e3-hacking February 2006

e3-hacking@earth.li

23 participants
32 discussions

Missing 16k page
by Matt Thorpe 20 Feb '06

20 Feb '06

Here is the second 16k page that people seem to be deleting, it is from a E3 build 1311. Hope it's OK to post this here!

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PARMS checksum??
by Matt Thorpe 20 Feb '06

20 Feb '06

Where are people finding this checksum for the PARMS block anyway? When we put the /bin/sh/ modification on we couldn't find it, but it works just the same!

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RE: [E3-hacking] e3 won't boot
by Matt Callow 20 Feb '06

20 Feb '06

> > From: Cliff Lawson <clawson(a)amstrad.com> > Date: 2006/02/20 Mon AM 09:24:38 GMT > To: 'Discussion of the Amstrad E3 emailer hardware/software' > <e3-hacking(a)earth.li> > Subject: RE: [E3-hacking] e3 won't boot > > Umm, silly question but did your "<modify params in block2.mod>" involve > fixing up the CRC? If it didn't the PBL won't recognise it as valid and it > looks like you erased the other MEM/PARMS/LDR from the flash so it has > nothing to fallback to. > > Cliff There is a chance that I got the checksum wrong, but I thought that replacing the original block would get me back to a booting machine. But, on further investigation, it seems like I've erased the next flash block as well! Scanning from 0x00404000 I find 3 PBL blocks: MEM (length 0x100) PARAMS (length 0x184) LDR (length 0x6648) So that means the LDR goes into the next flash block, but on my machine 0x00408000 to 0x0040BFFF has been erased. Any chance that someone could send me an image of the 16k that I seem to have erased? Matt > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Matt Callow [mailto:mc-spam@tesco.net] > > > > ./pbltool readflash 0x4000 0x400 block2 > > > > cp block2 block2.mod > > > > <modify params in block2.mod> > > > > > This e-mail and any attachments are confidential and intended exclusively for the addressee. If you are not the intended recipient please delete it from your system and notify the sender immediately. This message is attributed to the sender and may not necessarily reflect the views of Amstrad Plc or its subsidiaries. > > For further information on Amstrad Plc please visit our website: www.amstrad.com > > Amstrad Plc. > Brentwood House > 169 Kings Road > Brentwood > Essex CM14 4EF > Registered in England : No. 955321 > > > > _______________________________________________ > e3-hacking mailing list > e3-hacking(a)earth.li > http://www.earth.li/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/e3-hacking >

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RE: [E3-hacking] e3 won't boot
by Cliff Lawson 20 Feb '06

20 Feb '06

Umm, silly question but did your "<modify params in block2.mod>" involve fixing up the CRC? If it didn't the PBL won't recognise it as valid and it looks like you erased the other MEM/PARMS/LDR from the flash so it has nothing to fallback to. Cliff > -----Original Message----- > From: Matt Callow [mailto:mc-spam@tesco.net] > > > ./pbltool readflash 0x4000 0x400 block2 > > > cp block2 block2.mod > > > <modify params in block2.mod> This e-mail and any attachments are confidential and intended exclusively for the addressee. If you are not the intended recipient please delete it from your system and notify the sender immediately. This message is attributed to the sender and may not necessarily reflect the views of Amstrad Plc or its subsidiaries. For further information on Amstrad Plc please visit our website: www.amstrad.com Amstrad Plc. Brentwood House 169 Kings Road Brentwood Essex CM14 4EF Registered in England : No. 955321

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Re: [E3-hacking] e3 won't boot
by Matt Callow 19 Feb '06

