IXUS 170 Porting

Hi all!
I've previously enjoyed using CHDK on a Powershot A630. Sadly, that camera got stolen, and has now been replaced with a new IXUS 170. However, there's no CHDK for that camera, yet.
I'd like to help in porting CHDK to the IXUS 170. I'm a noob with some previous software development experience, and I'll probably need considerable hand-holding from some old salt.
The IXUS 170 uses the DIGIC IV+ as its processor.

To begin with, here's the firmware dump. This is from firmware revision 100a, as identified by ACID. The log from basic dumper script:
Started
FF810000 dry
done

What now?

I'd like to help in porting CHDK to the IXUS 170. I'm a noob with some previous software development experience, and I'll probably need considerable hand-holding from some old salt.

Hi,

I didn't get involved with porting cameras but I can tell you that not a single port for a Digic IV+ camera is on the supported camera list today. See this resource: http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/For_Developers. Porting I170 would thus need more than "considerable hand-holding" but I'm sure others will comment on that more.

The page I referred to lists that the IXUS 170 FW was missing so thank you very much for providing that. I'll put a note in the according forum place so it gets picked up. Please leave it on-line for a while.

I can tell you that not a single port for a Digic IV+ camera is on the supported camera list today.

The IXUS160 is a DIGIC4+ camera with a currently active porting progress and a mostly functional release.

The page I referred to lists that the IXUS 170 FW was missing so thank you very much for providing that. I'll put a note in the according forum place so it gets picked up. Please leave it on-line for a while.

Hey, no problemo! The fw will stay online for the moment, it's in my Dropbox so as long as that stays online... But it would be nice to get it hosted somewhere, if there is a "designated" place to do that...

The IXUS160 is a DIGIC4+ camera with a currently active porting progress and a mostly functional release.

Yup, I found the thread and posted in it. I'm hoping that progress can be used with the 170 as well, but the Wiki says several times that different cameras need different software, so that's why I started a new thread for the 170.

The IXUS160 is a DIGIC4+ camera with a currently active porting progress and a mostly functional release.

Oh, that's great. I was not aware of it and the developers list has not been updated accordingly to make the IXUS 160 magenta instead of blue. So, I read all cameras as "Blue - either original firmware or firmware dump is available; porting is needed". That increases chances for the requested "considerable hand-holding" of course.

Hey, no problemo! The fw will stay online for the moment, it's in my Dropbox so as long as that stays online... But it would be nice to get it hosted somewhere, if there is a "designated" place to do that...

Yes there is a google drive account for that and it being put there was what I meant when I wrote "so it gets picked up". This is the thread in the firmware dump forum I started for that.

Yes there is a google drive account for that

Okiedoke, so I've tried to put the dump in there (packaged as 7z like the others), but it gets deleted each time the upload finishes. So, I guess I don't have write privileges to the Drive?
If you/someone could up it for me, great.

Otherwise, I think we're at:

analyze the firmware, find out where key routines are.
 modify the source code to add the locations of these key routines

Any tips on good binary analyzers/disassemblers on the Linux platform?

If you/someone could up it for me, great.

That was the purpose of the thread in the FW forum. Our Guru member fe50 maintains the drive account and should pick up your dump some time and put it there. Thanks for trying to upload it though.

Step:- #0 Of a "Quick and Dirty" CHDK Double Blind Ixus-170 Porting "Attempt".

Note:- #0 For "Clarity" some important details have been omitted for this post.

The underlying "Assumption #1" here is that there is a "Simple Statistical" relationship
between the Ixus_1X0-100a_Strings, for "Similar" Canon P&S released camera models.

The underlying "Assumption #2" here is that there is also a "Simple Statistical"
relationship between the Ixus_1X0-100a_Strings, and the "Valid, CHDK, HEX Offsets" for
"Similar" Canon P&S released camera models.

The underlying "Assumption #3" here is that there is "NO Simple Statistical"
relationship between Canon_P&S Strings for "Dis-Similar" Canon P&S released
camera models. An Example here is the models Ixus-170 and the Ixus-265.

The underlying "Assumption #4" here is that the smaller the "Total %" Differences,
the easier the CHDK Porting "Attempt" will be and smaller the initial "Porting Time"
will be.

The underlying "Assumption #5" here is that "If" the underlying D!GIC(+) hardware is
changed then the CHDK Porting "Attempt" will become much more complicated.
An Example 1 is the "capt_seq.c" file which is about 50% of this CHDK Porting "Attempt".
An Example 2 here is the D!GIC-4+ Vs  D!GIC-4 Porting "Attempts".

The attached files show how the Ixus 160 and Ixus 170 firmware dumps are related.

H-H

Step:- #1

This just shows how the Firmware Dumps are related.

Ixus_160-100a_Strings Vs Ixus_170-100a_Strings.
[Also See, the attached Graphic versions, i.e The Valid, HEX Offset "Distributions".

  818   Same row(s) (... Aprox.)      [Valid, HEX Offsets]
35363   ignored Unimportant Difference Row(s)   [Valid, HEX Offsets]
=======
36171   "Total" of the Unimportant Differences   [Valid, HEX Offsets]

  518   important left orphan row(s)   [Ixus_160-100a_Strings]
  633   important right orphan row(s)   [Ixus_170-100a_Strings]
=======
 1151   "Total" Differences.

=======
   "Total %" Differences.

H-H