I Need your help..? Can someone who knows Cliff contact him to ask how the Amstrad Emailer deactivates itself or locks its features please…? I don’t see why you wouldn’t tell us now the device is obsolete, I did send a message on Twitter but no reply, that’s probably because he don’t know me, I need to know how it locks and how it does it, if we know then we might be able to find a way to activate, unlock them.

Has anyone managed to backed up there NAND from the E3,if so did you backup it when the Emailer was activated, if yes to both please can you shear it, I want to test and see if I can writing over my NAND with it, and how did you do it, there is no walkthrough on explaining on how to do this with pblq..?

Sky took over Amstrad in 2007 for 125 million, they got full control of it in 2010, (Sky removed the name Amstrad of they Sky+HD boxes and replaced it with the name Sky in 2010)that why they closed the Emailer service in 2011,they closed it because the phone numbers were from BT and Sky would have of paid BT to keep them(Amstrad did a deal with BT in 2000 with the first E1, its even had BT on the device), all they wanted was the satellite box part of Amstrad, that's how they made Sky Q (they brought it in-house so they could make them themselves) and Now TV, they never existed before and would not exist if they didn’t buy Amstrad. I wonder if Cliff works for Sky now or moved on. Amstrad exists only in name now, it don’t make or build anything, its the so Sky can hold on to what copyright Amstrad has like the copyright to the name and likeness of the ZX Spectrum, so when the ZX Spectrum Vega was made Retro Computer LTD had to pay Sky for the copyright to use its name and likeness.

”Yes I know a lot about Amstrad and the Emailer,I had to,to add stuff to the Amstrad and Emailer Wikipedia pages.. 😊 I have all 3 manualsE1,E3,E2(Shame they gone now from the Amstrad site, the links are there to the PDFs but they are dead because they go to Amstrad’s download site but that's been taken down by Sky,well Amserve.co.uk don’t work no more so it only time before Amstrad main site disappears) and 3 Emailers one E3 and 2 E2 Plusesssss.. lol. One of my Plus has the Configuration Change on it, I got that last year same as my E3, from eBay, they cost me £12 each with P+P,the other don’t work well it does but deactivated but keeping it and I got that in 2004, My mum bought for me before she died, she died 3 months later in October.”

Have a nice day..

Spanner..

From: Nick Griffinmailto:span1922@live.com Sent: ‎Saturday‎, ‎6‎ ‎April‎ ‎2019 ‎21‎:‎59 To: Discussion of the Amstrad E3 emailer hardware/softwaremailto:e3-hacking@earth.li

Try this… https://web.archive.org/web/20070531214536/http://web.ukonline.co.uk/cliff.l...https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070531214536/http://web.ukonline.co.uk/cliff.lawson/index.htm&data=02%7c01%7c%7ceb33954ea3244a4b540108d6bad2c7ac%7c84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7c1%7c0%7c636901811786841556&sdata=C7Axhbx4LR4wtjQfwieQqr9ul9y5lm3dVPALpplgNyw%3D&reserved=0

Spanner..

From: Antony Stonemailto:Antony.Stone@e3.open.source.it Sent: ‎Saturday‎, ‎6‎ ‎April‎ ‎2019 ‎20‎:‎16 To: Discussion of the Amstrad E3 emailer hardware/softwaremailto:e3-hacking@earth.li

On Saturday 06 April 2019 at 19:55:51, Nick Griffin wrote:

I found Cliff Lawson old website about Amstrad.. 😊 The files work on there too, so if you need to download something for you PPC640… 😊

https://eur04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fweb.archiv... ff.lawson/https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https://web. archive.org/web/20100111065846/http://web.ukonline.co.uk:80/cliff.lawson/&d ata=02%7c01%7c%7cec60a40c8c474674a9e108d6baafc57f%7c84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaa aaaaaaaaa%7c1%7c0%7c636901661420165108&sdata=AYuOwEPXcqIuCLVxgq/VMaeODqQOjH tk9ctgHx/uiEY%3D&reserved=0

That link gives me "Hrm. The Wayback Machine has not archived that URL. This page is not available on the web because of server error"

Antony.

-- 3 logicians walk into a bar. The bartender asks "Do you all want a drink?" The first logician says "I don't know." The second logician says "I don't know." The third logician says "Yes!"