19 Feb '06

> > From: "J. Snell" <paradoxheart(a)gmail.com> > Date: 2006/02/19 Sun PM 01:57:43 GMT > To: "Discussion of the Amstrad E3 emailer hardware/software" > <e3-hacking(a)earth.li> > Subject: Re: [E3-hacking] e3 won't boot > > eraseflash erases 16K pages, so it looks like you've erased more than you read. I guess it must be something like that. I'm just not sure what. There's a typo in my earlier post I did read 16k before I erased the block: ./pbltool readflash 0x4000 0x4000 block2 I've started reading more of the flash using pbltool and I have found so far: 0x00400000 - empty 0x00404000 - contains MEM, PARAMS, LDR 0x00408000 - empty 0x0040C000 - empty 0x00410000 - empty 0x00414000 - empty 0x00418000 - empty 0x0041C000 - empty 0x00420000 - empty 0x00424000 - start of linux this matches with the original boot message I save (before I broke it) PBL 32MB NAND 0MB.-->MEMv01.00.002,CopyLim=00220000h,CodeEnd=01400000h-->PBL......1MB.......2MB* System module loader - LDR V1.5 Build:0008 Assert Mod scan 10010100 to 10230100 MEM - 10024000 (flash 00404000) PARMS - 10024400 (flash 00404400) LDR - 10024800 (flash 00404800) LINUX - 10044000 (flash 00424000) num modules: 4 ... So, the only thing I can think of is either I've erased 0x00408000 to 0x0042FFFF or I need to tag the page 0x00408000 in some way. Can anyone confirm the contents of 0x00408000 to 0x0042FFFF on a working e3? > > On 2/19/06, Matt Callow <mc-spam(a)tesco.net> wrote: > > Hi all, > > > > I've been reading this list with interest for few months. Finally decided to buy an e3 this week, and I've broken it already! I've got it hooked up to my PC serial port and got pbltool working. Then i tried to get a shell prompt by modifying the init params in the 2nd block of the flash as follows: > > > > ./pbltool readflash 0x4000 0x400 block2 > > cp block2 block2.mod > > <modify params in block2.mod> > > ./pbltool eraseflash 0x4000 1 > > ./pbltool writeflash 0x4000 block2.mod > > > > The e3 now fails to boot, so I tried copying back the original block2: > > ./pbltool eraseflash 0x4000 1 > > ./pbltool writeflash 0x4000 block2 > > > > The e3 still does not boot! When I hook up a terminal to see the boot messages I get: > > > > Amstrad Delta - PBL V4.9 Build:1311 Assert Debug ICE > > PBL 32MB NAND > > 0MB.-->MEMv01.00.002,CopyLim=00220000h,CodeEnd=01400000h-->PBL......1MB.......2MB* > > > > and then it hangs. > > > > Any idea what I've done wrong? > > > > Matt > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > e3-hacking mailing list > > e3-hacking(a)earth.li > > http://www.earth.li/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/e3-hacking > > > > _______________________________________________ > e3-hacking mailing list > e3-hacking(a)earth.li > http://www.earth.li/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/e3-hacking >

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e3 won't boot
by Matt Callow 19 Feb '06

19 Feb '06

Hi all, I've been reading this list with interest for few months. Finally decided to buy an e3 this week, and I've broken it already! I've got it hooked up to my PC serial port and got pbltool working. Then i tried to get a shell prompt by modifying the init params in the 2nd block of the flash as follows: ./pbltool readflash 0x4000 0x400 block2 cp block2 block2.mod <modify params in block2.mod> ./pbltool eraseflash 0x4000 1 ./pbltool writeflash 0x4000 block2.mod The e3 now fails to boot, so I tried copying back the original block2: ./pbltool eraseflash 0x4000 1 ./pbltool writeflash 0x4000 block2 The e3 still does not boot! When I hook up a terminal to see the boot messages I get: Amstrad Delta - PBL V4.9 Build:1311 Assert Debug ICE PBL 32MB NAND 0MB.-->MEMv01.00.002,CopyLim=00220000h,CodeEnd=01400000h-->PBL......1MB.......2MB* and then it hangs. Any idea what I've done wrong? Matt

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the amstrad plus
by Brian 18 Feb '06

