Writing bootflags to card from ML installer

[Alex]

This has the potential of simplifying the install procedure to the
point of "download, unzip, upgrade firmware, reboot, done".

0xffffaf20 write_bootflags_to_card(1, 0) => should be called directly
from reboot.c, before doing anything else.

I've just ran a first test FIR like this:

1) formatted a card, but did not made it bootable
2) copied the FIR and autoexec.bin
3) started camera, original firmware booted (without ML)
4) upgraded firmware
5) rebooted => ML started :)

If anyone would like to test my first FIR (unpolished, it goes to an
infinite loop blinking a LED, but worked from the first try), please
let me know. Especially FAT16 or EXFAT users.

Here's how I found it: http://pastebin.com/JwEw3CDW

Warning: attached reboot.c is specific to 550D. For 600D, I need a
memory dump which can be done with current dropbox version, from
"Don't click me".

["Sztupák Sz. Zsolt"]

Don't we have limited firmware upgrade possibilities on the
550D/60D/600D (or is it just on the 7D (is it?) ), which this method
might decrease dramatically (for people "abusing" this function)

SztupY

[Alex]

Short answer: I don't know.

However, a while ago Indy discovered there's no update counter on the
7D. 5D2 users are already using this method (AJ has "Write ML BootRec"
in menu) and had no problems so far. CHDK, as far as I know, has no
warnings on this.

I wrote the warning about the update counter because I wanted to avoid
surprises (many users were skipping the "make bootable" step and were
asking why they don't get any new features; the FIR for 550D contains
an old ML version from 2010)

I can write a script which goes to Canon menu, selects "Firmware
update", and runs it all day long (i.e. a few hundreds of times). What
I need to know is a way to restart the camera from DryOs context (I
did this many times by crashing the camera, but I don't know a clean
way; a topic on this is here:
http://chdk.setepontos.com/index.php?topic=5648.0 )

This won't prove there's no upgrade counter, since integer numbers go
up to 2^32, and will take over 1000 years with this method. So, a
second method would be to dump the ROM/NVRAM area (entire Fxxxxxxx
segment?) before and after running the upgrade, and compare the
contents.

Quote from Knuth: "Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only
proved it correct, not tried it."

Other ideas?

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[arm.indy]

No, The limit on 7d is only on failed upgrade count, not on successful
ones.

Indy

[scrax]

404 error from dropbox: ...bleeding-edge/600d/autoexec.bin

[Alex]

Here's the first test. You can use the same card for 550D 109 and 60D
110 (unzip everything).

If you copy only the fir files (without autoexec), camera will refuse
to enable the bootflag.

If this is the first install (no bootflags on the camera, neither on
the card), unzip everything, upgrade firmware, wait for "OK" (a green
screen) and reboot. Done.

You can also remove the bootflag from the camera: run "update
firmware" and follow the instructions (it will ask you to hold shutter
pressed halfway for a few seconds).

This is just for testing. This archive does not contain user guide and
cropmarks (you can copy them from an older zip, if you like).

With this autoexec.bin you can do the dump on 600D (Debug -> Dump ROM)
and send me BOOT0.BIN.

Known bug: display flickers a lot. For 60D, flickering will stop if
you switch to bulb mode. Any ideas on how to stop Canon draw its
graphics without overriding tasks? (I'd like to keep it simple).

On Tue, Aug 2, 2011 at 1:08 PM, scrax <scr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 404 error from dropbox: ...bleeding-edge/600d/autoexec.bin
>

[scrax]

Here it is, made from 600D with 1.0.1

[Alex]

Here's the FIR for 600D (not tested).

Format a card, put ML files on it (autoexec.bin and FIR) and update
firmware; at next reboot it should start with ML.

On Tue, Aug 2, 2011 at 3:52 PM, scrax <scr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Here it is, made from 600D with 1.0.1
>

[scrax]

Yesterday i was thinking about a "problem" with ML and how it works. 

I see that for some card is better to reformat them to keep efficiency. 

Formatting the card from camera will delete bootflag on card and all ML stuff. 

So this option is not usable on the field without a laptop at your hands if ML is needed. 

But after formatting the card we still have ML loaded in memory, so i'm asking if it's possible to add an options to reinstall it from memory to the card after it's formatted. 

