CHDK, STICK, and a Toshiba Flashair

jamesheath

« on: 05 / April / 2016, 17:29:41 »

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Hi,

I've been using CHDK for a while for creating long duration time lapses, and getting great results.

I'm using an Ixus 70 (elph in the US) of which I have a few.

I've recently had a need to do even longer time lapses, so I've started using large cards - I've used STICK with great success - a really well put together system!

Now I've got a need to do a time lapse where I want to leave the camera undisturbed for many months, so I'm playing with using a 32 GB Toshiba Flashair wifi card.

I have managed to get the card working with Wifi from the camera, retrieving and deleting images.
I've managed to get CHDK booting off the wifi card....
BUT - I can't get the two working together.

When using the two partition SD card, I find that I have to leave the card "switched" to the small FAT16 boot partition for CHDK to work in the camera, if it's set to the FAT32 "photo" partition then it just won't boot in to CHDK.
but if I have the "boot" partition "active", then the wifi on the card only shows files from that partition, not from the photos partition.

So I'm looking for suggested solutions...

Can I make CHDK run without having set the "boot" partition to be active in windows?
Can I make the wifi see the "photo" partition even with the "boot" partition selected?

all ideas & approaches greatfully recieved!!

Thanks,

James

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waterwingz

11537

Re: CHDK, STICK, and a Toshiba Flashair

« Reply #1 on: 05 / April / 2016, 19:33:37 »

Quote from: jamesheath on 05 / April / 2016, 17:29:41

I have managed to get the card working with Wifi from the camera, retrieving and deleting images.
I've managed to get CHDK booting off the wifi card....
BUT - I can't get the two working together. When using the two partition SD card, I find that I have to leave the card "switched" to the small FAT16 boot partition for CHDK to work in the camera, if it's set to the FAT32 "photo" partition then it just won't boot in to CHDK. but if I have the "boot" partition "active", then the wifi on the card only shows files from that partition, not from the photos partition.

You've hit a fundamental limitation of Canon cameras released before 2011. They will only "boot" from a FAT16 partition. To get over this limitation with cards larger that 4G (the max size for FAT16), CHDK uses a dual partition boot scheme. Which as you have discovered does not play well with eyefi SD cards. CHDK knows to use the larger partition but the eyefi software does not know the larger partition is there and continues to use the smaller boot partition.

I think your only option might be to leave the whole card formatted as FAT32 and boot CHDK with the "Firmware Update" method. Not as convenient but workable. STICK will not format the card correctly to do this - you should low level reformat using the camera's Canon menu option, and then simply "unzip" your CHDK distribution file to the SD card (preserving the folder structure).

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Ported : A1200 SD940 G10 Powershot N G16

jamesheath

Re: CHDK, STICK, and a Toshiba Flashair

« Reply #2 on: 06 / April / 2016, 14:41:00 »

Thanks for the tip.

That's just the sort of workaround I was hoping for.

I've tried it and it works fine......
But...
(and there's always a but)
I'm planning on putting the camera way up in a tree - with power from a car battery on the ground.
In my previous set up, I had it autoboot in to CHDK, and have the power button jammed down (by cable tieing the mech in the diving case that's keeping it dry).
That meant that whenever the power was connected it would start running automatically.

But using the "Firmware Update" method, as far as I can see, you have to do this every time you power the camera, so if for some reason the power gets cut, I've got to get the ladders out & go back up the tree.....

So I think my options now are:

Risk needing to go back up the tree whenever power is lost
Format the card in Fat16 down to 4GB, and take the images off much more frequently
Buy a later camera that supports FAT32, and a diving enclosure for it (or maybe a cheaper waterproof case)

For option 3 - does anyone have a suggestion on a good model? Then maybe I'll hit ebay.

Cheers,

james

« Last Edit: 06 / April / 2016, 15:23:14 by jamesheath »

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jamesheath

Re: CHDK, STICK, and a Toshiba Flashair

« Reply #3 on: 06 / April / 2016, 15:31:07 »

Ah - one final option - is there any way to permanently change the firmware in the camera to CHDK? I'd be happy to do that......

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waterwingz

11537

Re: CHDK, STICK, and a Toshiba Flashair

« Reply #4 on: 06 / April / 2016, 16:18:41 »

Quote from: jamesheath on 06 / April / 2016, 15:31:07

Ah - one final option - is there any way to permanently change the firmware in the camera to CHDK? I'd be happy to do that......

It might be technically possible to puzzle out how to make the camera's firmware update function actually flash the firmware. But the standard CHDK build would not be suitable for that so you'd have to figure out how to make a working image that included CHDK. And any small mistake while you were fighting this out would brick your camera.

So realistically, the answer to your question is " No"

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Ported : A1200 SD940 G10 Powershot N G16