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TwiztedZero
Nine Zero Burp Nine Six
Premium Member
join:2011-03-31
Toronto, ON

TwiztedZero to yu13096

Premium Member

to yu13096

Re: Upgrading Firmware on Thompson DCM475

You'd have to come into downtown Toronto and find Teddy Boom See Profile

yu130960
join:2005-08-03
Stouffville, ON

yu130960

Member

Thanks I got a message into him. I wish there was a simpler at home method to force the update, but oh well.
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

mlord

Member

Well, I could try accepting a "gear deposit" and then mailing the flashing kit (pictured above) to folks, then refunding the deposit (less outbound postage and a $5 wear'n tear fee) when it gets returned.

But probably not economical that way. Postage alone would likely be $8+hst each way.

yu130960
join:2005-08-03
Stouffville, ON

yu130960

Member

It would work with a trusted group of technically capable people that didn't mess up your stuff. I would get the gear, pay the deposit and then ship direct to the next user rather than going back and forth (saving the expense).

I don't mind paying a little extra for the convenience.

FYI I am an at home dabbler in electronics having flashed consoles, sat receivers etc over the last 15 years.

Let me know if it makes sense, otherwise I am going to have to make a special trip downtown.

If there are others in Markham, Richmond Hill it may make more sense to pass it around so that mlord makes his money back faster.
stanimal
join:2012-11-04
Thornhill, ON

stanimal

Member

I'm in Thornhill; if you do decide to do this, I'd be happy to share in some of the cost.
Cory61
join:2004-09-28
Canada

Cory61

Member

Also in thornhill and would be interested in this.
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

1 edit

mlord to yu130960

Member

to yu130960
Something I could do, would be to make a duplicate of the flash rig, and sell it outright to one of you North Toronto area people. You could then provide the service to others in your area, and quite quickly make back the cost of the rig by charging a modest $5/flash fee.

The rig cost would be around $50, I think.. gotta add it all up.
But there would be a bit of a delay while I source another SD card slot.

Cheers

homer55555
@teksavvy.com

homer55555

Anon

if I plug the modem in the home of a rogers customer for a day would the firmware get automatically upgraded ?

Gone
Premium Member
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

Gone

Premium Member

said by homer55555 :

if I plug the modem in the home of a rogers customer for a day would the firmware get automatically upgraded ?

Nope, because the modem will still connect to your Teksavvy account regardless of where you plug it in.
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

mlord

Member

Click for full size
Updated flashing rig.
Updated version of the flash rig, with a more minimal SD card slot.

Inssomniak
The Glitch
Premium Member
join:2005-04-06
Cayuga, ON

Inssomniak

Premium Member

said by mlord:

Updated version of the flash rig, with a more minimal SD card slot.

Geek.

Haha I used to love doing this stuff, but that along with many other enjoyable hobbies went out the window when 2 kids and an ISP run your life.
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

mlord

Member

said by Inssomniak:

Geek.

.. says the person with a penguin for an avatar.
That's my "other" life.

Cheers

yu130960
join:2005-08-03
Stouffville, ON

yu130960 to mlord

Member

to mlord
Sounds great!

I'd buy it and then resell it locally to the next guy that wants to flash his modem on the understanding that it just keeps getting passed along with postings in this thread.

Let me know when it is ready and I'll send you the cash.
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

mlord

Member

said by yu130960:

Sounds great!

I'd buy it and then resell it locally to the next guy that wants to flash his modem on the understanding that it just keeps getting passed along with postings in this thread.

Let me know when it is ready and I'll send you the cash.

Seriously? If so, I think I might glob it in places with some hot-melt glue to keep things from falling off the breadboard. And then just ship the breadboard unit down that way.

Need some kind of "usage instructions" though -- I really ought to take some photographs of how to hook it up to the modem. I can do that for my own modem, but need to find another one with the heatsink obstruction issue as well for this.

random
@teksavvy.com

random

Anon

>If so, I think I might glob it in places with some hot-melt glue to keep things from falling off the breadboard.

I would use a huge heat shrink tubing over the whole thing. That's how I protect some of my homemade PCB. Future Electronics in Nepean sell Polyolefin ones which are soft. Not sure if they sell wide enough one for your breadboards. The transparent ones are good for inspection.

Hobby stores carry PVC based one for making RC battery packs etc., but they are hard and non-flexible.

As for "logic probe" (a few pages back), you can find "dupont wire" in places that sell electronics parts from China. They have proper 1 pin connectors that goes into the clips and 0.025" square post in connectors.

»dx.com/p/single-port-fem ··· &u=55454
Single Port Female to Female Jumper Wire Set (50-Pack/20CM-Length) for $4.90 US free shipping.
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

mlord

Member

said by random :

As for "logic probe" (a few pages back), you can find "dupont wire" in places that sell electronics parts from China. They have proper 1 pin connectors that goes into the clips and 0.025" square post in connectors.

:) You mean, like, the ones in the third photo above in this very thread?

random
@teksavvy.com

random

Anon

Yes. Those types of clips. It works fine with the Tek and old HP clips that I have, except the flat hp logic analyzer clips which uses a crappy pin that are formed by folding.

If you haven't gone so far down the development, I would have suggested reprogramming/re-purposing those $4-$6 "USBasp" cables from China to use as USB to SPI dongles. USBasp is open source programmer for AVR chips, so the Chinese copies would have same design. It uses V-USB, a bit-banging software USB stack. The 10 pin connector has power, AtMega8 SPI port and 1 GPIO line which is pretty much what you need to program SPI Flash. »www.fischl.de/usbasp/

TwiztedZero
Nine Zero Burp Nine Six
Premium Member
join:2011-03-31
Toronto, ON

TwiztedZero to mlord

Premium Member

to mlord
said by mlord:

Something I could do, would be to make a duplicate of the flash rig, and sell it outright to one of you North Toronto area people. You could then provide the service to others in your area, and quite quickly make back the cost of the rig by charging a modest $5/flash fee.

The rig cost would be around $50, I think.. gotta add it all up.
But there would be a bit of a delay while I source another SD card slot.

Cheers

Ideally one guy at each POI area, trained and ready to roll.
I'd prolly be interested in doing this too once I'm shown how a time or two.

random
@teksavvy.com

random to random

Anon

to random
There is a parallel port to SPI FLASH programmer that only require 4 resistors and a power source. I guess you have to magically obtain a copy of the firmware which tends to be the hard part.

rayer.g6.cz/programm/programe.htm look under SPIPGM.ZIP

>SPIPGM.ZIP ver. 2.1 [98 kB] (DOS/Win9x/NT/2k/XP/Vista/7/Linux) is a tool for programming serial SPI FlashROM memories attached to PC via parallel port cable. It can identify device, read, write, verify, erase and unlock flash memory. More info about needed hardware (CZ-only but schematics is self-explaining) here.