremendeously.

[georgesgiralt]

Hi Guys,
I've more than successfully used Virtualbox (free version from Oracle) to install a windows 11 virtual machine to successfully flash my BDR-UD03 to BDR-UD04... on my Ubuntu machine...
Hope this helps.

P.S. : A long time ago I was forced to use VmWare at work. I was very very disappointed by their commercial method and practices, and this was long before Broadcom bought them. Hence my use of Virtualbox for my personal machines...

[bobsobol]

Well, I've had a devil of a time trying to install Windows 11 on anything, VM or otherwise. (seriously, I had less issues with Hackintosh builds back in the Lion days) Having finally managed it, the SDFtool Flasher just gives me a .Net crash message on startup, and if I continue regardless, it lists 0 drives to work with. MakeMKV can see and work with the BRD without issue though.

Seems it's looking for a file it can't find, but I don't know what file. I put it in the MakeMKV folder so it could find those tools without issue, but that didn't help.

Looks like any solution is going to need to be done via the makemkvcon tool. I tried the 1.17 downgrade on Linux, but it said it couldn't find the right version of the library. (though I'm not sure the downgrade still applies with MakeMKV 2.0.0, if not, I may try without the downgrade) makemkvcon64 seems to be working fine on the Windows box though.

Can anyone help with the appropriate command, or have a solution for the .Net crash?

Any advise appreciated.

Code: Select all

See the end of this message for details on invoking 
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception (2): An error occurred trying to start process 'C:\Program Files (x86)\MakeMKV\sdftool64.exe' with working directory 'C:\Program Files (x86)\MakeMKV'. The system cannot find the file specified.
   at System.Diagnostics.Process.StartWithCreateProcess(ProcessStartInfo startInfo)
   at System.Diagnostics.Process.Start()
   at SDFtool_Flasher_Updated.Form1.Get_Drive_List()
   at SDFtool_Flasher_Updated.Form1.Check_MakeMKV_Installation()
   at SDFtool_Flasher_Updated.Form1.Form1_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnLoad(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnCreateControl()
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl(Boolean fIgnoreVisible)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl()
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmShowWindow(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WmShowWindow(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, WM msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)


************** Loaded Assemblies **************
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----------------------------------------
SDFtool Flasher
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************** JIT Debugging **************

[Coopervid]

Well, I've had a devil of a time trying to install Windows 11 on anything, VM or otherwise. (seriously, I had less issues with Hackintosh builds back in the Lion days) Having finally managed it, the SDFtool Flasher just gives me a .Net crash message on startup, and if I continue regardless, it lists 0 drives to work with. MakeMKV can see and work with the BRD without issue though.

Seems it's looking for a file it can't find, but I don't know what file. I put it in the MakeMKV folder so it could find those tools without issue, but that didn't help.

Looks like any solution is going to need to be done via the makemkvcon tool. I tried the 1.17 downgrade on Linux, but it said it couldn't find the right version of the library. (though I'm not sure the downgrade still applies with MakeMKV 2.0.0, if not, I may try without the downgrade) makemkvcon64 seems to be working fine on the Windows box though.

Can anyone help with the appropriate command, or have a solution for the .Net crash?

Any advise appreciated.

Code: Select all

See the end of this message for details on invoking 
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception (2): An error occurred trying to start process 'C:\Program Files (x86)\MakeMKV\sdftool64.exe' with working directory 'C:\Program Files (x86)\MakeMKV'. The system cannot find the file specified.
   at System.Diagnostics.Process.StartWithCreateProcess(ProcessStartInfo startInfo)
   at System.Diagnostics.Process.Start()
   at SDFtool_Flasher_Updated.Form1.Get_Drive_List()
   at SDFtool_Flasher_Updated.Form1.Check_MakeMKV_Installation()
   at SDFtool_Flasher_Updated.Form1.Form1_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnLoad(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnCreateControl()
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl(Boolean fIgnoreVisible)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl()
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmShowWindow(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WmShowWindow(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, WM msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)


************** Loaded Assemblies **************
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    Assembly Version: 6.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: n/a
    CodeBase: 
----------------------------------------
SDFtool Flasher
    Assembly Version: 1.3.6.0
    Win32 Version: n/a
    CodeBase: 
----------------------------------------
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************** JIT Debugging **************

Oh boy! We had an development in the meantime that allows flashing in Windows, MacOS and Linux. I will send a PM to you with both Linux flashers (ARM and x64).

[Yethidran]

Use the "Modified Asus Flasher"
it works without any hitch.. No more .Net errors..
because i have already experienced it personally...
Hehehehe! the frustration of this .Net error's got me to try the "Modified Asus Flasher" and it worked like a charm!!

[Yethidran]

Oop's, yours is a Pioneer drive... Sorry, disregard my post then.. thought it was a LG Drive..Hehehehe!!

[bobsobol]

Thanks both. As I said, any advise is welcome. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with the .Net error.

I'm also not averse to using the command line tools. In fact, I often prefer those. Little wonder I'm more at home on Linux, but I always liked cmd.exe, having worked with batch files and 4dos shell back in the DOS days, and I don't mind powershell at work today. A CLU is usually a welcome sight, just because it's so results are easily repeatable, and it's easy to string lots of them together.

My issue is I'm not sure how to identify the closest ROM to use. I figured if I could read the existing ROM, I could diff a hex dump of it to each of the available modified ROMs and choose the one with the least differences, but the makemkvcon documentation seems rather limited still, and far behind it's current development. I'd normally poke around in a VM where I could revert any inadvertent changes, but flashing a firmware really doesn't give opportunities for do-overs like that, so I'm a lot more reluctant to proceed completely unguided.

Wider support is always useful though.

[Coopervid]

Thanks both. As I said, any advise is welcome. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with the .Net error.

I'm also not averse to using the command line tools. In fact, I often prefer those. Little wonder I'm more at home on Linux, but I always liked cmd.exe, having worked with batch files and 4dos shell back in the DOS days, and I don't mind powershell at work today. A CLU is usually a welcome sight, just because it's so results are easily repeatable, and it's easy to string lots of them together.

My issue is I'm not sure how to identify the closest ROM to use. I figured if I could read the existing ROM, I could diff a hex dump of it to each of the available modified ROMs and choose the one with the least differences, but the makemkvcon documentation seems rather limited still, and far behind it's current development. I'd normally poke around in a VM where I could revert any inadvertent changes, but flashing a firmware really doesn't give opportunities for do-overs like that, so I'm a lot more reluctant to proceed completely unguided.

Wider support is always useful though.

Now I don't get it. You have both flashers for ARM and x64 for your drive and for Linux. Where's the problem?