Please reply to the list; please *don't* CC me.

_______________________________________________ e3-hacking mailing list e3-hacking@earth.li https://eur04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.earth....

I need help with PBLQ I don’t understand its commands and options what am I as pose to know how to use it, when there are no instructions on how to use it, all it has is a read me,please can David Given help me because he made it..?? or anyone who has used it…?? Like “ writeflash <filename> <offset>” I don’t understand what is offset and length is ,is length the size of the NAND..???? I am don’t know about pbl commands..??? Has anyone used this program before,I just hope I am not talking to myself or I will go mad…lol

”live@commodoreosmailto:live@commodoreos ~ READY. pblq -h pblq: Amstrad PBL boot load client v0.3.pre1. (C) 2005 David Given. Usage: pblq [<options>] <command...> Options: -h Displays this message -v Switch on verbose mode (what that) -r Reuse an already existing connection -e <model> Set which emailer model to use (what Mode do not understand) -p <port> Sets the serial port to use -s <rate> Sets the slow baud rate -f <rate> Sets the fast baud rate -m <size> Sets the maximum packet size (0=ask PBL) Commands: ping Pings the device, testing communication term Start simple serial terminal (is this like Putty, when I reset the email there is no txt just binary.) bless <filename> Makes a PBL image bootable (does this copy PBL to your PC as a bootable image or something) execute <address> Executes an on-device program and enters the terminal (not sure need more explaining) checksum <startaddress> <length> Calculates the checksum of an area of memory ( not sure is the binary code,so need the code for the area in the Memory so it can grab it) read <filename> <startaddress> <length> Reads data from RAM into the specified file ( Reads data from the memory and copies into a file,so you can copy it back) write <filename> <startaddress> Writes data from the specified file into RAM ( same as above but the opposite) readflash <filename> <offset> <length> Reads data from the NAND flash (very, very slowly)( not sure need help with offset and length do not understand) writeflash <filename> <offset> Writes data into the NAND flash ( same as above but the opposite) Addresses should begin 0x if you want them in hex. ( hex ok so starts with 0x so 0x1234567) WARNING. Use this program at your own risk. The author accepts no responsibility for any damage this program may do to your hardware. You have been warned!”

This needs a manual on how to use it properly,some I understand not all. I have notice there is not a lot of info on flashing the emailer and its not explained well, its like you put it up to show you have hacked it, but how do you expected to do it yourself, I have looked there is nothing on how to read the NAND from the E3,please someone make a walkthrough or explain offset and length..?

Not beaning funny but posting on here is hard, I have never used email so much,well I don’t use email, I know people on here don’t like Facebook so what about a Forum so all info can be in one place not scattered over different websites, it very hard to look up any thing in the Mailing list Archive because it has no search options so you have to press on each thread one by one.

Would you be happy If I make a forum for the Emailer, no point me making one if no one uses it..?? I am proberly 8 years to late…lol, I am good at making them, I make one for TheC64 Mini. http://thec64community.online

I think I know why you made the E3 Hacking Mailing list because you could at the time look at it on the Emailer by redirecting the emails to your email addy on Amserve.… 😊 would of cost a bomb to look at it at the time at 20p a collection. I only connected email once a day when I was using it and that was about £6.20 a month so it cost about £75 a year just to have it turn on…lol

Thanks.. Spanner..

Werid no one ever thought of backing up the firmware before putting new firmware on it,what would happen if you didn’t work.

You don’t have anything on the program you made pblq..?

This is the bit I want to get working..

“readflash <filename> <offset> <length> Reads data from the NAND flash (very, very slowly)”

What's the offset and length, I don’t know what that means..?

Spanner..

From: David Givenmailto:dg@cowlark.com Sent: ‎Sunday‎, ‎7‎ ‎April‎ ‎2019 ‎17‎:‎37 To: Discussion of the Amstrad E3 emailer hardware/softwaremailto:e3-hacking@earth.li

I don't think I had anything written down --- this was all years ago, remember. I have managed to dig up this old Getting Started page, with instructions on reflashing the E3 with Linux: https://wiki.earth.li/E3_Getting_Startedhttps://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https://wiki.earth.li/E3_Getting_Started&data=02%7c01%7c%7c0e1a78592f874400258108d6bb774552%7c84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7c1%7c0%7c636902518268872757&sdata=jSA8dIr7CFXUXgZwB59gzrKtzW7KRwpMzxRnlplSnv0%3D&reserved=0 Remember that we were all interested in running stock Linux on the machine rather than hacking the built-in firmware. Those instructions are all based around pbltool, which was the other tool for talking to PBL and which I'd completely forgotten about, but should work fine. Bear in mind that this will replace the stock firmware.

