WholeHome

I’ve been getting a lot of questions on firmware and the features that each version supports – So – I’ve updated the “Firmware Features” post (See the little menu to the right) with a detailed accounting of more of the features as well as a little matrix so you can see what the version of firmware you have is capable of…

Again, the firmware was not really designed to be field upgradeable, but I’m happy to upgrade your equipment if you have a need or give you the information you need to upgrade the firmware yourself…

So – the big question I’m looking for help and advice from the community, how does one decide whether to allow source code (for the remote in particular) to be open source? Frankly, I get a kick out of being able to find a new situation, go spend half an hour hacking up code and being able to have a completely programmable, versatile remote control, and I think there is a decent community of folks that would like it. But what is the overall value, support would have to be – well – zero. What are the chances it would just irritate people? Anyone had experience with this?

A little more technical detail on how we do programming

We use the TI MSPFET430UIF interface (USB connected to a PC – last I checked they are about $100) and the FETPRO software (free of charge from the Elprotronic website, the free version will not update serial numbers but programs software, the link provided goes directly to their download site) and a little custom board that allows us to connect the Remote or BOCS device to either the UIF interface or a serial port to a PC for debugging. I’m attaching a schematic of the interface board below. The jumper is set in “external power” position when programming a BOCS unit (with its own power supply applied) and set in on-board power mode with batteries removed for programming remotes. When the interface board is plugged in (straight through cable pin 1 on interface board to pin one on BOCS unit or remote – they have different ends but both are straight through cables), the pull up/dn states on the interface board enable a tri-state amp on the device to be programmed which disconnects an on board serial port and hijacks that to talk to the processor… So – if all you want to do is program firmware, only a cable with proper pull up/dn pins is required. Firmware must be programmed through the jtag port, debug info is only available on the serial port.

DO NOT LET THIS SCHEMATIC INTIMIDATE YOU – I’m providing it for general interest – there is a very simple way to hook up to the remote and you do not have to even understand the schematic to do so…

EDIT:

Thought I’d add a couple of notes -

As you can see from the above diagram, the main programming interface is from the jtag two wire direct into the connector that goes to the remote – i.e. unless you have a specific need to use the serial interface (mostly for debugging but rarely used), you don’t need to complicated board shown in the schematic – a 4 wire jumper from the jtag programmer over to the remote would suffice.

We have, indeed, decided to go open source – I’ll post the details on avsforum.com so if you are interested in modifying anything for your own use or posting your updates back to the community, there is now a way to do just that.

David Feller

If you follow the industry, you know that Cisco bought Scientific Atlanta a bit ago. A good move for a networking giant to dive into the world of distributed media/broadcast, but in my humble opinion, they really screwed things up.

The very first box they release is chock full of issues – some that effect the user and some that cause trouble with installers -

• Poor IR performance – make sure you point the remote exactly at the box to get it to respond
• Non-intuitive menu layout – what, is it 1990 again?
• A whole new IR code scheme that codes are not released for and apparently cannot be learned into most universal remotes. (Huh? how stupid is that?)

So, for a while, BOCS systems were not able to work with these new boxes (No IR code and it could not be learned) – but we now have new firmware! The new code is 06078 – if you put that code in and the remote accepts it you have the new code, if you need it just let us know and we are happy to swap out with you.

Actually, this is exciting as we now have a way to quickly update IR codes and get them out to the field much faster.

Let me know if anyone needs the code – my understanding is that the new Cisco PNG200 box has been going out in Houston and other areas in TX… Obviously my first recommendation is to avoid it if yyou have a choice though.

DF

Just a quick note that there is a lot of new information on the support site www.bocsco.com/support

Specifically, I’ve been getting a few questions lately about missing channels – Comcast seems to be in the process of shiting around where some of their channels are broadcast… If you have suddenly lost any channel (that you always got before) – check out the “Lost a channel?” entry on the wiki!!!