JP1 Remotes

Rob - any more details? Did it turn out that while the main flash is protected the code itself has a way to access a particular block of flash for upgrades?

Thanks,
xnappo

UEI has implemented a custom communication protocol which we have reverse engineered and can use to read and write to the remote's memory. As soon as possible, we will get the JP1 tools updated so they can also talk to the remotes.

The Robman wrote:UEI has implemented a custom communication protocol which we have reverse engineered and can use to read and write to the remote's memory.

Understatement of the century.
Pretty low-key headline for such an enormous accomplishment, ain't it?
Congratulations to all

The Robman wrote:UEI has implemented a custom communication protocol which we have reverse engineered and can use to read and write to the remote's memory. As soon as possible, we will get the JP1 tools updated so they can also talk to the remotes.

Rob,
congratulations to this major achievement!
Will you share the "Howto-Program-a-JP1.2-Remote"-KnowHow with the public or do you want to get the JP1-tools updated first?

feelfree wrote:Rob, congratulations to this major achievement!
Will you share the "Howto-Program-a-JP1.2-Remote"-KnowHow with the public or do you want to get the JP1-tools updated first?

Without updated tools, what good would the technical details be? If I told you that you needed to bit-bang pins 2 and 3 while holding pin 4 high, etc it wouldn't help you add an upgrade to your remote.

The main obstacle is going to be getting IR.exe updated due to lack of available time on the part of the author, but we are developing some utilities that can be used as a stop-gap in the meantime.

We also need to update KM and RM so that you can use them to create upgrades.

The Robman wrote:Without updated tools, what good would the technical details be? If I told you that you needed to bit-bang pins 2 and 3 while holding pin 4 high, etc it wouldn't help you add an upgrade to your remote.

Well, I'm quite new to this whole JP1-topic and just used the tools for my JP1-remote recently, they worked like a charm. So I don't know if all these tools are open source, GPL'd or whatever.
What I do know is: The more people do have the necessary informations, the faster development will be.

The Robman wrote:

feelfree wrote:Rob, congratulations to this major achievement!
Will you share the "Howto-Program-a-JP1.2-Remote"-KnowHow with the public or do you want to get the JP1-tools updated first?

Without updated tools, what good would the technical details be? If I told you that you needed to bit-bang pins 2 and 3 while holding pin 4 high, etc it wouldn't help you add an upgrade to your remote.

The main obstacle is going to be getting IR.exe updated due to lack of available time on the part of the author, but we are developing some utilities that can be used as a stop-gap in the meantime.

We also need to update KM and RM so that you can use them to create upgrades.

Good to hear the protocol has been found. Will we still be able to use a 'simple' interface?

Do you mean a JP1 "simple" interface?

JP1.2 is NOT similar enough to JP1 to use the same cable.

Tommy has designed and manufactured (several units of) a serial interface using a really tiny PC board (that fits inside the serial DB9 connector) with six surface mount components. He said it is low cost. I think he is considering making a larger number of them and selling them. But in any case, more expert testing is required plus software.

I'm trying to come up with a parallel port cable design. But it isn't likely to be lower parts cost than Tommy's design and it may be pickier about parallel port characteristics than the JP1 simple cable is, and the software certainly won't be any simpler than for serial. So it is likely to be a dead end. For a home made cable for some parallel ports (after you check a few things about the port with your volt meter), my design might take as little as three Schottky diodes and two resistors. I think a more robust design would take two transistors instead of the two resistors (and still need the three diodes). Is that "simple"? The serial design is three transistors and three resistors, so it's just as simple and a smaller connector, and less worries about port variations across PCs. My opinion is that two of the three resistors in Tommy's design are redundant and it would work just as well with just one resistor and on most serial ports would work with just the three transistors. But I'm not really qualified to second guess Tommy on hardware.

johnsfine wrote:Do you mean a JP1 "simple" interface?

JP1.2 is NOT similar enough to JP1 to use the same cable.

Tommy has designed and manufactured (several units of) a serial interface using a really tiny PC board (that fits inside the serial DB9 connector) with six surface mount components. He said it is low cost. I think he is considering making a larger number of them and selling them. But in any case, more expert testing is required plus software.

I'm trying to come up with a parallel port cable design. But it isn't likely to be lower parts cost than Tommy's design and it may be pickier about parallel port characteristics than the JP1 simple cable is, and the software certainly won't be any simpler than for serial. So it is likely to be a dead end. For a home made cable for some parallel ports (after you check a few things about the port with your volt meter), my design might take as little as three Schottky diodes and two resistors. I think a more robust design would take two transistors instead of the two resistors (and still need the three diodes). Is that "simple"? The serial design is three transistors and three resistors, so it's just as simple and a smaller connector, and less worries about port variations across PCs. My opinion is that two of the three resistors in Tommy's design are redundant and it would work just as well with just one resistor and on most serial ports would work with just the three transistors. But I'm not really qualified to second guess Tommy on hardware.

It sounds as though the JP1.2 interface will be simple enough for me to home build. I look forward to the posting of the designs here and the software for it.

Here's a great big THANK YOU! to everyone who is continuing work on the JP1.2 upgrades. I had almost a year to enjoy my old re-programmed JP1 remote before changing cable providers and being thrown back to having a coffee table full of remotes, which are each used solely for that *one* function they don't have on the cable-company-provided universal remote... Looking forward to being freed from this mayhem!

Cheers!

- R

rymo wrote: I had almost a year to enjoy my old re-programmed JP1 remote before changing cable providers and being thrown back to having a coffee table full of remotes, which are each used solely for that *one* function they don't have on the cable-company-provided universal remote... Looking forward to being freed from this mayhem!

Why can you not use your JP1 remote instead of the "new" cable system remote?

The Robman wrote:The main obstacle is going to be getting IR.exe updated due to lack of available time on the part of the author, but we are developing some utilities that can be used as a stop-gap in the meantime.

We also need to update KM and RM so that you can use them to create upgrades.

Rob,

If there's any software development that any of us can help with, please let us know. I'm a software developer (by trade), and this kind of thing appeals to my hobbiest side, so I'd be glad to help out. (And make the tools cross-platform, i.e. Windows/Linux, compatible if possible).

-- Joe

The main program that needs to be updated it IR.exe, which was developed using Delphi.

Capn Trips wrote:Why can you not use your JP1 remote instead of the "new" cable system remote?

Belonged to the cable company. I'd rather buy a new cable than a new remote, call me stupid.

rymo wrote:Belonged to the cable company. I'd rather buy a new cable than a new remote, call me stupid.

Call ME stupid. I didn't immediately make the connection between your cable company and your JP1 remote. You're initial post never explicitly mentioned that your earlier JP1-capable remote was the one provided by the cable company, and I didn't put 2 and 2 together. I foolishly presumed you had your own JP1-capable remote. I didn't call you stupid.
P.S. I suspect that one of the basic UEI JP1 remotes that Rob sells will not cost significantly more than a new-style cable - take a look at the cost of a current JP1 USB cable and compare.