JohnDMcMaster
Interface to flashrom
Hi! For a long time I thought about decompiling the client software minipro to see how it worked and trying to patch in some way so that it works with the chip kb9012 / kb9022
Among the loose ideas I had, I always liked having some open source programmer client to add new modules created by me or by other people in the community, and expand the list of ICs that can work with this programmer.
with this open firmware, it would be possible to make the tl866-a/cs compatible with https://www.flashrom.org/Flashrom ?? In my case, for example, the tl866 does not directly record internal flash of chip KB9022 (electronically it has no impediments other than making an adapter, and on the software side it does not have any impediments either, only that the manufacturer does not do it, and with a new tl866II-plus programmer, so we do not expect new updates of chips for the old a/cs model) It would be interesting to be able to make the flashrom.com tool compatible with this firmware and have access to the amount of chips that flashrom tool can handle.
In addition, I would be interested in actively helping, I am electronic and have knowledge of c/c# and pic microcontrollers 16/18 projects Excuse my weird English, it's not my native language
Cool project, had not heard of it before. A few quick observations:
- C based but designed for desktop, code probably won't fit on the TL866
- GPL licensed, which means we probably don't want to link against it, although it can link against us
- Provides a bitbang API (see bitbang_spi_master_type in programmer.h)
What would probably make sense to start with is to add TL866 bitbang using the USB API. Note both the vendor and open firmware supports bit-banging. However, we will also have to set supply voltages, which they aren't tracking today. Speed would be pretty low, but maybe this would be fine for rare use (ie the poor soul that bricked their BIOS as opposed to factory floor).
We'd love to have you contribute! The easiest way to reach us is via freenode IRC channel #proghq. Alternatively we can chat via github messages
Just as an aside, for KB9012 in particular this guide on how to flash it with the Bus Pirate might be of interest: http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Flashing_KB9012_with_Bus_Pirate
I thought about this as well. However, Flashrom has a database of chips combined with data how they can be flashed with all of the programmers they support too, as long as they support the same protocol. This is different compared to the TL866, because this database contains data that is only useful for the TL866 itself. If Flashrom would add support for this programmer we would add a quite large database that's only useful for this single programmer. In other words, it could work but I'm not sure if the Flashrom team is happy with this.
Wouldn't it be easier to just add functionality to the FlashROM application ... And create wrappers with wine or whatever for MacOS and whichever distros you wanted to support ..?
Obviously I'm here bc I searched to see if the TL866 II was ... secretly compatible with FlashROM.
Maybe I don't thoroughly understand the efficacy of editing the TL866 ROM.
Anyway, hoping. you've been secretly working on it and to my surprise, tomorrow they're will be an awesome update. :)
I've also landed here while searching if TL866 would be compatible with flashrom. If we can have it as compatible as a ch341 would be awesome.
