Z80 ShellcodeJan 29
Nina Kalinina

Casio BN-20 ROM dump is in progress. 52 jumper wires is a mess. We seem to have a couple of address bits flipped, because the data looks ALMOST right but not quite, with every 16 bytes out of order.

Our programmer/flasher tool only has 40 pins, so we're dumping upper/lower byte separately.

Jan 29 at 9:41pmWeb
Show threadNina KalininaJan 29
I guess we'll continue tomorrow, because it's a bad idea to do precise operations when tired, with a risk of destroying the only copy of the chips
Show threadNina KalininaJan 30
And we've struck gold with the ROM. 2 megabyte of ROM, what did Casio put in there? Well, loads of screenshots and a bunch of UI stored as bitmaps, of course.... thread
Show threadNina KalininaJan 30
more bitmaps from teh ROM!
Show threadNina KalininaJan 30
and more, it just doesn't end. You'd expect there's a UI builder, but when you have 2 MB of ROM on an x86 device, you might as well just pre-render everything
Show threadNina KalininaJan 30
the ROM is seemingly endless, why so many images are stored in it, are you a real OS or just a combination of mocks with transitions between the images
Show threadNina KalininaJan 30
WINDOWS as an icon for Windows. Genius (not)
Show threadNina KalininaJan 30
You know Casio mean business when you see a photo of a fax machine on your organiser. I wonder if the image was a 3D render and not a real photo? It looks a bit too perfect
Show threadNina KalininaJan 30
The placeholder/test data is full of names of pop stars. Like Ray Stevenson or U2
Show threadNina KalininaJan 30
Continued at https://tech.lgbt/@nina_kali_nina/115985762348700453
Show threadKepekenJan 30
@nina_kali_nina could be vector art?
Show threadNina KalininaJan 30
@kepeken maybe, or a paint over a photo. Could've been incredible pixel art, but who has budget for this beyond icons
Show threadKepekenJan 30

@nina_kali_nina Business.

businesses have Budgets (i know this)

Show threadKepekenJan 30
@nina_kali_nina you could use your business navigator to answer this 😤
Show threadavatastic  Jan 30
@nina_kali_nina rendered may be a stretch, but it has all gone a bit clip-art.
Show threadsolastalgia kris ☀️🧘🚲Jan 30
@nina_kali_nina come to think of it, Business Navigator is the perfect name and aesthetic for a vaporwave act
Show threadKarl BaronJan 30
@nina_kali_nina Who is RAY STEVENS
Show threadNina KalininaJan 30
@kalleboo it's all names of musicians. I bet it has something to do with Casio making synths
Show threadKarl BaronJan 30
@nina_kali_nina Ah I’m revealing my complete lack of musical education 🙈
Show threadNina KalininaFeb 8
Holy guacamole, I just realised that one of the icons here is the same icon as Add-In icon in Casio Caleid. This thing might have a hidden Add-in functionality after all!
Show threadjiub   Jan 30
@nina_kali_nina that's wild, i didn't expect you'd find full-screen bitmaps like this

