HowTo Hack

To reach the login screen, press CTRL & C to exit the player and access the text console. On older versions, make sure no video is playing, then try CTRL & F2 to switch consoles using a keyboard. Alternatively, follow the instructions below for remote access.

Continue below to learn how to make changes to the system.

Last but not least, find code change examples and additional information on GitHub

Set up WiFi

  1. Configure your wireless router with a network name and password.
  2. When the logo video starts, press CTRL-C to exit to the console.
  3. Type “sudo raspi-config” and press enter.
  4. In the raspi-config menu, navigate to “Performance Options” > “Overlay Filesystems” and select “No” to deactivate Read-Only mode.
  5. Return to the main menu, exit, and choose to reboot.
  6. When the logo video starts again, repeat the steps to access raspi-config.
  7. In the “Localisation” menu, set the country for the correct wireless LAN standards.
  8. Back in the main menu, go to “System options” and select “Wireless LAN.” A dialog will prompt you for the network name and password.
  9. After providing the required information, choose to exit the program with a reboot.
  10. Your player should now connect to your WiFi network.

Acces via Network

To start remote console via SSH access, follow these steps:

  1. Connect your Raspi to your network using either Ethernet or WiFi.
  2. Log in via SSH to make changes to the script, other files, or the system. Use the following credentials:
  • Username: pi
  • Password: mp4museum
  • Server: mp4museum.local or find the IP address by following the guide on raspberrypi.org.
  • For a Windows SSH client, download and install PuTTY.
  • For Mac users, open the Terminal App and type the following command, replacing “(add IP here)” with mp4museum.local or with your Raspberry Pi’s IP address.
   ssh pi@(add IP here)
  1. Many commands require administrative access, so use sudo before the command. Be cautious while using sudo, or if something goes wrong, you can always revert to the standard image. Remember, there’s no such thing as failure; consider it “iterative design.”

Configure for Write Access onto SD Card

Once logged in, begin by adjusting the filesystem for write access:

  1. Launch the Raspberry Pi configuration tool:
   sudo raspi-config
  1. Navigate to “Performance Options” > “Overlay Filesystem” and select “No” to disable the overlay filesystem.
  2. Exit the configuration tool and choose to reboot. Wait briefly for the video logo, then press CTRL-C.

To enable writing to the boot or media partition, it is recommended to remount the partitions temporarily instead of making them permanently write-enabled:

  1. Remount the boot partition:
   sudo mount -o remount,rw /boot
  1. Remount the media partition:
   sudo mount -o remount,rw /media

Edit the main script

Utilize Nano, a simple text editor in the console, to edit files. For instance:

  1. Open the main script file using the following command:
  1. nano mp4museum.py This file includes event handlers for button functionality, plays the startup logo film, and runs the main loop indexing and playing from USB.
  2. After making your changes, press “CTRL + X” to exit Nano.
  3. Confirm saving changes by typing “y” and then press Enter.

Note: For mp4m-sync, the player is initiated as a service, and there is no script to edit.

Enable Read-Only mode

  1. Open the console on your Raspberry Pi.
  2. Type the following command to launch the Raspberry Pi configuration tool:
   sudo raspi-config
  1. In the configuration tool, navigate to “Performance Options” and then select “Overlay Filesystem.”
  2. Choose “Yes” to enable the overlay filesystem.
  3. Next, select “Yes” to make the boot write-protected.
  4. Exit the configuration tool and choose the option to “Reboot” your Raspberry Pi.
  5. Occasionally, the system may not enable this mode correctly. To check, go to the console and enter the command:
   touch test

This command creates an empty file named “test.”

  1. Reboot your Raspberry Pi and, after waiting for a moment, press CTRL-C.
  2. Check if the file “test” exists by using the command:
   ls

If you see the “test” file, the system is still in write mode. To resolve this, run the command:

   rm test

This removes the “test” file. Repeat the entire procedure by disabling the overlay filesystem, rebooting, enabling the overlay filesystem again, rebooting, and checking.