OESF Portables Forum
General Forums => General Discussion => Topic started by: DRDR on May 07, 2005, 08:53:02 am
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Hi,
I own a C860 and I wanted to use it as an always be there and ready to use notebook replacement. Which means I always wanted to view PDF, Word, Excel, and Powerpoint files without size limitations. Plus I wanted to show large image files and browse the web without limitations.
The Picsel Browser for Zaurus software just does this. Although it is only available in Japan and I did not know too much about it I bought it. As I am extremely impressed by the performance of this little piece of software I decided to write this little review:
What does the Picsel Browser for Zaurus do?
It enables you to view PDF, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Text and Image (including WMF) files. It can also show HTML and Flash files and it can be used as a Web-browser. It runs on the C860 clamshell models (and maybe some others, I do not know).
Where does it come from?
It comes from Picsel Technologies (http://www.picsel.com) and costs around 100 Euro in Japan. It is available in the Sharp Online Shop (http://www.kutikomi.ne.jp/picsel/).
If you are using a language converted Zaurus, the user interface will also be in English after installation. At least in my case.
What does it look like?
It is delivered and dongled to a 256 MB card. This means that it can only be run with this card inserted in your Zaurus.
The user interface is pretty cool. It relies on icons and miniature views. Except in the preferences menu no text is used. This means it is pretty intuitive to use and looks neat.
How does it work?
Apparently the Picsel Browser renders every file type into some kind of vector graphics. So every file type you open is presented to you in a similar way:
Click onto the file's icon and the document will be displayed completely on your screen. By tapping and moving the stylus the document can be moved like a sheet of paper. The developers even implemented some kind of physics engine. This means that you can actually push the "paper" (=document) around until it stops moving due to some virtual friction. Nice! With some different taps you can use the stylus to zoom in and out of the document. When panning and zooming around a document the render process becomes visible in the form of pixelated aeras. These areas become sharp pretty fast so that they don't prevent you from an efficient use.
Web pages are also like all other supported documents, except that you can click onto hyperlinks and form elements. Text input into forms works as well. Linked files which can be shown by the picsel browser are specially marked on document. Unfortunately no popup windows can be launched. But maybe it can be done and I haven't found the way to do it yet.
If Flash animations are embedded into the web page, they will be shown embedded into the page just like graphics. This way web pages on the Zaurus do finally look like web pages on our - less powerful ;-) - grown up computers. Unfortunately and apparently not all Flash animations can be shown. I also was not successful in interacting with animations. So it seems that interactive user elements (e.g. a button) cannot be accessed in flash animations.
Is it useful?
Yes it is very useful. Even the biggest files are rendered flawlessly and most of the times completely. I produce a lot of PDF-documents intended for print out. They include a lot of high resolution bitmaps. The Picsel Browser just zooms into these bitmaps and shows them in all their beauty. The rendering of the documents is so good that it comes close to a sheet of paper. No artefacts and no pixels around. The developers use an extremely good antialising algorithm. Did you ever imagine that you can actually display and read a whole DIN A4 page on a PDA screen? That's finally possible!
What can be improved?
What I would really like to have:
* search function for text
* being able to comment documents with the stylus
* open popup windows in web pages and save files linked in web pages
* view videos
* being able to use my own SD-card
* support for powerpoint animations (these are rendered into the page)
* a 6 GB microdrive (ok, just a joke;-)
Final Words
The Picsel Browser for Zaurus finally uses the power of the Zaurus to its best. It is the first software I have seen which makes it possible to actually read documents on the PDA screen without getting a headache. It's really cool. Its user interface design and performance is unconventional and welcome in todays boring nofun reasonal world. So if you like a cool software for a cool gadget go get it even if it seems to be a bit expensive! ;-)
As seeing is believing I have created some screenshots and a video clip (7,2 MB). It would be nice if I could attach this clip as well. Thanks!
EDIT:
I deleted the attached screenshots and attached a 5x-speed version of my original review video. In case more attachment space becomes available and someone wants to see it, I can also post the realtime speed higher resolution video.
