[E3-hacking] All your hard work...

[en4rab]

--- George Sanders <george.sanders at freezone.co.uk> wrote:

> Is it possible that Amstrad have locked down the E3 so tight to make
> sure it
> can't be hacked and they are laughing at this???

Im fairly sure Amstrad do have plans to introduce a bootloader that uses
RSA signatures to ensure the software it runs is properly signed so as
to stop you running your own software on the E3 but so far nobody seem
to have gotten an E3 from the shops with a new bootloader so it doesent
appear that there is any thing to stop you, that said i havent had the
chance to try my E3 which i have just bought.
Even if they did change the bootloader it isnt an overly difficult job
to desolder the NOR flash and reprogram it with the older bootloader
then resolder it onto the board, A £15 "gascat" gas soldering iron from
maplin with the hot air attachment will do for desoldering surface mount
chips if you are carefull and you can put them back on with a normal
soldering iron and some solder wick.
And for programming the chips there are several cheap programmers
available, im not sure what NOR chip the E3 uses but if its supported
then the willem programmer is quite a good one (www.willem.org) there
are several clones of this design available on ebay too.
en4rab

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