This could be helpful also to erase all the script and log file that canon menu can't erase from camera.

Of course there is still the problem that cropmarks, doc and magic.cfg need to be restored after reinstalling ML.

For magic.cfg i think that there will be no problem to regenerate it from current settings after formatting the card, doc is not really needed so if we can have it only using a PC it will not be a big issue, but if cropmarks are left (if I'm not wrong) ML will not work. 

It asks for the cropmarks folder, maybe it can be changed in a way that if there is no cropmarks folder we get just the red signal in ML menu and cropmarks disabled.

I don't know if what I wrote make sense or if it's a totally dumb request, (in that case ignore me) :)

[Alex]

It's not the first request in this direction.

When you format the card, ML can figure out this is going to happen,
and copy its files to RAM. When format is complete, ML can copy them
back, but for the bootflag, you need to do "firmware upgrade" again,
since the function can only be called from a "reboot" context (not
from plain DryOS). Or, if we find a way around this... it would save a
few clicks.

The main problem is the RAM, but during format, image buffers are
unused, so I could try to reuse them. The big autoexec.bin, FIR files
and RLE cropmarks will need less than 1 MB. User guide is slightly
larger (7 MB).

Did the FIR work?

[scrax]

For me it worked! 

sorry for the picture quality it was taken with a nikon 775

[Alex]

> sorry for the picture quality it was taken with a nikon 775

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUkKtkEZNjs :)

[scrax]

yes, I formatted the card put the .fir and autoexec on it without cropmarks or doc and did firmware update i get succes green screen posted before.

Starting with that card I have only a message that cropmarks is missing but i can use ML. To keep magic.cfg I used the save config now option in ML after formatting.

[Alex]

Tip: magic.cfg is also saved automatically at shutdown.

That's why you will see it after you format a card from the camera.

[Chris71]

I also tried the new installer and it works as promised.

The flicker, when uninstalling, is a bit disturbing, but after "To
disable the BOOTDISK flag, hold the shutter pressed half-way ..." you
could probably just add "... for 3 seconds until the counter reaches
0. During this, screen flicker is normal."

Now that installation has become really easy, I hope that even more
people will give ML a try and spread the word.

BTW, i have found one small bug and have one small suggestion:

- In Live View and in Video mode, there seems to be a blank text field
about 1 cm in width and about 1 cm below the LCD Remote Shot icon. You
can see it, because the zebras are cleared in this area. Is there a
reason for this?

- Now that the free space on the SD card is displayed correctly in
Live View, would it be possible to have this info also on the main
shooting screen, below the Canon counter for the remaining pictures?

>  ML.installer.test.550D109.60D110.zip
> 403KAnzeigenHerunterladen

[scrax]

Are you using 600D? I have the square too, I think it was added to show some numbers in the early stage of porting ML to that camera, after the number were hidden but the box sometimes is still there, I forgot to tell Alex about this.Thank's for the reminder.

I'll add that in the bottom bar I see focal length and f number too near, they looks like one single string.

[Alex]

The little box may be Canon's exposure compensation box.

I'll take a look at the suggestions. Meanwhile, I'm trying to write a
simplified install guide here:

http://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/Unified/Install

... which will be also available as PDF inside the zip file.
Suggestions are welcome.

[scrax]

I don't think it is, I see it on the canon's bottom bar.

here a screenshot of what it look's like (i added it after because it is hidden when taking screen snapshot)

[Alex]

Ah... that one is where "Magic Zoom" text is supposed to appear. It
was written before finding the redraw routine, so I had to erase it
"by hand"; now it can be fixed.

[scrax]

I noticed that with this method card on mac is still labeled EOS_DIGITAL not EOS_DEVELOP but card works the same.

[Alex]

Lucas (from Vimeo group) suggested to have the install guide
translated in more languages, so I've created a few stubs on the wiki:

http://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/Unified/Install

Please feel free to translate it and add your own language. If you
like, you can translate the user guide too.

Check the 400plus wiki for an example: http://code.google.com/p/400plus/w/list

Scrax: if you would like to add an Italian translation, ask Dremelv21;
he already started to translate the user guide, but he didn't upload
it yet.

