What can I turn a Linux set-top box into?

Fripsy

Honorable
Jun 15, 2014
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10,520
As the title says I have 3 unused set-top boxes in my house and was about to sell them, but I saw a Linux embedded badge on it so I thought it could be repurposed.
It has ethernet, HDMI, VGA, A/V, SPDIF, USB 2.0 and LNB ports. Also a smart card and CI slots. It also supports Wifi and 3G over an adapter.

So once again, is there any way to reprogram and repurpose it, something similar to an arduino.
I'm pretty clueless about this stuff so thanks for the answers and patience :)
 
Solution
Unless you have toot login to those boxes OR can find instructions on how to load a standard Linux distribution, they will be of limited use.