GB EPROM cart finally built, after about 10 years of never getting around to it!

Everyone's done one of these so I won't add much other than some photos. I already had the stuff... except the PLCC socket - I was still using UV EPROMS (DIP!) when I first got the rest of the stuff.

See kids, this is how you *actually* do a real ROM dump... none of that nandroid(etc) cheating! No virus-filled rapidshare downloads and a poorly written msword doc for this either!

Yeah, this was totally not worth the effort that went in to making it :P

MTK (Mediatek) debug cable

Reverse engineering crappy Android Linux hardware/platforms is much easier with a serial console when you have a working kernel, but no source (of course first attempt being GPL request, then when that fails, github/google). Many (most?) cheap smartphones at the moment are made using Mediatek SoCs like the MT6582, MT6589, or older MT6572. An interesting feature I found in these is that after the preloader stage, the LK bootloader and also the main kernel provides a 921600 baud TTL UART console port on the USB data lines, providing that it "sees" it during startup (else you get normal USB).

A "Prolific" PL2303HX cable will cost you about £2 from ebay. A CP210x might be a better choice, but they were just open boards so didn't look as nice.

The "2 minute" version is just swap the cable for a micro USB cable. The phone will charge if you connect the 5v wire, but the safe approach would be just connect the other 3 and leave 5v disconnected. Note that I put the green and white TX/RX the wrong way around here, on purpose to demonstrate what not to do *ahem*

That's the easy way... but the 5v input meant the phone boots up as soon as the cable is plugged in, which wasn't ideal. The few hours battery was no use really. I could have just put a switch on the cable - but that would have looked a mess. I opted for switching this using the DTR signal (ctrl-T in picocom). You might get lucky and find that DTR (pin 2 on the PL2303) is already connected up to a spare track or pad, but if not, SSOP isn't too small:

Take some switching parts from an old PC motherboard or something, I used a P-Channel MOSFET, NPN and a 10k & a 1k resistor, as shown in this non-standard & badly labelled diagram:

I tested it before compacting it! (also added an LED to show charging on/off). The phone is on the other end of the cable here... the LED isn't drawing 700mA :)

There's plenty of space to fit it inside the USB plug. If you can't use SMD parts, it'd probably sit above the PCB without issue.

The finished cable. "Why that horrible green?" - stops me thinking it's just a normal micro usb cable and plugging it in to something else and exploding it

Internal usb flash drive conversion (aka DIY USB DoM)

For a low-cost alternative to a commercially available USB Disk on Module, I made my own out of a regular USB drive and a 0.1" 5x2 pin header (ebay, like 20p each)

Retail: £50 (GBP) + postage  (e.g. [link])
DIY: £4 (GBP)

USB drive that I used: Transcend JetFlash 350 [link]

I did manage to get hold of a "vintage" Windows Vista ReadyBoost(tm) Module (same thing, with a silly name)... but even that was significantly more expensive!

There isn't anything complicated here, but some tips if you're doing this:

• Get the pinouts the right way around (it's mirrored)
• Insulate the reverse of the PCB (the header has *two* ports). Kapton tape works well.
• Solder the the NC pin to something - just to strengthen the connector
• Melt a bit of plastic into the NC hole on the connector
• If you use this exact same drive - there's 1 tiny plastic tab you'll need to snap off, and the "connector hole" needs (carefully!) making about 0.5mm wider for it to all fit back together. I opted for widening the casing, and filing the connector top+bottom; for a neater finish.

Here's some pictures:

These are annoying to dismantle without damaging the plastics

The "Vista" module I bought

If you're careful, you can save the USB connector for a future project. I was not:

 Hey, it works too!

 "In use"

The finished mod, and a side-by-side comparison with the one I bought:

 

P.S. yes, the cap still fits :)

"Zoostorm Desktop PC" - cheapo ebuyer i5-4460

I bought this a few days ago because it was cheap (£326). I couldn't find much about it beforehand, so planned to write stuff here... except they've stopped selling it :( That's probably why it was such a good price. Oh well, this will probably still apply to its replacement.

Here's what's inside it:

The motherboard is a Gigabyte H81M-DS2V
Western Digital "Blue" HDD
Corsair RAM
Akasa HSF
Generic Chinese no-name case and PSU

I was pleased to see it built using mostly branded stuff, and it runs almost silent when idle; and doesn't sound too bad under full load.

So, what's wrong with it? Just these (minor gripes):

The power light will burn your retinas off. Typical of cheap stuff, it's far too bright, and blue. Why are they always blue?! It was "cool" when the Playstation 2 first got released...

And this is what the horrible Gigabyte monstrosity of a bios looks like. Also it was Revision F2 out of the box... and they're up to F5 as of a couple of months ago.








Or you can switch it to "Classic"
(which is just as bad)

And if you want to use this for a diskless PXE client or something, pick something else. It comes with this "feature":

Finally, the SATA HDD came plugged into a 3Gbps socket rather than the 6Gbps one sat right next to it. Would it make a difference? Probably not, but still!

