TOMEK CEDRO (CeDeROM) (SQ7MHZ) HOMEPAGE

I have added support for Panasonic ToughBook CF-F9 U3G GOBI2000 to FreeBSD U3G kernel module [1]. I have added firmware for Panasonic CF-F9 and HP EliteBook 2740p along with gobi_loader updates [2] that are required for 3G modems to work.

At first U3G module will create /dev/cuaU0 interface for QDL firmware load, then after successful firmware load device will reload itself to a modem mode and U3G module will provide additional /dev/cuaU0.* nodes for operations (/dev/cuaU0.2 is the AT command intarface).

In order for this modem to work on FreeBSD you also need to tune some configutation files:

• /etc/devd.conf:

  attach 100 {
   match "vendor" "0x04da";  #adjust your device VID
   match "product" "0x250e"; #adjust your device PID
   action "/usr/local/sbin/gobi_loader -2000 /dev/cuaU0 /boot/firmware/gobi/";
  };
  

• /etc/ppp/ppp.conf:

  default:
   set log Phase Chat LCP IPCP CCP tun command
   ident user-ppp VERSION
   set device /dev/cuaU0.2
   set phone *99\#
   set redial 5 10
   set speed 115200
   set dial "ABORT BUSY ABORT NO\\sCARRIER TIMEOUT 5 \
             \"\" AT AT-OK-AT ATH OK ATZ OK ATE1Q0 OK \
             AT+CFUN=1 OK-AT-OK \
             AT+CPIN? READY-AT+CPIN=\"YOUR_PIN_HERE\"-OK \
             AT+CGDCONT=1,\\\"ip\\\",\\\"internet\\\" OK \
             \\dATDT\\T TIMEOUT 40 CONNECT"
   set timeout 20
   enable dns
   set ifaddr 10.0.0.1/0 10.0.0.2/0 255.255.255.255 0.0.0.0
   add default HISADDR
  

You now should be able to use your 3G modem connection with ppp -ddial, after you add your local user to the dialer group with pw groupmod dialer -m your_user_name. Remember to have U3G compiled in. Enjoy the Internets! 🙂

[1] https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd/pull/115
[2] https://github.com/cederom/gobi_loader

Matplotlib is a nice Matlab-like environment for Python. If you encounter a backend related problem while using Matplotlib [1] on a Python Virtualenv [2], then you need to explicitly select one (i.e. backend : Qt5Agg) in a ~/.config/matplotlib/matplotlibrc (or directly in a matplotlib file located in current working directory) configuration file. Then remember to use modern interpreter and meet dependencies requirements. Example below:

$ mkdir ~/.matplotlib
$ echo "backend : Qt5Agg" >> ~/.config/matplotlib/matplotlibrc
$ echo "backend : Qt5Agg" >> matplotlibrc
$ python3.6 -m venv venv-mac-36
$ source venv-mac-36/bin/activate
$ which python
$ pip install matplotlib pyqt5

Now you can use Matplotlib inside created Python Virtualenv (assuming you had Python 3.6 and Qt5 [3] already installed on your system). Other backends are: TKAgg, GTKAgg, Qt4Agg, Qt5Agg, WXAgg [4].

[1] https://matplotlib.org/
[2] https://www.python.org/
[3] https://www.qt.io/
[4] https://matplotlib.org/faq/usage_faq.html

It is my great honor to join Free-and-Open-Source ARM mbed [1] development team! 🙂

[1] https://www.mbed.com

If you wonder to use Docker [1] or Travis CI [2] for build test or more advanced automation, note that these are Linux [3] only solutions and will not work with other operating systems such as FreeBSD [4]. You may want to take a look at old good Jenkins [5] for wider application possibilities 🙂

[1] https://www.docker.com/
[2] https://travis-ci.org/
[3] https://www.linux.com/
[4] https://www.freebsd.org/
[5] https://jenkins.io/

I was great pleasure to take part in European Canopy Formation [1] at SkyCamp [2] Polska 2017! So many experienced and relaxed people, so much fun, and so much development (I was part of CRW-16-DIAMOND). Thank you!! Hope to see you soon folks! 🙂

I am also happy to announce that I had become a website editor and administrator 🙂

[1] http://europeancanopyformation.eu/
[2] http://www.skycamp.pl

I am gearing up and starting a new adventure. I have just bought my own PD Lightning 176 canopy dedicated to CRW/CF [1]. Thanks to Simon and the “Lost in Space” crew first jumps were really awsome and safe. Thank you guys! 🙂

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canopy_formation

It is my great pleasure to join Tixon’s IDeA mHealth project. I will develop a custom electronics towards mass market as well as create system architecture and manage project development..

I just did a self-assembly of JTAGulator. This simple and amazing device indeed works and shortens JTAG pinout search from days to seconds. AMAZING! I have some spare devices to sale cheap in EU, if you want one let me know! 🙂

JTAGulator is an open source hardware tool, created by Joe Grand / Grand Idea Studio, that assists in identifying OCD connections from test points, vias, or component pads on a target device. All you need is a target device, bunch of tap wires / cables, USB-Mini cable, and serial terminal to operate JTAGulator.

On-chip debug (OCD) interfaces can provide chip-level control of a target device and are a primary vector used by engineers, researchers, and hackers to extract program code or data, modify memory contents, or affect device operation on-the-fly. Depending on the complexity of the target device, manually locating available OCD connections can be a difficult and time consuming task, sometimes requiring physical destruction or modification of the device.

Sometimes you need to perform a network installation (i.e. when no USB or DVD drive is allowed to boot, but you can boot PXE). In case of FreeBSD you can use DNSMASQ to serve the DHCP that will assign the initial client address and configuration along with PXE boot image served over tFTP. At this point you will have bootloader running, so you can serve filesystem over NFS to obtain working environment and/or the installer..

• Create a directory that will hold the target filesystem over network. In my case that was

  /usr/local/tftp/FreeBSD

• Put OS/Installer files inside above directory

  cd /usr/local/tftp/FreeBSD
  wget http://(..)/file.iso
  7z x file.iso

• Edit /etc/exports to export the filesystem over NFS

  /usr/local/tftp/FreeBSD -ro -alldirs -network 192.168.0.0

• Install the dnsmasq

  pkg install dnsmasq

• Setup the /usr/local/etc/dnsmasq.conf

  enable-tftp
  tftp-root=/usr/local/tftp/FreeBSD
  
  dhcp-range=192.168.0.50,192.168.0.60,255.255.255.0,1h
  dhcp-boot=boot/pxeboot
  dhcp-option=option:router,
  dhcp-option=option:root-path,/usr/local/tftp/FreeBSD
  

• Restart services

  service nfsd onerestart
  service dnsmasq onerestart

• In case you get bootloader running but troubles with NFS make sure that mountd is running. Also you can see who is using the NFS shares with

  showmount -a

PXE Boot always use initial DHCP/tFTP to fetch configuration and bootloader, so the first stage is similar and should work with other Operating Systems and Bootloaders as well, the rest is up to bootloader itself..

It is my great pleasure to inform you folks that, almost after four years, I did a new release of LibSWD-0.7 [1], a low-level embedded systems access open framework. Special thanks goes to Andrew Parlane of Carallon Ltd [2] for his much appreciated contributions! Well now I feel like I need to invent some nice small device based on ARM Cortex-M0 CPU 🙂

[1] https://github.com/cederom/LibSWD
[2] http://www.carallon.com/