Regarding forums... I've never met a forum yet which was as easy to use as email, let alone coming close to the convenience of getting messages delivered directly to my inbox. (If this had been a forum I would never have seen your posts!)

Have you seen the mailing list archives at https://www.earth.li/pipermail/e3-hacking/https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https://www.earth.li/pipermail/e3-hacking/&data=02%7c01%7c%7c0e1a78592f874400258108d6bb774552%7c84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7c1%7c0%7c636902518268882768&sdata=qH/ycQtfYV6AwdUsRX94KqcBx3jpohM0Pscv9V5mZQg%3D&reserved=0?

On Sun, 7 Apr 2019 at 17:15, Nick Griffin <span1922@live.commailto:span1922@live.com> wrote: I need help with PBLQ I don’t understand its commands and options what am I as pose to know how to use it, when there are no instructions on how to use it, all it has is a read me,please can David Given help me because he made it..?? or anyone who has used it…?? Like “ writeflash <filename> <offset>” I don’t understand what is offset and length is ,is length the size of the NAND..???? I am don’t know about pbl commands..??? Has anyone used this program before,I just hope I am not talking to myself or I will go mad…lol

”live@commodoreosmailto:live@commodoreos ~ READY. pblq -h pblq: Amstrad PBL boot load client v0.3.pre1. (C) 2005 David Given. Usage: pblq [<options>] <command...> Options: -h Displays this message -v Switch on verbose mode (what that) -r Reuse an already existing connection -e <model> Set which emailer model to use (what Mode do not understand) -p <port> Sets the serial port to use -s <rate> Sets the slow baud rate -f <rate> Sets the fast baud rate -m <size> Sets the maximum packet size (0=ask PBL) Commands: ping Pings the device, testing communication term Start simple serial terminal (is this like Putty, when I reset the email there is no txt just binary.) bless <filename> Makes a PBL image bootable (does this copy PBL to your PC as a bootable image or something) execute <address> Executes an on-device program and enters the terminal (not sure need more explaining) checksum <startaddress> <length> Calculates the checksum of an area of memory ( not sure is the binary code,so need the code for the area in the Memory so it can grab it) read <filename> <startaddress> <length> Reads data from RAM into the specified file ( Reads data from the memory and copies into a file,so you can copy it back) write <filename> <startaddress> Writes data from the specified file into RAM ( same as above but the opposite) readflash <filename> <offset> <length> Reads data from the NAND flash (very, very slowly)( not sure need help with offset and length do not understand) writeflash <filename> <offset> Writes data into the NAND flash ( same as above but the opposite) Addresses should begin 0x if you want them in hex. ( hex ok so starts with 0x so 0x1234567) WARNING. Use this program at your own risk. The author accepts no responsibility for any damage this program may do to your hardware. You have been warned!”

This needs a manual on how to use it properly,some I understand not all. I have notice there is not a lot of info on flashing the emailer and its not explained well, its like you put it up to show you have hacked it, but how do you expected to do it yourself, I have looked there is nothing on how to read the NAND from the E3,please someone make a walkthrough or explain offset and length..?

Not beaning funny but posting on here is hard, I have never used email so much,well I don’t use email, I know people on here don’t like Facebook so what about a Forum so all info can be in one place not scattered over different websites, it very hard to look up any thing in the Mailing list Archive because it has no search options so you have to press on each thread one by one.

Would you be happy If I make a forum for the Emailer, no point me making one if no one uses it..?? I am proberly 8 years to late…lol, I am good at making them, I make one for TheC64 Mini. http://thec64community.onlinehttps://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http://thec64community.online&data=02%7c01%7c%7c0e1a78592f874400258108d6bb774552%7c84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7c1%7c0%7c636902518268902778&sdata=Uu4HkXdGmCj9HpotHubvvHsTlC4MPczZd9Baa10CkfY%3D&reserved=0

I think I know why you made the E3 Hacking Mailing list because you could at the time look at it on the Emailer by redirecting the emails to your email addy on Amserve.… 😊 would of cost a bomb to look at it at the time at 20p a collection. I only connected email once a day when I was using it and that was about £6.20 a month so it cost about £75 a year just to have it turn on…lol

Thanks.. Spanner..

