Was there ever any luck with anyone making third party firmware for this unit?

I seem to recall reading there was something about this unit that kept the usual hobbyist programmers away from making alternate firmware.  Did they ever get over whatever that problem was and make any?

I figure the official dead silence for three months now over a controvertial (even if defended by some) official firmware means it’s time to start wondering about alternatives… if they even exist.

Yes, I know the unit can be rolled back.  That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be interested if actual well working alternatives are out there and I just don’t know it.

There’s “custom” Firmware for the WDTV Live Streaming

http://forum.wdlxtv.com/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=8707&start=0

and also for the WDTV Personal Edition

http://forum.wdlxtv.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=8974&start=0

But both are based on “Official Firmware” …

(i don’t believe it’s possible to build a Firmware from “Scratch” as i’m pretty sure there’s WD Proprietary code that can’t be altered)

I’m currently using a 3rd party firmware which is based off the latest (broken) firmware.  It seems to work fine for me, but then again I haven’t seen all the issues others were having with the latest official firmware either.  The 3rd party firmware has some neat features if you are interested, and you can actually add more custom themes rather than just one.  However the caveat being you need to have a USB Flashdrive constantly installed.  The beauty of it is if you remove the flashdrive it will reboot into the Official firmware again.

Rob

I keep wondering if and when the third party/homebrew community might get into high gear with this unit.

I mean they’d have to go back to an older release to tweak, but I hope it happens.