On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 10:15 PM, scrax <scr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I noticed that with this method card on mac is still labeled EOS_DIGITAL not
> EOS_DEVELOP but card works the same.
>

[totriz]

Good idea. I just translated the install guide to spanish, tomorrow I
can start translating the user guide.

[scrax]

I have done the install guide translation for now, waiting for Dremelv21 answer.

It's nice to see how quickly other translations are coming.

Thank's to all who is working on this.

[scrax]

I think that to spread more and make it usable also to non english reader the translated guide are really helpful. What I also like a lot on the 400plus hack is that it's localized also in camera. I think that this is a thing that i thin will be also great on ML if there are people who will help in translating this. I'm not yet able to compile ML by myself and I'm not a developer but if to add this feature is needed a lot of boring work like finding all the dialog in the code and replace it with the generic words that will be later converted in the correct language by ML i'll try to do it, probably I'll need just a little help to start.

[Alex]

Here's a complete package with the new installation method. It's just
for testing, but I think we are pretty close to a new stable release.

Some extra changes:

- a dark theme for the BMP user guide (hopefully easier on the eyes)
- compiled the install guide as PDF (only the English version)
- 600D: check the 3x shortcut again (there should be a delay when you zoom out).
- kelvin and audio shortcuts were swapped (to be checked on 600D)

[nigelbb]

This new installation method doesn't work with my 600D. I get as far as updating the Firmware Update Program Loading... screen which I see for a couple of seconds then the screen goes black while the red light is pulsing but finally it returns to the Info screen (not the Menu screen). That's all & the firmware doesn't get updated. I have tried it with the full package & just with the autoexec.bin & ml-600d-101.fir. I never reach the stage of the green confirmation screen.

I have no problems installing & re-installing the Canon firmware. If it makes any difference it's a Sandisk Extreme 32GB SDHC card

[nigelbb]

This new installation method doesn't work on my 600D. I get as far as

>  magiclantern-2011Aug05.550D.109.60D.110.600D.101.alex.zip
> 4010KViewDownload

[nigelbb]

This new installation method doesn't work on my 600D. I get as far as
updating the Firmware Update Program Loading... screen which I see for
a couple of seconds then the screen goes black while the red light is
pulsing but finally it returns to the Info screen (not the Menu
screen). That's all & the firmware doesn't get updated. I have tried
it with the full package & just with the autoexec.bin &
ml-600d-101.fir. I never reach the stage of the green confirmation
screen.

I have no problems installing & re-installing the Canon firmware. If
it makes any difference it's a Sandisk Extreme 32GB SDHC card

On Aug 5, 3:36 pm, Alex <broscutama...@gmail.com> wrote:

>  magiclantern-2011Aug05.550D.109.60D.110.600D.101.alex.zip
> 4010KViewDownload

[Alex]

Scrax: can you check the FIR from the zip above in this thread, just
to check it's working?

Do the following test:

1) Remove the bootflag (run the firmware upgrade)
2) Format your card from the camera
3) Reinstall ML (i.e. copy the files and run firmware upgrade again)

I've noticed the same problem at another 600D user, with an 8 GB card.

[Aquillum]

Having a problem with a 600d user in a german forum using the new
install method.
In my opition his steps were right.

I asked if he gets the green confirmation screen.

He tells (translated):
On screen theres "Firmware update in process", after that Cam
restrarts. No confirmation screen or anything else.
On restart the original firmware starts.

FYI
Harry

[Alex]

That was the problem I've mentioned in my earlier message. I've
checked the address and the parameters to write_bootflags_to_card
(0xffffaf70) and they seem correct. If it works on Scrax's camera,
I'll compile a FIR for troubleshooting.

[scrax]

The fir in the above package is not working. I can start the update procedure and i see the firmware loading... card led is blinking and then it returns to photo display mode.

with the fir I have attached here (one of the first for the 600D you made) i can see the green screen I posted some days ago, but when pressing halfshutter i can't see any counter and so when releasing it i see always the action cancelled screen, i've keep it pressed for lot more than 3 seconds but nothing to do.

[scrax]

WAIT: the fir i posted is working also to enable or disable the boot flags. Just keep the halfshutter button pressed for at least 13sec.

The only issue is that there is any counter shown when pressing halfshutter btn only black screen.

[Alex]

Can you try with this FIR? There seems to be some issues with the
build process (600D FIR size was wrong). This one looks good...
hopefully.

