My fault. It is actually j-l on QT.
----- Original Message -----
From: Joseph Lee
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Braillenote List
<[email protected]
Date sent: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 06:35:34 -0800
Subject: Re: [Braillenote] BN acting up
again!
Flint,
Yes, there is. This is when the Bootloader
becomes handy. A possible explanation goes
something like this: If your BrailleNote
freezes, you can press Reset with Record to
start with hardware-based Hard Reset, and
then immediately press Reset with dots 4-6
(j-k) to boot to the Bootloader and start
from there. I'm not going to go into more
details on Bootloader (please consult the
list archive), but if you or anoone are
interested, please write to me so I can
answer it for you (off list might work).
----- Original Message -----
From: "Flint Million" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: "Braillenote List"
<[email protected]
Date sent: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 04:46:15 -0600
Subject: Re: [Braillenote] BN acting up
again!
I'm an IT and computer specialist so this is
a good one, plus I enjoy
answering questions. Sorry for those who
find it OT.
--technical lecture follows.
The braille note runs on software contained
in internal memory called flash
memory. This is because the memory is on
chips, and works similarly to
permanent "ROM" (read only memory) however it
can also be "flashed" back to
a blank state and then reprogrammed with new
content. People encounter flash
memory often in the form of a USB flash drive
(thumb drive, usb key, etc)
which contains a large amount of this flash
memory and is used for storing
user data. On the braille note, the actual
system software itself is
contained on a flash memory chip.
Reflashing is the process of writing new
information to flash memory. Most
often however it pertains to system software,
or "firmware", of various
devices. A computer's BIOS is often
contained on flash memory allowing it to
be updated by the user. In the past, you
would have to open your computer,
physically remove the old memory chip, and
install the new one. Now you can
simply "flash" the chip and write new
information to it. Most devices that
are portable or specialized have their system
software in flash memory as
well. The game system you refer to has flash
memory for all of its internal
software, and additional software is added by
way of discs, cartridges, or
whatever.
Whenever you update your Braille note's
Keysoft software, you are infact
"reflashing" the Braille note's memory on
your own. The file you download
from the Internet or receive on a Secure
Digital card (which, by the way, is
another form of flash memory) contains all of
the data that needs to go onto
the flash memory chip inside your Braille
note. Your Braille Note's flash
memory chip also serves as the "Flash Disk"
which is why it's always a good
idea to back up information on the flash disk
before doing any sort of
software upgrade.
When the Braille Note completely freezes (as
mine has), it's impossible
however to run the software that starts the
update. Flash memory is
"reflashed" by special software written
expressly for this purpose. If you
can't get your Braille note to start up, you
won't be able to run any
software to reflash the memory yourself.
Many consumer devices today have
some sort of "last resort" backup method to
allow the end user to reflash
the unit in the case of a huge catastrophe.
PC's today sometimes ship with
two completely separate BIOS chips; if you
ruin one by incorrectly
reflashing you can use the other to boot up
again to try reflashing the main
chip again. The Braille Note however has no
such escape route. If the flash
memory is reflashed wrongly, or if it simply
is a faulty chip and can't
"remember" information well, it dies, and
goodbye. It's going back to HW.
If I were asked about how to make enduser
flashing possible, I'd suggest HW
introduce another chip to the Braille Note
that has just enough program on
it to get the unit to where it can read an SD
card and reflash the main
memory using that card's contents. For
example, if your main flash was
completely messed up, you could simply get
the current Keysoft, put its file
on an SD card, and reboot your Braille Note
while holding down a certain key
combination or some other trick. The Braille
Note would read the SD card,
and write the contents of the file to main
flash automatically. You could
prhaps have some beep feedback during this
process. Afterwards your main
Flash would be restored and you could
continue working.
There's absolutely no technical reason HW
can't implement such an emergency
restore feature. If there is such a feature
I want to know about it! If
there is not, the only reason I can think of
is QC: which to answer the
other lister's question means Quality
Control. Hw wants your unit back so
they can examine it. Perhaps it is like a
car dealership even; they fix your
flash but go "By the way we saw a bent pin in
the serial port. We can fix
that for $xxx." I'm not trying to suggest HW
is trying to pull a fast one on
its customers, but it seems routine these
days to technologically prevent
customers from repairing their own equipment.
--end technical discussion
well there you have it. For those who I
completely lost after five words, my
apologies :-) Anyway, off for now, will post
to let you all know what
happens with the unit, but I'm going to push
as hard as I can for a
replacement unit, since I do depend on my
Braille note for work and being
without it for me is just about as bad as a
sighted person being without
their pen and paper, appointment book, watch,
address book, leisure reading,
and (yep, you guessed it) their handheld game
console!
Flint
On 12/13/06, Alex Parks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
I tried to do that. It took two or three
times of sending my BN
in for repair (which is why I wanted the
replacement) and asking
for a new one each time before HW finally
replaced mine. I am
glad they did, but you should be extremely
insistent because it
is hard, at least in my experience, to
convince them to replace a
machine. Good luck.
Oh, a question: exactly what does reflashing
do? My friend
reflashed the BIOS on my computer, and I
heard of a guy who tried
to flash the BIOS of a gaming system. What
does flashing, or
reflashing, do and why would it be so nice
to be able to do
independent of a tech support person?
Have a great day,
Alex
----- Original Message -----
From: "Flint Million" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: "Braillenote List"
<[email protected]
Date sent: Wed, 13 Dec 2006 00:55:25 -0600
Subject: Re: [Braillenote] BN acting up
again!
It was sent in for repair. My guess is they
just reflashed the
system. I
have to think there's a way for endusers to
reflash the system
even if it's
completely dead, but Humanware would rather
us send it in. I
understand the
whole QC thing, but being without the unit is
a strain on work,
and
Humanware (as do many other companies) seem
to forget that... I'm
gonna give
them a call tomorrow and see if I can get it
straight. I'm pretty
much going
to say I want a completely new replacement
unit, not just the
same unit
reflashed.
Flint
On 12/12/06, Brian Lingard
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Ottawa Canada
Dear Flint:
After your BrailleNote died last time, how
did you coax it back
to health?
Sounds like you need to have a serious talk
with Humanware Tech
Support.
Brian
--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.432 / Virus Database:
268.15.16/582 - Release Date:
11/12/2006 4:32 PM
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