Wizd for Kuro Box download page

The Kuro Box is a version of the Buffalo Linkstation (without the hard drive, supply your own) that is designed to be customized by the end-user by installing various open-source software packages or software you write yourself (a fully customizable NAS shell). Inside is a 200MHz PowerPC CPU, 64MB of RAM (266MHz and 128MB for the Kuro Box/HG), and an IDE disk interface for a 3.5" hard drive. Outside are a 10/100 Ethernet port and a USB 2.0 port for expansion (10/100/1000 Ethernet and two USB 2.0 ports for the Kuro Box/HG). Its uses are only limited by your imagination, but most use the Kuro Box as a file and print server, and media server, serving up MP3s and MPEG video to networked media players like the AVeL LinkPlayer. My use is the latter, using it as a huge high-def video jukebox for my LinkPlayer (much cheaper, quieter, and cooler running than using a PC as a media server on your home entertainment network)

Note: It appears that Buffalo/Revolution is no longer commited to developing an open-source community around the Kuro Box (or for that matter, even selling them). The Revolution store and Kuro Box forums have been down for months now. Also, the development on the Buffalo LinkStation appears to have surpassed that of the Kurobox at this point. For instance, it is now possible to boot an entirely new kernel on the LinkStation, without rewriting the flash memory, a project that had not been completed on the Kuro Box the last time Revolution's forums were running. So you're probably better off buying a LinkStation (same product as Kuro Box, except sold with a hard drive preinstalled) instead of trying to buy a Kuro Box. Check out linkstationwiki.org for more information.

Wizd is an open-source replacement media server for the Vertex Link MediaWiz-HD, but it also works with the AVeL LinkPlayer. FlipFlop created an English version, ported it to windows using Cygwin, and enhanced it by adding features such as JPEG image resizing, and the ability to read VOBs and transport streams using the libdvdread library.

Binary Package: wizd executable and libdvdread.so for the Kuro Box

Instructions: You should already have the wizd binary package for Windows (also includes sources). You can delete the Cygwin dlls and wizd.exe, and drop this wizd executable into the same directory as wizd.conf (and docroot and skin). Put libdvdread.* in /usr/local/lib. Then just run wizd as you normally would (probably as a daemon out of /etc/rc.d/rc2.d once you've got everything configured properly).

Source Package: Tarballs of wizd, libdvdread, and libjpeg off my Kuro Box

How to build Wizd on the Kuro Box, step by step:

  1. First install a working grep, since the one that comes with the Kuro Box is broken (how they managed this is beyond me). A broken grep means configure won't work properly, and that will hose builds of many open-source software packages. Download sources to GNU grep version 2.4.2 (the same as what ships on the Kuro Box) or version 2.5.1 (the latest) and build it. You might want to configure and build it twice, as the first configure might not quite get everything right, as you're still using a broken grep.
  2. Second, download the Independent JPEG Group's JPEG Library from the link above, configure it, and build it. Make sure to do a "make install-lib", since it's the library and header files you really need, not the executables.
  3. Third, download libdvdread using the link above, configure, build and install the library.
  4. Finally, you're ready to build wizd. Download the sources (if you're reading this, you should download my version, since it has the minor makefile and code changes needed to build on the Kuro Box, and you wouldn't be reading this if you had already tried this and been successful), configure, and build. You should have a working wizd for your Kuro Box, and can now customize your wizd.conf file and start serving up gigabytes of pornmedia files on your home entertainment network.

Binary Package: wizd executable and libdvdread.so for MacOS X 10.4

Binary Package: wizd executable and libdvdread.so for MacOS X 10.3.x

Follow the instructions for the Kuro Box to install on your Mac.

Source Package: Tarballs of wizd, libdvdread, and libjpeg off my Mac

Note: I run wizd on my Kuro Box, I've tested wizd on the Mac with a web browser but not my Linkplayer.