_______________________________________________ e3-hacking mailing list e3-hacking@earth.limailto:e3-hacking@earth.li https://www.earth.li/mailman/listinfo/e3-hackinghttps://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https://www.earth.li/mailman/listinfo/e3-hacking&data=02%7c01%7c%7c0e1a78592f874400258108d6bb774552%7c84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7c1%7c0%7c636902518268912789&sdata=pNgvmXtovV%2BjHvR97iBJANQDgL%2Bc/XFX%2BAR/Mr4zemo%3D&reserved=0

-- ┌─── http://www.cowlark.comhttps://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http://www.cowlark.com&data=02%7c01%7c%7c0e1a78592f874400258108d6bb774552%7c84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7c1%7c0%7c636902518268922794&sdata=auc4K/aVGK%2BnSp5vwYC9iLdbwregkmB1dARtq0qrJ3c%3D&reserved=0 ─── │ "I have always wished for my computer to be as easy to use as my │ telephone; my wish has come true because I can no longer figure out │ how to use my telephone." --- Bjarne Stroustrup

readflash won't work. I'm not kidding about it being slow --- it's only a few bytes per second. PBL doesn't have a command to read data, so what pblq does is to tell it to checksum one byte at a time, and it figures out what the byte is from that. It's strictly a hack.

On Sun, 7 Apr 2019 at 22:44, Nick Griffin span1922@live.com wrote:

Werid no one ever thought of backing up the firmware before putting new firmware on it,what would happen if you didn’t work.

You don’t have anything on the program you made pblq..?

This is the bit I want to get working..

“readflash <filename> <offset> <length> Reads data from the NAND flash (very, very slowly)”

What's the offset and length, I don’t know what that means..?

Spanner..

*From:* David Given dg@cowlark.com *Sent:* ‎Sunday‎, ‎7‎ ‎April‎ ‎2019 ‎17‎:‎37 *To:* Discussion of the Amstrad E3 emailer hardware/software e3-hacking@earth.li

I don't think I had anything written down --- this was all years ago, remember. I have managed to dig up this old Getting Started page, with instructions on reflashing the E3 with Linux: https://wiki.earth.li/E3_Getting_Started https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https://wiki.earth.li/E3_Getting_Started&data=02%7c01%7c%7c0e1a78592f874400258108d6bb774552%7c84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7c1%7c0%7c636902518268872757&sdata=jSA8dIr7CFXUXgZwB59gzrKtzW7KRwpMzxRnlplSnv0%3D&reserved=0 Remember that we were all interested in running stock Linux on the machine rather than hacking the built-in firmware. Those instructions are all based around pbltool, which was the *other* tool for talking to PBL and which I'd completely forgotten about, but should work fine. Bear in mind that this will replace the stock firmware.

Regarding forums... I've never met a forum yet which was as easy to use as email, let alone coming close to the convenience of getting messages delivered directly to my inbox. (If this had been a forum I would never have seen your posts!)

Have you seen the mailing list archives at https://www.earth.li/pipermail/e3-hacking/ https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https://www.earth.li/pipermail/e3-hacking/&data=02%7c01%7c%7c0e1a78592f874400258108d6bb774552%7c84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7c1%7c0%7c636902518268882768&sdata=qH/ycQtfYV6AwdUsRX94KqcBx3jpohM0Pscv9V5mZQg%3D&reserved=0 ?

On Sun, 7 Apr 2019 at 17:15, Nick Griffin span1922@live.com wrote:

...

