Crazy idea: run linux on a mips-based photo frame

Crazy idea: run linux on a mips-based photo frame

[Adilson Oliveira]

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Hi there.

I have a SPF-83V photo frame from Samsung and his software (WinCE 5)
sucks. I've being toying with the idea of running Linux on it and I
discovered this page[1] that shows a little bit about it's guts. I have
some experience with arm-based devices but never tried any mips-based
one but for what I can see, the hardware is pretty standard, the SoC is
an Alchemy AU-1200.
Has anyone here tried anything similar?

[]s and TIA

Adilson

[1]http://andrey.mikhalchuk.com/2009/01/19/fixing-samsung-spf-83v-leftright-buttons.html
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Re: Crazy idea: run linux on a mips-based photo frame

[Manuel Lauss]

Hi!

> I have a SPF-83V photo frame from Samsung and his software (WinCE 5)
> sucks. I've being toying with the idea of running Linux on it and I
> discovered this page[1] that shows a little bit about it's guts. I have
> some experience with arm-based devices but never tried any mips-based
> one but for what I can see, the hardware is pretty standard, the SoC is
> an Alchemy AU-1200.

Shouldn't be too hard: from the debug output logs it seems to be derived from
the Db1200 (the CE-port at least).  Find out the configuration of the memory and
statis bus controllers and you should be set to run Raza's YAMON on it.

Best regards,
      Manuel Lauss

Re: Crazy idea: run linux on a mips-based photo frame

[Adilson Oliveira]

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Em 16-04-2009 03:44, Manuel Lauss escreveu:

> Shouldn't be too hard: from the debug output logs it seems to be derived from
> the Db1200 (the CE-port at least).  Find out the configuration of the memory and
> statis bus controllers and you should be set to run Raza's YAMON on it.

Hi.

Thanks for the tips, that inspires me to start a project :)
Do you know how could I obtain this information about the memory mapping?

[]s and TIA

Adilson.
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Re: Crazy idea: run linux on a mips-based photo frame

[Adilson Oliveira]

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Em 17-04-2009 03:19, Manuel Lauss escreveu:

> I don't know WinCE very well, but I think you can simply dump the relevant
> registers from any app (at least that's what my colleagues tell me).
> 
> The registers you need are MEM_SD* and MEM_ST* (addresses can be found
> in arch/mips/include/asm/mach-au1x00/au1000.h.  To get the datasheet, go to
> Raza's Alchemy support site and apply for access.  I can't give you the
> datasheet directly due to a ridiculous NDA requirement.  But all information
> you need is in the kernel headers ;-) )
> 
> If the frame doesn't allow you to run "foreign" WinCE apps, then you'd need
> to find out where the JTAG pins are and use a probe to dump the registers...

Well, I spent the sunday trying to find a way to get this information
but wasn't able to run anything else or find any jtag points I could
use. Anyone with contacts inside Samsung can find more information? ;)
I would really love to dump this damn windows ce 5 from it but I can't
find a starting point...
I'm thinking very hard of trying any sort of ready-to-run distro created
for a basic AU1200 board and try to load on the frame using the firmware
update option on it just to see what happens. Is there such thing as a
ready-to-run kernel+rootfs I can load on a USB key?

[]s

Adilson.
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