[scrax]

With this i can enable and disable the boot flag but I don't see the counter for confirmation so i need to count slowly from 1 to 7 to be able to change flag and it's very difficult to get it right.

Sometimes i see some word ending with (3) but it's a flash and then i have black screen and cf led on

[Ash McKenzie]

Hey Alex just thought i'd ask is the bulid in this zip older than the
Aug 6, 7:37 am autoexec.bin over in the hotshoe thread, i guess by
date stamp it is, because i can get the flash error to appear on this
zipped bulid but the Aug 6, 7:37 am one is good, also the kel adjust
still trys to adjust volume

is there a place that bleeding edge bulids are in a list somewhere
just so i can make sure I'm not wasting everyones time with old
errors??

Cheers

[Darryl Gunawan]

I just want to say that I've installed the August 5 simplified version
on my 550D, and it works like a charm (up until now), I'll keep you
guys updated. Installation was really smooth. Worked right away too.

[Alex]

Scrax: can you do a short video to show me how the installer works on 600d?

Ash: yes, that autoexec.bin is more recent, I'll post another zip soon
(when I'll figure out what's wrong with the installer).

[scrax]

here it is: http://youtu.be/iDuzbyGNyWI

[Alex]

So, on 600D, when you press the shutter halfway, the display turns
off... interesting.

Does it work better with the * button, or with DOF preview? These
buttons send the same codes

On Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 12:37 PM, scrax <scr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> here it is: http://youtu.be/iDuzbyGNyWI

[Alex]

Edit: I've noticed it does the same thing with the * button...

[scrax]

Yes, didn't try the dof button with * is almost the same, the problem is that you have to find the correct time to release the button and it's not so easy. In the video at 2.07 you can see that it's showing for a little the screen with the counter i think and then black screen

[Alex]

So... let's try to change the button for toggling the bootflag. What
about turning the mode dial one notch?

(I don't want to rewrite the GUI task in the installer).

I've also been playing with PROP_ICU_UILOCK, and locked all other
buttons (except mode dial and power switch). The values of this
property are bits which disable certain groups of buttons.

Flicker is still present.

I've also discovered a bug reported on 60D a while ago, where the
attempt of disabling the bootflag resulted in camera refusing to boot
unless a card with a firmware update was supplied. This happens when
you try to toggle the bootflag in movie mode (it results in ERR80, and
probably other bootflags are toggled as well). This FIR will not
toggle the bootflag in movie mode, and it won't let you enter
LiveView, so I hope there won't be any problems like this.

This zip also contains the small bugfixes mentioned by Ash McKenzie above.

[Alex]

More experiments with PROP_ICU_UILOCK: this autoexec.bin locks all the
buttons at startup, until ML is fully loaded.

This should prevent crashes which may happen when pressing REC too
early at startup.

[scrax]

your last two attachements are only for 550d and 60d or the autoexec is 600d also?

[Alex]

It's for all 3 cameras.

On Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 9:36 PM, scrax <scr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> your last two attachements are only for 550d and 60d or the autoexec is 600d
> also?
>

[Morgan Look]

Nice release, certainly seems to be dealing with early button presses better.

I notice the movie mode remap now swaps the two modes, not just remaps the chosen (eg A-DEP) to movie mode.
So not when I choose movie mode I get a photo mode.
Not really an issue, but it does mean I can't just give my camera to someone and ask them to start filming. Without first explaining why that mode doesn't behave correctly.

Another thing I question is the PicSty->DISP preset
Now I understand some people like to use Neutral to setup exposure and then switch to Cinestyle when they record.

But the current implementation allows swapping Picture Styles while recording with a single accidental button press.
Similarly it makes it too easy to accidentally begin recording with the wrong Style selected.
It's also impractical to use Display Profiles for any other purpose (e.g. turning focus peaking on/off) while recording under this scheme, as you'll cycle through a different Picture Style in the process.
All of these things potentially ruining a shot.

So my suggestion would be an option to have a ML automatically change the Picture Style when it starts recording?
(i.e. a separate config entry for preview and record Picture Style(s))
Even if it means the first 1/2 second after pressing record experiences a change in picture style.

