switching between different CHDK versions on the fly/road - Feature Requests - CHDK Forum

switching between different CHDK versions on the fly/road

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Offline PhyrePhoX

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switching between different CHDK versions on the fly/road
« on: 05 / February / 2008, 08:20:18 »
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Hi,
let's jump right into topic. how about a firmware-switcher (don't know if this exists yet).
i cant do it manually via the chdk-built-in filemanager because the diskboot.bin file is locked (cant move, rename etc). in the end, i want to test or use different flavors of chdk even when i'm on the road (no laptop, no cardreader, one single sd card).
is it somehow possible that chdk changes the files at runtime so that when i restart my cam another version can be loaded?
maybe chdk can scan a special "firmware trunk" directory in the root of the card and print out all versions that are found - and let's you switch to the one you need at that special occasion.

regards, phox
« Last Edit: 05 / February / 2008, 08:21:50 by phyrephox »

Re: switching between different CHDK versions on the fly/road
« Reply #1 on: 05 / February / 2008, 09:38:33 »
Deleted
« Last Edit: 22 / April / 2008, 10:54:22 by Barney Fife »
[acseven/admin commented out: please refrain from more direct offensive language to any user. FW complaints to me] I felt it imperative to withdraw my TOTAL participation. Nobody has my permission, nor the right, to reinstate MY posts. Make-do with my quoted text in others' replies only. Bye

Re: switching between different CHDK versions on the fly/road
« Reply #2 on: 28 / April / 2008, 10:51:37 »
Hi,

This sounds like a useful request.  I realize that "firmware" was the wrong term in the original post.  Since Barney's reply is deleted I don't know what the answer was.  I will guess that the reply was a negative.  I'd like to know why. 

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Offline fe50

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Re: switching between different CHDK versions on the fly/road
« Reply #3 on: 28 / April / 2008, 11:31:54 »
Hi,
could be a nice feature, at the moment i have different versions on one card, rename it on card reader, a PDA / organizer with card slot is also a possibility (or use one card for every "firmware" ).
By switching between different versions the current chdk folder should also be switched because of different files like config, fonts, lang-files, scripts... ;)

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Offline fudgey

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Re: switching between different CHDK versions on the fly/road
« Reply #4 on: 28 / April / 2008, 14:28:22 »
Since Barney's reply is deleted I don't know what the answer was.  I will guess that the reply was a negative.  I'd like to know why. 

I don't remember any better, but I would think Barney's answer definitely wasn't negative.

I for one would love to have this feature as well. I wouldn't have daily use for it, but it would make it easier to try out test builds. Many would probably like to have SDM coexist with Allbest too.

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Offline PhyrePhoX

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Re: switching between different CHDK versions on the fly/road
« Reply #5 on: 28 / April / 2008, 15:59:31 »
If i'm not mistaken whim did already invest some time and brains into this matter,outcome unknown though.

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Offline jeff666

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Re: switching between different CHDK versions on the fly/road
« Reply #6 on: 30 / April / 2008, 06:02:35 »
Loading a different CHDK should be quite straight-forward.

Thoughts:

Method to load CHDK:
1. Load new diskboot.bin
2. copy it to 0x1900
3. jump to 0x1900, new CHDK loads and restarts device.

possible problem:
We have an OS and several tasks running which may write to 0x1900.
There is a function to restart the device. This function should handle those. If problems are encountered we may need to

1. load new diskboot.bin
2. execute restart-code (copied from IDA into CHDK source), OS should be inactive, now.
3. move diskboot.bin to 0x1900
4. jump to 0x1900

I can test those two ways tomorrow and post results.

Cheers.

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Offline PhyrePhoX

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Re: switching between different CHDK versions on the fly/road
« Reply #7 on: 30 / April / 2008, 06:35:09 »
wait, there's gotta be a much simpler way to do this, right? restarting the camera can be left to the user for now (besides, this feature would come in VERY handy when for example i want to show other people the powerful use of their Powershots on the road - i just swap the binaries in the root folder and give the card to other person, owning another camera, hoping it has a supported firmware :D).
i think whim already tested that the bin & fir files can be overwritten at runtime. so basically we need an interface in the filebrowser (or more advanced - an own menu entry) that does just that - move the binary in rootfolder to e.g. /chdk/backup/ and copy a binary from a selected folder to root. in more advanced stages it should be possible to read out version strings from the binaries, so you can choose not only location/folder, but buildnumber, cameramodel, firmware and which "flavour" (sdm, chdk...).
i really think "hot swapping" isnt that important, cold swapping should be easier.
and like already suggested - at least copying/moving the corresponding cfg file would be a nice move too.

jeff, in this thread people already talked about this topic (restarting, jumping and the like): @ARM assembly gurus: How can we do a "cold reboot" from CHDK ? maybe there is some information for you in there :)

 

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