Tools for playing with firmware

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ADearUser
 
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Joined: Thu Mar 12, 2015 11:07 am

Tools for playing with firmware

Post by ADearUser »

I wanna do so much, but I don't quite know my tools yet.

I'd like to do some of the following:
- Rewrite the firmware of my hard drive to move it's head like a micro-positioner to position a micro suringe into a cell.
- Dump out the firmware of generic hardware devices
- Read/write the data on a motherboard's bios chip
- Read the data on storage devices located say inside printers
- Do all the cool stuff people did with the xbox original, including stuff dealing with "tsops"
- Rewrite/ dump/ the software/ driver stuff on xbox original controllers, and possibly implement a driver in an arduino/linux based device

I'm kinda scrabling because of the 10% off sale today, so sorry if this post comes off extremly noobish, ha.

Would this be recomended for 'jtagging' purposes? https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-ft232h-breakout

What should I buy in the next 10hours!?! =D


Updates:
Scrambling resources here that might help me before teh sale ends.
Raspberry Pi already IS a jtag thing? https://github.com/synthetos/PiOCD/wiki ... TAG-Dongle

More JTAG info:
- Quick guide: http://www.xjtag.com/support-jtag/jtag- ... -guide.php
- Vid lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlWlLeC5BUs
- The question on stackoverflow: snarfing, jtag, OpenOCD http://reverseengineering.stackexchange ... are-device
- JTAG HDD Experiment: https://spritesmods.com/?art=hddhack&page=3
-haha just found a micro positioner at adafruit: https://www.adafruit.com/products/2032

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Tools for playing with firmware

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

The list of things you want to do falls under the heading of "advanced reverse engineering".

JTAG is a lot more modest. It's a protocol that allows an external device to test a chip to make sure it works. Some microcontrollers also use the JTAG interface to expose debugging information. You can only use JTAG on devices that are built to support it though, and you only get the information the designers wanted to expose.

For reverse-engineering, start by reading Bunnie Huang's "Hacking the Xbox: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering". He's made a PDF version available for free in memory of Aaron Swartz: http://www.nostarch.com/xboxfree

You'll learn more about the tools and techniques you need from that than anything I could tell you.

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ADearUser
 
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Re: Tools for playing with firmware

Post by ADearUser »

That's great thanks, that document sounds really exciting! I went over budget just buying misc entry level components for near-future projects and getting proper soldering gear, so I'll have to spend a couple days doing research for the more advanced stuff I've been eager to get into.

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