This gives the option to set exposure etc with one picture style, and recording with another while maintaining the availability of Display Profiles for turning other stuff on and off.

Morgan.

> For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/ml-devel?hl=en<magiclantern-2011Aug09.550D.109.60D.110.600D.101.alex.zip>

[Alex]

On Wed, Aug 10, 2011 at 8:27 AM, Morgan Look <morga...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Nice release, certainly seems to be dealing with early button presses better.

At least I wasn't able to cause ERR70 any more :)

> I notice the movie mode remap now swaps the two modes, not just remaps the chosen (eg A-DEP) to movie mode.
> So not when I choose movie mode I get a photo mode.
> Not really an issue, but it does mean I can't just give my camera to someone and ask them to start filming.  Without first explaining why that mode doesn't behave correctly.

That's how it behaved from the beginning, but I'll try to change it
(it's much simpler to implement remapping in one way).

> So my suggestion would be an option to have a ML automatically change the Picture Style when it starts recording?
> (i.e. a separate config entry for preview and record Picture Style(s))
> Even if it means the first 1/2 second after pressing record experiences a change in picture style.

So far, there are 3 options requested to be changed during recording
(and maybe more will come):

- change picture style
- turn zebra off (already in Movie menu)
- turn powersaving off

Would it make sense to add an option like Custom settings during REC:
zebra/picstyle/powersaving ? Or do you have other suggestion?

[Morgan Look]

>
>> So my suggestion would be an option to have a ML automatically change the Picture Style when it starts recording?
>> (i.e. a separate config entry for preview and record Picture Style(s))
>> Even if it means the first 1/2 second after pressing record experiences a change in picture style.
>
> So far, there are 3 options requested to be changed during recording
> (and maybe more will come):
>
> - change picture style
> - turn zebra off (already in Movie menu)
> - turn powersaving off
>
> Would it make sense to add an option like Custom settings during REC:
> zebra/picstyle/powersaving ? Or do you have other suggestion?

Actually, I think a simpler option might just be to allow a subset of the display profiles available during recording.
Force Disp-0 to always be available during recording and (optionally I guess) auto switch to that when you start recording.
Probably to keep things simple only allow sequential DISP's (starting from 0) to be selected for record mode.

For example..

In Debug
DISP profiles = 4
Rec DISPs = 0-2
Auto select DISP 0 on record = true

In this example DISP 0-3 would be available during preview, and DISP 0 - 2 would be available during recording, and DISP 0 would be auto selected on pressing record.
Pressing set on the "rec DISPs" would cycle 0, 0-1, 0-2, ... 0-[n-1]. Does that make sense?

You could then bundle your power saving and other stuff into the DISP too as needed.

Morgan.

[Alex]

Yes, that's a good idea, but needs a bit more thought. Maybe having
some custom config files which can be assigned to "auto" modes will
make things easier.

Anyway... here's an alternate implementation for custom picture style
during record. You select it from Expo menu (REC PicStyle) and ML
takes care of the rest. Seems to be much more easier to setup and use
in this way, and it keeps the DISP profiles "clean" (i.e. only with
settings from LiveV menu).

[Ash McKenzie]

Oh man you guys are awesome my director is going to love you, he gets
a LUT for Standby and while we light and then when we roll its back to
cine style, best implementation :D

>  autoexec.bin
> 670KViewDownload

[Alex]

> Don't we have limited firmware upgrade possibilities on the 550D/60D/600D (or is it just on the 7D (is it?) ),
> which this method might decrease dramatically (for people "abusing" this function)

For those concerned about a possible firmware upgrade counter, I just
did a little test:

1) I've ran "firmware update" with ML FIR 5 times on 550D, and after
each times, I've dumped the entire F8000000-FFFFFFFF area (where is
the NVRAM, ROM, bootloader and probably other persistent storages, see
http://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/Memory_map ).

2) Looked for an address containing a possible upgrade counter with a
python script (i.e. an address with either increasing only or
decreasing only values in these 5 dumps). I've considered all the
memory locations first as uint32, then uint8.

Note: this area changes even between two normal reboots of the camera,
without me altering any setting.

Result: no counter found.

I've also ran FW upgrade on my cameras more than 100 times. Of course
that's not a guarantee :)

If anyone would like to repeat the experiment, or suggest a different
procedure, please let me know.