GHL Profilux Software with Claude

[timocean]

Hi all,

You may have seen that lots of people recently used Claude Code to clean up and rework their smart TVs, removing bloatware and building new launchers:
https://itsfoss.com/news/debloat-smart-tv/
https://www.androidauthority.com/android-tv-vibe-hacking-remove-ads-bloatware-3725338/

That got me wondering: has anyone tried something similar with a GHL ProfiLux, i.e. writing a completely new firmware for it?

From what I can tell, the ProfiLux 4 runs on a standard ARM Cortex-M4 (Cypress FM4 family), and GHL's own emergency update procedure uses the chip's standard USB flashing route, so there's an official way back to stock firmware. I asked both ChatGPT and Claude, and both think getting a basic custom firmware running is realistic. Full feature parity (all the expansion cards, power bars, app) would require some extra work.

It would be great to finally have a usable OS with a great GUI and direct, fast remote access.

Has anyone looked into this, dumped the firmware, or mapped the hardware? Any experience or pointers welcome!

 

[areefer01]

The question is what happens when something goes wrong? Will you know how to fix it if you had a bot do it for you?

Half the battle in this hobby is knowing why you are doing something.

 

[BeanAnimal]

You are going to run into numerous issues with the architecture. While you may be able to write your own code to the microcontroller, you will have to reverse engineer their peripheral chip and device addressing space, and their CAN BUS network architecture and protocol specific that talks to other GHL devices. Some if it can be achieved through trial and error and physical inspection, but you would likely need to write your own bus protocol and build custom firmware to match for the peripheral devices.

I am not sure what a decompiler run on the existing firmware would yield.

 

[areefer01]

You are going to run into numerous issues with the architecture. While you may be able to write your own code to the microcontroller, you will have to reverse engineer their peripheral chip and device addressing space, and their CAN BUS network architecture and protocol specific that talks to other GHL devices. Some if it can be achieved through trial and error and physical inspection, but you would likely need to write your own bus protocol and build custom firmware to match for the peripheral devices.

I am not sure what a decompiler run on the existing firmware would yield.

Don't they offer an API now? Or was that Hydros. /shrug

 

[BeanAnimal]

Don't they offer an API now? Or was that Hydros. /shrug

They do - it is not RESTful, it is bespoke websocket based and kind of a mess for a few reasons. It offers reporting on some stuff and some control.

I built a very robust app/dashboard around it.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reeflogix-reflect-my-ghl-profilx-dashboard-application.1168650/

Here is one of the early dash screens.
It has built in VPN access, gdrive backup, customizable dashes, etc.