EDIT EDIT:
Changed title to something more curious. Note: The video file is in MPEG4. It can be shown on the Zaurus using mplayer/kino.
EDIT EDIT EDIT:
Removed some spelling errors and tried to introduce some grammar. ;-)
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DRDR,
You say you have to use the supplied 256MB SD card. Does this software use all of that space? If not, does it prohibit you from using the empty space for something else?
Cheers,
Mike.
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It only occupies 30 MB or so. The remaining space can be used like you want. I use it to store application and data. Unfortunately now that I can view all my data I need a CF-card to store it, which is usually occupied by the Bluetooth or the Wifi card.
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So can you only buy it if you are in Japan?
Thanks,
Mark
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So can you only buy it if you are in Japan?
No, just use a business like conics.net to buy it for you and to send it to you. Worked fine for me.
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<Dodgey Question> is there any way to copy Picsel to a bigger SD card ?
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<Dodgey Question> is there any way to copy Picsel to a bigger SD card ?
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=79126\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
Probably not - not at least without quite a bit of work. They deliberately bind it to the SD card for copy protection purposes.
I've got Picsel on my Sony Clie - it is a little strange to use, but potentially useful.
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The Picsel Browser itself comes as an IPK (see Sharp Picsel Update (http://www.kutikomi.ne.jp/picsel/FILECOPY.EXE), where you can download it). You can install this IPK (the update extracts some files, one of them is the IPK) and run it without problems. Even help files are included. When you run it, the browser shows the help document. Shortly afterwards a popup window appears, telling you that no Picsel SD-card could be found.
As it would work without major code rewriting maybe someone from Picsel or Sharp can tell us if there is any solution in the pipeline to use bigger or own storage? This would sure be nice!
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I downloaded the above mentioned ipk and played around with it. From what I could tell, the program searches for license information in a particular file (license.pli, I think) on the card. I would guess that with this ipk installed and an SD card with a legitimate license file, it would work. Obviously, I haven't tried this because I don't own the program.
Also, it may be possible to change the location that the program looks for said license file with a hex editor to somewhere off the card. You would still need to own a valid license to use it though.
It would be interesting to know if this worked, but I'm not willing to spend that much money for Picsel to find out. I liked it when I had a clie, but it came free :-).
Don't expect Sharp or Picsel to allow you to move it because that would allow someone to easily distribute pirate copies.
Dave.
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It would be interesting to know if this worked, but I'm not willing to spend that much money for Picsel to find out. I liked it when I had a clie, but it came free :-).
How did it perform on the Clie?
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How did it perform on the Clie?
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=79303\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
I had a clie ux50. Picsel was cool, but it ran sluggish on the ux (as did Netfront). The ux's cpu is significantly slower than on my c860. That was one of the big reasons why I switched to the Zaurus.
d.
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It would be interesting to know if this worked, but I'm not willing to spend that much money for Picsel to find out. I liked it when I had a clie, but it came free :-).
How did it perform on the Clie?
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=79303\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
I've got it on my TJ35. It performs rather shockingly well given the memory and architecture of the Palm. It seemed somewhat marred by slow startup times and one of the weirdest interfaces I've seen outside of a video game.
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I've asked Conics..
"we can order the Picsel browser for you, but The Sharp website advises the SL-C1000 has problems with the Picsel browser.
(SL-C860 & SL-C3000 is has no problem)" ?
Anybody know whats up with the C1000 and Picsel?
At $170 + its too costly a risk fo me ;-)
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@DRDR,
I have a little offtopic question.
In your review (really nice made) I saw you have the zaurus sky explorer installed on your Z. Some time ago I tried to run this app aswell but no success. I have a C750 with Cacko 1.22 and Jeode Java. At first the options specified in the runzaurus-sky-explorer file weren't recognized. I removed them but now I get the error "java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: zaurusskyexplorer.ZuarusSkyExplorer".
Can you help me?
Maybe we should open a new thread for this.
Kedge
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I have a C750 with Cacko 1.22 and Jeode Java. At first the options specified in the runzaurus-sky-explorer file weren't recognized. I removed them but now I get the error "java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError:
I also use Cacko 1.22+the hotfix+Jeode+J2ME. The sky-explorer runs without any problems and without any file and configuration changes. Sorry, I don't know what's wrong in your case.
