Hacking the E-mag?

[Have Blue]

Blue LEDs not available, sorry... The choices are green, yellow or orange. Cost would probably be $40, installation is a snap (pop out the old one, plug in the new one).

[Have Blue]

Well, even though the response seems minimal, I may go ahead and order a batch of the green displays.

In other news, I've successfully downloaded the v1.35 code from an E-Mag board - many thanks to jeffremiller for his assistance :-) Now to see about porting my Warlord code for the Tribal over to the E-Mag...

I used a Kanda ISP programmer (not the USB programmer that AGD uses, though - I'm way too cheap for that) to do this, though I'm sure other makes of ISP programmers can do just as well. If you have an ISP programmer, here's the pinouts on the E-Mag board that are of interest:



I'm rather surprised that AGD went with this particular processor to interface with a display (that doesn't have an internal character set) _and_ with the original intent to interface with a Basic stamp - there just isn't a lot of codespace left in v1.35 - only about 78 bytes (and note that the AVR uses 16-bit long instructions, so 2 bytes per instruction!). Anybody know if AGD will continue to use this microcontroller for future versions of the board? I think that the code could be compacted down a little bit - there's around 104 bytes beginning around 0x48 that look like a table of data. However, only the low (or it the high?) byte is used - with a little extra work to utilize the other byte (or maybe moving some of the data to unused space in the EEPROM), you could probably squeeze 40-50 bytes more space out of the program.

The EEPROM is fun to play with, too - I've rolled the shot counter back to 0 on this board somehow. Haven't quite figured out the shot storage yet, but 0x04 appears to be the LSB of the shot count.

I'd post a link to the .hex file that I sucked off the board as well as the disassembled code, but I'd first like to know if Tom would sue and/or castrate me for doing so...

[donggie]

Great NEWS!!!! the developments... not the sueing and castration. Would like to get a hold of that code if it's possible since I'm trying to work out something similar. Granted I do not have the tech knowledge to do it myself, I am currently working with someone who apparently won't even touch it without that code. Anyway, any assistance you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Don

[Potatoboy]

I wouldn't distribute that source or the Hex if i were you. The Emag software is under copyright and it is not open source. Technically, even the dumping of the board that you have done is in violation of the DMCA. Not that I support the DMCA or don't approve of what you're doing, but I'd be real careful if I were you. No matter how cool the company is, they usually don't like people infringing on their Intellectual Property.

[jeffremiller]

Probably a good point Potatoboy.... better keep even the hex code private.

Showing how to pull the code shouldn't violate anything...but the actual act of doing it is definitely debatable.

As far as the DMCA... well... don't get me started.

But since you did bring it up... anyone else have a DeCSS T-shirt?

J_

[Have Blue]

Actually, I don't believe that dumping the board would be in violation of the DMCA. However, posting the description of how I did it along with the picture could concievably be in violation IF there were, as the law states, a 'technological measure that effectively controls access to a work' in place. But in this case, there is no measure in place that controls access - the code is there for anyone with an AVR ISP programmer. v1.37 is a different matter, as it is read protected. But then again, I'm not a lawyer.

At any rate, I won't post the .hex or disassembled code until AGD either grants or denies permission.

[Have Blue]

Oh, one other thing I should note... When I dumped the code, I had the E-Mag board power off and removed the LED display (so as not to cause excessive current drain). The E-Mag board was thus being powered by the ISP programmer. However, it is possible to have the target (E-Mag) board powered separately according to Atmel's ISP datasheet.

[Have Blue]

Well, now this is interesting... Tom said at tech training that the output pulse to the solenoid is 40ms long. However, I just scoped the output on a v1.37 board and it's only 30ms. Did the pulse duration get changed at some point, Tom?

[Kevmaster]

maybe this is just my non electrical mind speaking, but wouldnt a "Morlock" board from Kenshaw Mountain Markers be an easier upgrade? youd lose the LED, but you would gain a ACE and many firing modes. that is...assuming it would fit in there...but the little booger is pretty small
here is KMM's site: http://exarin.com/

i know i saw a pic SOMEWHERE of the board being someting like the size of two pennies. its pretty damn tenie

[donggie]

I'm already talking with them.


don

[Have Blue]

Sure, it would be easier, but I want to have my own hardware or software. I should be able to cram one of my Warlords into the E-Mag frame as it is, but I'd like to hack on the stock board some to gain familiarity with the Atmel, and possibly develop a software upgrade.

[donggie]

Have Blue,

That's a good idea. Please keep us informed of any developments or assistance we might provide.

Don

[Have Blue]

More hacking results....

The alpha characters stored (and thus able to be displayed) are: ABCDEGHLMOPRST (if you try displaying a character not in the set, a colon is displayed). You can thus modify the startup 'AGD x.xx' message to anything using those characters....

[donggie]

Nice... hows the carry over of the warlord program going?

Don

[Have Blue]

Porting over the Warlord code is slow going. I have a fantastic compiler for PIC development, but nothing for working with AVR micros. Been playing with GCC-AVR, though, and it may suit my needs (the price is right, anyway).