I need help with PBLQ I don’t understand its commands and options what am I as pose to know how to use it, when there are no instructions on how to use it, all it has is a read me,please can David Given help me because he made it..?? or anyone who has used it…?? Like “ writeflash <filename> <offset>” I don’t understand what is offset and length is ,is length the size of the NAND..???? I am don’t know about pbl commands..??? Has anyone used this program before,I just hope I am not talking to myself or I will go mad…lol

”live@commodoreos ~ READY. pblq -h pblq: Amstrad PBL boot load client v0.3.pre1. (C) 2005 David Given. Usage: pblq [<options>] <command...> Options: -h Displays this message -v Switch on verbose mode (what that) -r Reuse an already existing connection -e <model> Set which emailer model to use (what Mode do not understand) -p <port> Sets the serial port to use -s <rate> Sets the slow baud rate -f <rate> Sets the fast baud rate -m <size> Sets the maximum packet size (0=ask PBL) Commands: ping Pings the device, testing communication term Start simple serial terminal (is this like Putty, when I reset the email there is no txt just binary.) bless <filename> Makes a PBL image bootable (does this copy PBL to your PC as a bootable image or something) execute <address> Executes an on-device program and enters the terminal (not sure need more explaining) checksum <startaddress> <length> Calculates the checksum of an area of memory ( not sure is the binary code,so need the code for the area in the Memory so it can grab it) read <filename> <startaddress> <length> Reads data from RAM into the specified file ( Reads data from the memory and copies into a file,so you can copy it back) write <filename> <startaddress> Writes data from the specified file into RAM ( same as above but the opposite) readflash <filename> <offset> <length> Reads data from the NAND flash (very, very slowly)( not sure need help with offset and length do not understand) writeflash <filename> <offset> Writes data into the NAND flash ( same as above but the opposite) Addresses should begin 0x if you want them in hex. ( hex ok so starts with 0x so 0x1234567) WARNING. Use this program at your own risk. The author accepts no responsibility for any damage this program may do to your hardware. You have been warned!”

This needs a manual on how to use it properly,some I understand not all. I have notice there is not a lot of info on flashing the emailer and its not explained well, its like you put it up to show you have hacked it, but how do you expected to do it yourself, I have looked there is nothing on how to read the NAND from the E3,please someone make a walkthrough or explain offset and length..?

Not beaning funny but posting on here is hard, I have never used email so much,well I don’t use email, I know people on here don’t like Facebook so what about a Forum so all info can be in one place not scattered over different websites, it very hard to look up any thing in the Mailing list Archive because it has no search options so you have to press on each thread one by one.

Would you be happy If I make a forum for the Emailer, no point me making one if no one uses it..?? I am proberly 8 years to late…lol, I am good at making them, I make one for TheC64 Mini. http://thec64community.online https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http://thec64community.online&data=02%7c01%7c%7c0e1a78592f874400258108d6bb774552%7c84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7c1%7c0%7c636902518268902778&sdata=Uu4HkXdGmCj9HpotHubvvHsTlC4MPczZd9Baa10CkfY%3D&reserved=0

I think I know why you made the E3 Hacking Mailing list because you could at the time look at it on the Emailer by redirecting the emails to your email addy on Amserve.… 😊 would of cost a bomb to look at it at the time at 20p a collection. I only connected email once a day when I was using it and that was about £6.20 a month so it cost about £75 a year just to have it turn on…lol

Thanks.. Spanner..

---

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-- ┌─── http://www.cowlark.com https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http://www.cowlark.com&data=02%7c01%7c%7c0e1a78592f874400258108d6bb774552%7c84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7c1%7c0%7c636902518268922794&sdata=auc4K/aVGK%2BnSp5vwYC9iLdbwregkmB1dARtq0qrJ3c%3D&reserved=0 ─── │ "I have always wished for my computer to be as easy to use as my │ telephone; my wish has come true because I can no longer figure out │ how to use my telephone." --- Bjarne Stroustrup _______________________________________________ e3-hacking mailing list e3-hacking@earth.li https://www.earth.li/mailman/listinfo/e3-hacking

Hi Nick,

read <filename> <startaddress> <length> Reads data from RAM into the specified file readflash <filename> <offset> <length> Reads data from the NAND flash (very, very slowly)

Is it the distinction between RAM and NAND flash that's confusing you? Otherwise, they're pretty similar.

Not beaning funny but posting on here is hard, I have never used email so much,well I don’t use email

It's always a good time to learn to use email properly. It's the core of many projects' communications. Lots of data can flow into email, e.g. RSS feed readers, and cron-job output. And there are many programs that can read it, search it, and store it as a text file per email for access by the normal Unix text processing tools. Email is king. :-)