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I downloaded the above mentioned ipk and played around with it. From what I could tell, the program searches for license information in a particular file (license.pli, I think) on the card. I would guess that with this ipk installed and an SD card with a legitimate license file, it would work. Obviously, I haven't tried this because I don't own the program.
Also, it may be possible to change the location that the program looks for said license file with a hex editor to somewhere off the card. You would still need to own a valid license to use it though.
It would be interesting to know if this worked, but I'm not willing to spend that much money for Picsel to find out. I liked it when I had a clie, but it came free :-).
Don't expect Sharp or Picsel to allow you to move it because that would allow someone to easily distribute pirate copies.
Dave.
[div align=\"right\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div] (http://index.php?act=findpost&pid=79295\")
more translated info @ [a href=\"http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kutikomi.ne.jp%2Fpicsel%2Fmanual.asp&langpair=ja%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools]http://translate.google.com/translate?u=ht...Flanguage_tools[/url]
version 1.1.0 of the software
http://www.kutikomi.ne.jp/picsel/FILECOPY/ver-up.zip (http://www.kutikomi.ne.jp/picsel/FILECOPY/ver-up.zip)
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So does this mean you can move it off the SD card as long as you move the licence file as well?
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no, this does not work
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I also use Cacko 1.22+the hotfix+Jeode+J2ME. The sky-explorer runs without any problems and without any file and configuration changes. Sorry, I don't know what's wrong in your case.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=79609\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
Which version of the sky explorer do you have and from where?
Kedge
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I just received my copy of Picsel, and I have to agree, it's really great software.
In the short time that I've tested it - about 5 minutes (^^; - I've been able to open and view pdf/image files that qpdf2/various image viewers have bulked at (such as a pdf map of the entire Tokyo subway system with both English and Japanese labels).
It's true that the interface is a little unusual, but it's really easy to figure out and use (I haven't even bothered looking at the manual yet).
I just wish that it ran as fast as in DRDR's 5x-accelerated video. (^_^)
... and that it was a little less expensive.
- ashikase
- anpachi, gifu, japan
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I just wish that it ran as fast as in DRDR's 5x-accelerated video. ()
Mine seems to be a bit slow when opening web pages. But probably it loads the whole page into memory before displaying. So it seems to be slower but probably isn't slower when you regard full page loading times.
As you are in Japan: Maybe you can keep us informed about other Sharp software for the Zaurus?
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As you are in Japan: Maybe you can keep us informed about other Sharp software for the Zaurus?
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=80479\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
The only Zaurus information I know I read online, from various Japanese sites. In fact, I personally know only one other person here with a Zaurus.
By the way, in case anyone is interested, it's safe to format the Picsel Browser SD card to ext2 (or some other format); I reformatted mine as I like to store my home directory on SD.
It appears that the Picsel security measure is based on the Secure Digital ID, though if the software looks for a certain pattern (seems unlikely, unless it is possible to specifically request specific unique ids) or if the id is hard coded (seems tedious), I don't know.
<EDIT>Actually, the required id is probably stored in the license.pli file. If one could figure out how the number is stored/encrypted, it might be possible to change the number to work with a different card. Good luck figuring it out, though. Personally, I'm happy with just 256MB... for now.</EDIT>
On another note, one idea for gaining more space on the card may be to use a squashfs or cramfs image for data stored on the card.
- ashikase
- anpachi, gifu, japan
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I'm current a co-op student working in iSeeMedia Inc. www.iseemedia.com (http://www.iseemedia.com)
our next project has something similar to this program.
however our software will not limited by the size of the documents, because it will render on the network instead of the actual embedded device (due to limited cpu, mem, other resources)
it will be build on J2ME
we're going to test it on Symbian first
but i'm sure you can run it on Zaurus too if you have J2ME installed (probably need some config)
http://www.iseemedia.com/main/products/iseedocs (http://www.iseemedia.com/main/products/iseedocs)
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Has anyone tried running Picsel Browser on a C3100 or a C1000?