18 Feb '06

HOw can i stop the emailer Plus dialing into the server every day the manual comand does not work can any one help could i take out the cmos battery?? Regards Brian

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E3 musings
by Matt Thorpe 15 Feb '06

15 Feb '06

Hello! First mail but I have been lurking for a few months. My E3 reports the same build numbers as other E3s on this list, and seems to only have one PARMS module at flash 00404400. Have managed to gain shell access on my E3 via the init=/bin/sh method via Johnathans pbltool utility and have been taking a nose around the filesystem. A friend and I tried to rebuild its boot sequence from the /start_cramfs and /run_delta scripts, and we seem to have managed to get it to load it's kernal modules for all it's hardware gubbins, but the amstrad software itself seems to be called at the end of run_delta as follows: exec /bin/sh -c "\ while true; \ do \ /delta/watchman stnc_sys_boot.elf -r0xB20000,0x1400000 -C /dev/tty1;\ done\ " </dev/console >/dev/console 2>&1 We've tried running this command as is but it always results in an exception from watchman (with all registers on the dump reading 0 oddly) followed by a swift reboot. We get the same behaviour running the run_delta script directly once we've executed the commands in start_cramfs. Also, using an SMC 2202USB/ETH usb->ethernet adapter (via the pegasus.c driver) we have managed to set an IP address on the E3 and ping it over a LAN, however it doesn't seem to have any networking services on it as is so it is not a massive help. We also tried mounting various USB storage devices (hard drives and pendrives) but these get picked up and not claimed by any driver, and I believe someone said that a few months that they had managed this so it would be veyr helpful if they could let me know how as we'd like to pull the ELF binaries in /delta off to see if dissasembly helps our understanding of the system.

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Hello - new member
by Ken Boak 15 Feb '06

15 Feb '06

Hi, I just bought a couple of E2 emailers in the Post Office for £12.99 each. I have read most of the archive posts from the last year and concluded that there is now a monitor program for the E2, and there has been some success in running C on the ARM 7. I should like to enquire whether there has been any further work done on hi-jacking the software upgrade process, or diverting the emailer to call another server? Any update infor on E2 activities would be appreciated - or should I go to Currys and buy an E3 ? ;-) My interests in the E2 is to make a low cost platform suitable for the deaf-blind to communicate with one another, a sort of one to one chat keypad, with very large character fonts to suit the partially sighted. With hour long evening and weekend calls on BT either free or 5.5p you could do a lot of one to one texting in an hour - very cheaply. I have also been looking at alternative keypads for deaf-blind use, as qwerty can be a bit difficult, and resurrected the old 5 key "Microwriter" chord keypad, with a fair degree of success I like the idea from the archives about putting an E3 in a plain box and making it available as a cheap platform for kids etc. There was a project in India to do a sub-$100 laptop for school kids. The low power requirements of the E2 of about 7 watts makes it a fraction of the power of a laptop - and the screen backlighting makes it possible to type messages with the lights out - some kids might find that useful! regards, Ken Boak

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writing to flash
by mark 01 Feb '06

01 Feb '06

Hi, Today I mostly got fed up with programming and decided to reflash the kernel boot params. It all went well until I rebooted. Now the phone loads up PBL but then refuses to go any further. I erased the flash block at a 16k boundry and rewrote, the address was 0x4000. commands used were : $ pbltool eraseflash 0x4000 1 $ pbltool writeflash 0x4000 data If anyone can give me any info on how to restore it to its former operation I would be grateful (although I do have a backup machine arriving tomorrow hopefully). I think I just noticed what happened. pbltool adds 0x400000 to the address when reading or writing to flash but doesn't when erasing. So I am guessing that I've erased a block of flash I wasn't expecting to. I'll wait for the other phone to turn up and hope that they have the same flash contents. But if anyone has any info that could help I would be grateful, anyway PBL is still useable so I guess its back to programming. It would be nice to know where I went wrong though. Regards, Mark.

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e3-hacking February 2006