but i guess 2MB of ROM is actually quite a lot for a device like this so they could trade space for speed
Show threadJanne MorenJan 30
@jiub @nina_kali_nina
And the device itself is quite slow (no GPU or anything) so the thing probably feels quite a lot snappier to use than if it was rendering the screens dynamically.
Show threadNina KalininaJan 30
@jannem @jiub not necessarily, it has hardware memory banking. But then it still needs to copy the bitmap into the VRAM. But then it's 10 MHz 80186, so copying 6.4kB probably doesn't require any time
Show threadLuci Bitchface AngerfootJan 30
@nina_kali_nina you can dump roms? i have desperately wanted rom dumps for two devices: The Etch-a-skatch Animator 2000, and the casio secret sender JD-6000
Show threadNina KalininaJan 30
@bri7 well, if the ROM can be read out, then, generally speaking, yes. Anything that is smaller than 48 pin NAND/NOR and without encryption.
Show threadLuci Bitchface AngerfootJan 30
@nina_kali_nina these are both devices from the 1980s and early 1990s.
I would be surprised if they had epoxy blobs even
Show threadLuci Bitchface AngerfootJan 30
@nina_kali_nina their main issue is their relative rarity
Show threadNina KalininaJan 30
@bri7 epoxy blobs were already a thing; and single-chip computers with built in ROMs were a thing, too. It's worth checking the device repair manuals or teardowns. If the ROM is in DIP, it likely can be dumped even with an Arduino
Show threadLuci Bitchface AngerfootJan 30
@nina_kali_nina it does have a seperate rom chip i am prett sure, i remember finding a photo of the circuit board and the service manual shows the CPU (sharp HC-3000) has 16 address lines
Show threadLuci Bitchface AngerfootJan 30
@nina_kali_nina correction: 17
Show threadLuci Bitchface AngerfootJan 30
@nina_kali_nina as for the animator 2000 it had 4 external cartridges made for it
Show threadNina KalininaJan 30
@bri7 would be nice to dump them if no one did!
Show threadLuci Bitchface AngerfootJan 30
@nina_kali_nina i am pretty sure no one dumped them
Show threadcliffleJan 30
@nina_kali_nina not sure I've ever seen firmware written in PowerPoint before!
Show threadGerardJan 30
@nina_kali_nina There are certainly UIs out there like that. I know of at least one in-car touch screen system, and I suspect most, maybe all, are like that.
Seems to be the preference for embedded stuff where I assume it's more predictable and uses less energy. Of course, they don't need to share design aesthetics between independent apps, either. Or support custom skins!
I guess power might be the reason for Casio, too?
Although some of those images are quite surprising.
Show threadGerardJan 30
@nina_kali_nina oh, I'll just note I've now seen a similar thread here: https://tech.lgbt/@nina_kali_nina/115981342994868948
Show threadEl jugador pacienteJan 30
@nina_kali_nina could the images be for some sort of retail mode to show the capabilities of the device?
Show threadNina KalininaJan 30
@ximo yes, potentially - but I haven't seen the icons separate and in a separate area of ROM. And then there are some screens with image backgrounds that definitely would make sense to be displayed all at once
Show threadtove tusselagoJan 30
@nina_kali_nina why is there a calculator-calendar?? What does it do?? Is it if you need to do calculations in the titles or events or something? I can't see that being a very popular feature​​ or I guess it could be a dedicated app/feature for calculating the time between dates, maybe there are people who find that super useful in their day to day? Old tech is weird.. :P
Show threadNina KalininaJan 30
@vae maybe it's planned expenses or something... I haven't seen this UI live. Maybe the manual has the answer, I'll check it out later
Show threadtove tusselagoJan 30
@nina_kali_nina huh, yeah that might be it I suppose? It's less fun when it makes at least a little bit of sense though.. xD
Show threadCsepp 🌢Jan 30
@nina_kali_nina Extremely wise decision.
Show threadJernej Simončič �Jan 29
@nina_kali_nina Cisco? :)
Show threadNina KalininaJan 29
@jernej__s T_T you see how my brain is dead, right? Thanks...
Show threadGerardJan 29
@nina_kali_nina That's not too bad. I once put a 64-pin DIP peg^W chip, in a PLCC hole^W socket. I had a PLCC plug with ribbon cable to a DIP, but of course the pins on DIP chip are all interlaced, relative to the PLCC.
I can't remember why, but I also used a breadboard, which must have had all 64 rewirings on it.
I've learned a bit about grounding since then and am quite impressed it worked, given how noisy it must have been.
Show threadGerardJan 29
@nina_kali_nina BTW, what's the plectrum for? Makeshift spudger?
Show threadNina KalininaJan 29
@GerardThornley this, but also to play the guitar
Show threadhkzJan 30

@nina_kali_nina see, posts like this is the reason I was going to propose "Bit Juggler" as the name for our category of enthusiasts.

But then there is something that leaves me uneasy about it. Like it could backfire somehow...

Show threadNina KalininaJan 30
@hkz let's try avoid spilling bits on the floor XD