Those with a rooted Fire TV are surely familiar with the name rbox. He’s the one who creates the pre-rooted ROMs for the 1st-gen Fire TV that allow rooted Fire TV owners to continue updating to the latest software version without losing root. Without him, all rooted Fire TVs would be stuck on software version 51.1.1.0, which is nearly 18 months old now. After AFTVnews reader roligov learned that rbox did not own a 2nd-gen Fire TV, he contacted me asking if I would set up a donation campaign to get the Fire TV community to buy him one in return for all that he has done for us (and to encourage him to get interested in the new device). After verifying that rbox was okay with such a campaign, I looked into the various crowd funding services available. I’ve decided it’s not worth the effort to set up a campaign through a crowd funding service, so I sent rbox $110 myself to buy a 2nd-gen Fire TV. He has done enough for this website and its community for me to front the money myself. If you’d like to contribute to the purchase, you can chip in through the PayPal button below. If donations surpass $110, I’ll immediately remove the PayPal button from this post and refund any excess donations. Please use the button in this post to contribute to rbox’s 2nd-gen Fire TV and not the one on my donation page so that I can track/refund donations correctly. Note that, while rbox will be using his new 2nd-gen Fire TV to experiment with rooting and custom recovery methods, contributing to this donation fund does not guarantee he will successfully root the 2nd-gen Fire TV.
Update
Donations have reached $110 so the donation button has been removed. You guys are awesome. If you are feeling generous and would still like to contribute, you may donate to rbox directly or myself directly. Big thanks to the following people for their contributions:
James P. $9.41 ($10 donation – $0.59 PayPal fee)
Robert N. $9.41 ($10 donation – $0.59 PayPal fee)
Curtis R. $9.41 ($10 donation – $0.59 PayPal fee)
Carlos B. $9.41 ($10 donation – $0.59 PayPal fee)
Nathan S. $9.41 ($10 donation – $0.59 PayPal fee)
Eric K. $9.41 ($10 donation – $0.59 PayPal fee)
Larry S. $9.31 ($10 donation – $0.69 PayPal fee)
Marius G. $9.31 ($10 donation – $0.69 PayPal fee)
Alvaro A. $5.00 ($5 donation – $0.00 PayPal fee)
Dave W. $4.55 ($5 donation – $0.45 PayPal fee)
Jack M. $4.55 ($5 donation – $0.45 PayPal fee)
Tony D. $4.55 ($5 donation – $0.45 PayPal fee)
Driessle B. $4.50 ($5 donation – $0.50 PayPal fee)
Rick B. $2.61 ($3 donation – $0.39 PayPal fee)
Omar M. $2.61 ($3 donation – $0.39 PayPal fee)
William H. $2.61 ($3 donation – $0.39 PayPal fee)
Christopher B. $1.62 ($2 donation – $0.38 PayPal fee)
Lukas K. $1.62 ($2 donation – $0.38 PayPal fee)
@AFTVnews
AFTVnews
Chipped in a bit as my way of saying thank you for such an awesome site. I would’ve given up on my Fire TV a long time ago without all the invaluable information here on AFTVnews.com
You guys are awesome! Thank you both for putting time and money into this. I’ll donate what I can!
I got 5 on it.
Chipped in $10. Thank you, rbox and AFTV
just sent $10 your way.
You guys are making our lives easier with your efforts and hard work.
Donated $10.
I wish you would keep the extra for the site when you reach your donation limit. If it is refunded, please tell me where I can find your donation link.
I just sent $10.Thank you for the good job keep it up
Dang! I just donated $10 to rbox a few days ago before this campaign. I guess it all ends up in the same place. His tips early in the rooting process probably saved me from bricking the AFTV2.
Well damn, that didn’t take long
Awesome thing to do! This campaign prompted me to donate to him directly via XDA forums. I absolutely love this site and your right “without rbox” I would have already moved on to another device. Instead because of him and partly you (Elias) the FireTV has become the center piece of all of my TV’s as well as many of my friends and family. I almost never turn on my video game consoles unless it’s a NES of course (I preordered an Analogue NT…so excited). I don’t visit the site directly as much anymore becaus I can see all your posts via Twitter. Only clicking to open the link if the title catches my interest (it usual does though). Highly appreciate everything this little tight knit FireTV community has to offer. Judging by how things have gone thus far. I’d say, Elias, if you ever get into a pickle…this community you’ve brought together here just may be able/willing to help a brother out! Happy upcoming holidays to everybody! Love the community!
PS…Elias, as soon as I can “sign up” to your site. Then I will post under my known internet alias. In this current system someone could just type in the same credentials and potentially slander one’s name. So that’s why I always post as “Someone”. I notice in one of your podcasts when you answered my question regarding disabling the photos app. That you were confused/not ecstatic that I used such a generic name. I wanted to tell you why. Thanks again for that tip! Saved me 500MBs.
Damn these time zones. I just woke up and the campaign has started and finished. Never the less I’ve donated $10 (9YV247772Y973480G).
Thanks for getting this sorted Elias!
This site probably enjoys the highest traffic for AFTV related information.
And with your affiliate “tag” code on all links leading to Amazon, you probably also have profited immensely from rbox’s work.
So asking for donations to support you to support rbox kinda doesn’t sound right.
haha wow theres one in every crowd…….
What of all of the other work Elias does in regards to the AFTV?
Live video casts? Provide information from inside sources? Participates actively in other social media platforms (XDA forums, Reddit, etc.)? Create step-by-step guides for various AFTV operations/procedures?
Do you believe all of these things, and more, should not be rewarded at least somewhat through affiliate links? I think it is only fair that Elias profits in some small way considering all of the news and information he brings us in one site.
Asking for donations toward rbox and Elias’ contributions to rbox does not seem out of the ordinary to me. He even explicitly states that people can also donate directly rbox directly. Elias’ donation toward rbox will only serve to benefit the community here as a dedicated developer now has access to the latest hardware.
I think you would be hard pressed to make an argument that the rbox developer will suddenly forget the generosity Elias had toward them. I look at what Elias did as an investment in the community here and the AFTV communities elsewhere. Is it so wrong that Elias solicit donations after making a worthwhile investment in our community?
I wouldnt have even acknowledged him with a response. hes just bitter someone is better than he
When you say “someone”…do you mean me? Just curious…I didn’t know I seemed bitter.
On the topic of “John”
I thought it was a great idea. Got me to donate 50 bucks to rbox directly. So yea I appreciate that Elias bought rbox a fire TV and asked “us” (the Fire TV community) if we wanted to join in on the fun. EXCELLENT!
I can’t wait for the next campaign!
Man, if you ever wanna do chip-in fest for a 4th Generation Apple TV, I’m all over it!
The current exploits couldn’t even JB the 3rd gen…let alone the 4th gen. Plus KODI officially dropped support for Apple TV’s. I used to be all over the Apple TV’s but Amazon just does it better. And the FireTV community is shaping up fairly well. I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for us.
As for Apple…I have and always will use a jailbroken iPhone.
This reminds me of that episode of Seinfeld where Kramer is a really good photographer, but doesn’t own a camera and has to borrow a camera to take pictures.