I can use it on my C3100, but it runs upside down. It still works fine, it's just... upside down. Even the keys respond upside down (up moves selection down, left moves right, etc.).
I'm curious to know if the same problem occurs on the C1000, and if that is why Sharp claims that the software can't be used with it.
Oh, and if anyone has any ideas on how to right-side it, let me know. I tried changing QWS_DISPLAY, but then Picsel refused to run, complaining that QWS_DISPLAY did not equal the proper value ("Transformed:Rot270:Vga:0").
EDIT: Nevermind - I just noticed some small print on Sharp's Picsel page that says that there is a display problem when running on the C1000 and C3100; an update is planned.
- ashikase
- anpachi, gifu, japan
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Picsel Browser has been updated to v1.1.2, which supports C1000/C3100.
The update can be downloaded from: http://www.kutikomi.ne.jp/picsel/ (http://www.kutikomi.ne.jp/picsel/)
- ashikase
- anpachi, gifu, japan
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hmmm hex editor...I seem to remember these....
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actually you probably could do a drive copy of sort the copy the partition and binary data to another card, then expand the partition, of course this is for a legitamate backup
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Will it read multi page .tif files? Often the format used for fax to email deliveries?
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I've been talking to someone else about how picsel browser is locked to the card. Here's the result of "fdisk -l /dev/mmcda":
Disk /dev/mmcda: 495 MB, 495452160 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 960 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1009 * 512 = 516096 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/mmcda 1 960 483719+ 6 FAT16
note how the card is 1009 cylinders, but the partition is only 960 cylinders.
what follows is pure speculatrion (!). try it at your own risk.
I think that the picsel browser must somehow hide its license key in unallocated space at the end of the card. My guess is that you could copy the card thus (need a big CF in the drive or use a 3x00):
cat /dev/mmdca > /hdd3/picselcard
...and get a file as big as the card itself.. now insert a new card which MUST be at least as big, and which will be wiped by this process (no data will be preserved!)
cat /hdd3/picselcard > /dev/mmcda
note: this does NOT enable you to take a 128MB picsel card and copy it to a 256MB, as we're copying over the partition table too. HOWEVER, with care you could add a second partition beyond the hidden picsel data.
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I am stumbling towards the solution for unmarrying picsel browser from the sd card. If anyone would like to help, can they run this command when the picsel card is inserted, and private message me the result; I will keep the answers in confidence.
cat /proc/driver/mmcsd/00/raw
thanks!
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I am stumbling towards the solution for unmarrying picsel browser from the sd card. If anyone would like to help, can they run this command when the picsel card is inserted, and private message me the result; I will keep the answers in confidence.
cat /proc/driver/mmcsd/00/raw
thanks!
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=152161\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
I would love to help but, I can't find a copy of it to buy.
I even offered, Picsel, money for a copy and they just blew me off. There is something wrong with a commercial software oufit that refuses to sell it's product to eager consumers.
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I am stumbling towards the solution for unmarrying picsel browser from the sd card. If anyone would like to help, can they run this command when the picsel card is inserted, and private message me the result; I will keep the answers in confidence.
cat /proc/driver/mmcsd/00/raw
thanks!
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=152161\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
Someone kindly gave me their hex card id.
I tried a binary patch on the picsel browser to change the file name it reads, and put a file there with the hex in it.
Unfortunately, patching the binary using "sed" caused it to run and crash, and the strace output looks completely different.
Hmmm. Is it possible to change the ID value of a card by writing to this file? Can I destroy an SD card doing so? I've not found much information about the file other than it seems to be an indicator of vendor + card ID.
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I even offered, Picsel, money for a copy and they just blew me off. There is something wrong with a commercial software oufit that refuses to sell it's product to eager consumers.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=152164\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
Sadly it does not seem to be uncommon these days. Quality service is being replaced with the promise of low prices... Don't get me started.
But I digress.
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I am stumbling towards the solution for unmarrying picsel browser from the sd card. If anyone would like to help, can they run this command when the picsel card is inserted, and private message me the result; I will keep the answers in confidence.
cat /proc/driver/mmcsd/00/raw
thanks!
