A590

[JEG]

I'm new to this CHDK concept.

The A590-IS has an annoying limitation on 640x480 movie clips. It's set at 20 fps. I mean WTF, with the exception of the A530, every A5,A6 & A7 model since 2006 has 30 fps for 640x480 video .

Would it be possible to create a CHDK that enables 30 fps? Hell, I'll settle for 24 fps. Then the A590 would be a perfect purchase.

Is this just an encoder parameter setting or was a hardware component omitted to cut cost or make the camera more power efficient (a slower processor was used perhaps)?

I was going to recommend the A590-IS to friends deciding on getting a camera, but now I'll suggest tracking down last year's A720-IS instead.

[x286]

I've been following the progress of porting the sd1100 closely since it somewhat poses the same problems as the A590. Still no process on the A590? Since the ordinary udumper method doesnt work does this mean we are stuck without a dump of the firmware till someone actually uses hardware to dump it?

Could chrs udumper 2008 be used for the A590?

*edit* I would gladly try myself but I don't actually own a A590. If we could manage to dump the firmware at least there would be something to work with.

[73113]

I was checking for progress on the a590 as well..
I do own one but I am a total newbie on digital cams so also their firmware.
If someone could tell me what to do step-by-step I could certainly try to help.

[x286]

I was checking for progress on the a590 as well..
I do own one but I am a total newbie on digital cams so also their firmware.
If someone could tell me what to do step-by-step I could certainly try to help.

There has been no confirmation from chr that his version actually could work for the A590 but this is how you would do it.

1. Download udumper 2008
2. Unzipp the file
2. Format the SD-card (make sure it's formated FAT 16 and avoid using cards that are over 2gb)
3. Apply 'bootable.exe' to the SD-card (from the unzipped folder)
4. Copy 'empty.dum' to the SD-card (from the unzipped folder)
5. Copy 'diskboot.bin' to the SD-card (from the dryos_2008 folder in the unzipped folder)
6. Put the SD-card in write protect mode (flick a small switch on the card itself)
7. Insert the SD-card into the camera
8. Start the camera in Review mode
8* If the camera just starts normally the dumper isn't working and then you can just give up
8** If it hangs remove the batteries, wait, put em' back and try starting it again
9. Wait a minute
10. Remove the SD-card from the camera and put it in your card-reader
11. Open 'empty.dum' in a hex-editor. Hopefully it contains the firmware, otherwise it will just be full of zeros. (If you don't know how to use a hex-editor just upload the 'empty.dum' here and me or someone else will check it)

[chr]

I'd like to add:

I was checking for progress on the a590 as well..
I do own one but I am a total newbie on digital cams so also their firmware.
If someone could tell me what to do step-by-step I could certainly try to help.

There has been no confirmation from chr that his version actually could work for the A590 but this is how you would do it.

How? I only have a SD1100. It's up to you to confirm

1. Download udumper 2008
2. Unzipp the file
2. Format the SD-card (make sure it's formated FAT 16 and avoid using cards that are over 2gb)
(My cam shipped with a 32MB card. It's perfect for this job )

3. Apply 'bootable.exe' to the SD-card (from the unzipped folder)
(Read how to make a Bootable SD card - CHDK Wiki)

5. Copy 'empty.dum' to the SD-card (from the unzipped folder)
4. Copy 'diskboot.bin' to the SD-card (from the dryos_2008 folder in the unzipped folder)

6. Put the SD-card in write protect mode (flick a small switch on the card itself)

6.5. remove the batteries, wait, put em' back (otherwise it might refuse to boot)

7. Insert the SD-card into the camera and close the door, FTW!
8. Start the camera in Review mode (and only use this mode! We don't want to track the lens!)
8* If the camera just starts normally the dumper isn't working and then you can just give up (no, verify steps 3,4,5 and 6 !)

8** If it hangs remove the batteries, wait, put em' back and try starting it again
8***. While dumping the fw, the cam looks "bricked". In my udumper I added a AF-LED on/off to have some feedback. But the LED adresses may differ between cam models: Maybe it switches any other LED on or none at all. I hope and believe, it does not engage any mechanics

9. Wait a minute
9. Wait 10 Seconds (Your SD card is not that slow, isn't it?)
9.5 LED stays on=we hang, LED off=finish (if any LED went on)

10. Remove the SD-card from the camera and put it in your card-reader
Also remove battery. The cam is not "off" and sucks power!

11. Open 'empty.dum' in a hex-editor. Hopefully it contains the firmware, otherwise it will just be full of zeros. (If you don't know how to use a hex-editor just upload the 'empty.dum' here and me or someone else will check it)

[73113]

Ok thanks x286 and chr for making it easy on me. So I tried.

However the cam boots up normally so it seems it doesn't work on mine

Now what do we do?

[chr]

Does it show "card locked" on screen ?

[73113]

yes it did show that. I must have done something else wrong.

Now i tried a second time. Now it doesnt start up or do anything. That's ok right?

So I waited 20 secs and took card out again. The empty.dum is the same size as before so im not sure it worked..

anyway here it is RapidShare: Easy Filehosting

[Hacki]

The dump seems to be ok. I stripped leading and trailing garbage, so its much less data to download, ready to be disassembled with IDA:

http://mighty-hoernsche.de/chdk/dev/a590_stripped_1.bin.bz2

Regards

[x286]

Indeed it looks like a real dump. The first step towards porting the A590 has been taken. That dump should be added to the wiki. (it however seems to be offline right now)

Thanks to everyone involved! Hopefully we can find someone who can actually port it too. 

[fe50]

...That dump should be added to the wiki. (it however seems to be offline right now)

Done (A590IS page & news).

[73113]

Indeed it looks like a real dump. The first step towards porting the A590 has been taken. That dump should be added to the wiki. (it however seems to be offline right now)

Thanks to everyone involved! Hopefully we can find someone who can actually port it too. 

Great!
I hope someone who can do something with it will come along soon.
In the meantime there's opportunity to practice the basics with my cam

[jeff666]

The dump seems to be ok.

It's shifted up by one byte, thus I had to remove the first byte before loading it into IDA. You may consider changing the file.

Result:
Signatures apply, idc-scripts find functions and basic startup is what I expected. The dump is ok.

Note: The dump ends early. Everything needed for porting is there, though.

Note2: Firmware Version 1.01B

Cheers.

[aramok]

yes so do ithink like you
we waiting porting dump for will  be safe
and
when dump is safe for camera
how is we install it

[73113]

Is anybody analyzing the firmware at the moment?