In The Groove (series) - Technical Details

Technical Details

In the Groove is built on a complete PC system dubbed the "Boxor" which runs a heavily modified version of the Debian GNU/Linux distribution. The computer contains a standard IDE hard disk (usually 40gb or 80gb in size), single-core 32-bit processor (Usually AMD Athlon or Intel Celeron), 128mb nVidia GeForce FX 5200 graphics card, 256MB or 512MB of DDR RAM, a Gigabyte Technology GA-8IPE1000 Pro2 motherboard, and a USB 2.0 hub (Cypress EZ-USB FX2) for transferring user statistics and edits onto a flash drive. On upgrade kits for Dance Dance Revolution machines, The Boxor includes a special I/O board called "ITGIO" for making a JAMMA connection to the machine. Some Boxors have slightly different hardware than others. The software used to run the game is a proprietary fork of the open source StepMania computer program. Anti-piracy measures are achieved through the use of a "serial dongle" which prevents execution of the software on an unlicensed computer. The official songs on the machine are archived and encrypted to prevent piracy of the "simfiles" that make up the official songs on the machine. The boxor came as a modification kit, designed to replace the internal hardware of a traditional Dance Dance Revolution arcade cabinet - custom adapters map the input from the pads and buttons to a joystick-like interface, and connectors to interface the PC with the monitor, audio, switches, and lights to provide compatibility with original DDR cabinets.

Because ITG and ITG2 are based on standard PC computer hardware and open-source software, enterprising users have found ways to hack the game and change settings and themes, add songs and modify the game in similar ways that Stepmania can be customized. The exploit involves using a USB keyboard to change the boot sequence on the machine's BIOS in order to boot a Linux distribution from a USB key. Once it is booted, full access to the hard drive and file system can be achieved. While this exploit works best on ITG2, ITG is also vulnerable to similar modifications, with the one hurdle that the monitor on upgraded DDR cabinets do not have the ability to display the correct refresh rate when in the system BIOS and in the Linux console. Users hacking an original In the Groove cabinet must perform the operations "blind", or disconnect the cabinet's monitor from the boxor and replace it with their own monitor.

Certain versions of the In the Groove 2 cabinet - in particular the ones manufactured by Andimiro, have BIOS passwords. In this situation users have to bypass the password by resetting the BIOS on the motherboard. This is typically done by removing the power cord and CMOS battery, then activating CMOS_PWD reset jumper on the motherboard of the computer.

It is also possible to physically remove the hard drive from the In the Groove cabinet, connect it to another Linux PC which is under the hacker's control, and modify the files on the hard drive that way.

Some users have been able to enable networking services on the In The Groove operating system, allowing root access to the machine through SSH or SCP in a networked environment for easier and quicker hacking.