Linux Stuff

I've been messing around with various Linux-y things recently... anything that might be remotely useful to anyone else will appear here:

GitHub (stevenhoneyman)

...or maybe here: Arch Linux AUR packages (stevenhoneyman)

...Also, over a year since I last updated this blog/site...oops! 

Fujitsu AH532 (+dual SSDs,linux,not UEFI)

I bought another laptop last week in the eBuyer sale. Fujitsu Lifebook AH532. It's pretty unique in that it has an expresscard slot... but I chose it due to it meeting my other requirements: 3rd gen i5, integrated graphics, 3x USB3 sockets, and gigabit LAN (can you believe lenovo's cheapo i5 laptops still have 10/100?)

http://www.ebuyer.com/411438-fujitsu-lifebook-ah532-laptop-vfy-ah532m35a2gb

I had no intention of keeping the RAM, Disk, ODD, or OS so ignore those stats. Anyway, after I'd ordered it I then found some horror stories of how it comes with the evil UEFI BIOS replacement. If I installed linux, I'd need to short out pins on the motherboard to get it booting... hmmm...

http://www.linlap.com/fujitsu_lifebook_ah532

Easy to upgrade (original ODD + HDD below)

Got it, clicked in 16GB of RAM, two Sandisk SSDs (one in a 2.5->ODD adapter), and it starts up fine. No screwing around with UEFI or GPT or anything, it even happily continued to boot from the RAID1 linux install I had on those SSDs (MBR not GPT!)

You need a torx screwdriver to take the mounting bracket off the factory fitted Sony DVD writer - no idea why they used torx (the drive is held in with a single Philips screw), but really - who takes laptops to bits and doesn't have a set of torx screwdrivers? The hard disk doesn't need a caddy or any special brackets, one screw holds the plastic cover on, then 2 screws hold the disk in place (Mine came with a WD branded disk). I think it's quite funny that the Win8 sticker is on the bottom of the laptop. It's almost as if they were embarrased about it!

It consumes 12-15W on the mains, fully charged, and idle

Moral of the story: don't believe everything you read on the Internet!

My first day using Android (as an iOS user)

I sort of impulse-bought a Nexus 7 tablet today. I'm a long time iOS user, going from iPod Touch, to iPhone & iPad. Don't get me wrong, I love my iPhone & iPad, but Apple are really starting to annoy me with some of their decisions recently (we need Steve back!)

Anyway, I thought I'd note a few things (mostly irritating) that I've discovered so far in using Android on this tablet. I really do like this device, and it does have some features I've thought "Wow, that's better than on my iPad", but as always, the good stuff gets forgotten, and people remember the bad stuff :)

So here goes (in no particular order really):

• The power button is a little bit too far around the back of the unit in my opinion. It doesn't "click" as well as an iPad button either
• Encrypting the device made it heat up to the temperature of thermite (well, maybe a little under, it got very warm at least) - guess that comes with it using 100% cpu for an hour or so
• The button bar thing at the bottom (you know, with back, home, and the other one on it) - what a waste of valuable screen space. Even more so in landscape mode. Give me back my pixels dammit
• Why is there no standard easy way to exit apps (fully)?
• The Android eBay app (at a first glance) is AMAZINGLY better than the shitty iOS "Fisher Price" version they've just vomited out
• Why allow apps in the marketplace that require root access, and then do not provide an official way to get root access? That's retarded.
• Speaking of which, not providing an easy way to do a full backup of the device to a PC is also stupid. (apps that require rooting DO NOT COUNT)
• Also, what kind of a stupid name is "Google Play"? Sounds as unprofessional as the OS names. "Hey I'm using Jelly Bean Magic Sandwich Icecream Pie edition"
• PROTIP: when the Google man tells you the weather in Fahrenheit and you have no idea what that is in English - to change it to degrees C, you need to go into the Google Cards thingy rather than settings. Yeah, it took me an age to find as well.
• Where is "Copy Address Location" on the 'right click' menu in firefox? It's not there. Fix your browser Mozilla!
• Entering an IP address in (chrome at least) is like near impossible! Every key you press it seems to swap out the keyboard for a different one (letters --> numbers and back). When you're on the 2nd block of digits and you're just getting the hang of it swapping, it stops swapping! What?!
• Connectbot (SSH client) is the best thing ever. Best clearest teeny tiny font. Way better than iSSH (iOS). I'd pay money for this app but it's free. Also note: You need to get Hacker's Keyboard to go with this (also free)
• On a related note, if you don't want Hackers keyboard always on, but can't be arsed going all the way into settings to swap them over - the secret hidden way is in the notifications area once you've given focus to a text area.
• Finally, Google's "Recommended for you" apps list sucks. It tried to tell me to buy football scores apps and stuff. Maybe it'll get better once I get a few hundred more apps or something. We'll see...

Despite this list of minor gripes, I really am starting to like Android & the Nexus 7. Buy one.