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=152161\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
Someone kindly gave me their hex card id.
I tried a binary patch on the picsel browser to change the file name it reads, and put a file there with the hex in it.
Unfortunately, patching the binary using "sed" caused it to run and crash, and the strace output looks completely different.
Hmmm. Is it possible to change the ID value of a card by writing to this file? Can I destroy an SD card doing so? I've not found much information about the file other than it seems to be an indicator of vendor + card ID.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=152410\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
The safest way to test this would be to acquire a Panasonic Normal Speed SD card because all Picsel Browser for Zaurus copies shipped on these cards. Your safest bet would be to use either a 256MB or 512MB one depending on whether your ID dump came originally from a 256MB or 512MB card.
Matsushita (Panasonic's parent) approached Picsel about bundling their program locked onto SD cards. It was an experiment for the two to test the market for software locked to SD cards. The Z was the first platform and others were to have followed (Palm, WinMob, Symbian, etc...) dependent of the market test results. By the looks of things it appears the experiment failed.
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I even offered, Picsel, money for a copy and they just blew me off. There is something wrong with a commercial software oufit that refuses to sell it's product to eager consumers.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=152164\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
Sadly it does not seem to be uncommon these days. Quality service is being replaced with the promise of low prices... Don't get me started.
But I digress.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=152419\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
Amen, brother. Amen.
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Some interesting developments.
Two people both with the 512MB version of picsel, the cards have different ID (if indeed /proc/driver/mmcsd/00/raw is the card ID (nothing else in the /proc/driver/mmcsd/00 directory looks especially interesting, and this file is read by pic-browser not long before it pops up the insert picsel card message).. the IDs are 60% the same though, the latter half varies.
You can't change the value in /proc/driver/mmcsd/00/raw, and since the Sharp's mmcsd driver is closed source I don't think there's a way to hack the module to allow you to spoof the value (or write to it even if it doesn't actually touch the card).
The binaries, as installed, both have the same md5sum, which I didn't expect.
--edit, fixed typos. seem to be making a lot recently
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Some interesting developments.
Two people both with the 512MB version of picsel, the cards have different ID (if indeed /proc/driver/mmcsd/00/raw is the card ID (nothing else in the /proc/driver/mmcsd/00 directory looks especially interesting, and this file is read by pic-browser not long before it pops up the insert picsel card message).. the IDs are 60% the same though, the latter half varies.
You can't change the value in /proc/driver/mmcsd/00/raw, and since the Sharp's mmcsd driver is closed source I don't think there's a way to hack the module to allow you to spoof the value (or write to it even if it doesn't actually touch the card).
The binaries, as installed, both have the same md5sum, which I didn't expect.
--edit, fixed typos. seem to be making a lot recently
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=152533\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
That makes alot of sense that the binaries would have the same md5sum. The updates would would need to be generic so that they could be distributed to the users.
Panasonic was manufacturing the cards themselves so they would know what the card ids would be on the cards so, it sounds like they basically gave Picsel a list of reserved card ids that would be dedicated for the Picsel product. Then Picsel would include a look up table of some sort at start up for the card ids in the browser. Picsel would then issue a new update when a new batch of card ids were sent to them from Panasonic. The production started on 256MB cards. When that reserved stock ran out, the 512MB card edition was released and I believe at around the same time the last update was released.
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That makes alot of sense that the binaries would have the same md5sum. The updates would would need to be generic so that they could be distributed to the users.
Panasonic was manufacturing the cards themselves so they would know what the card ids would be on the cards so, it sounds like they basically gave Picsel a list of reserved card ids that would be dedicated for the Picsel product. Then Picsel would include a look up table of some sort at start up for the card ids in the browser. Picsel would then issue a new update when a new batch of card ids were sent to them from Panasonic. The production started on 256MB cards. When that reserved stock ran out, the 512MB card edition was released and I believe at around the same time the last update was released.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=152546\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
Well, it would be possible to have unique binaries too {edit - but unlikely, too much administrative burden}. There's a license file on each card, and I will get the md5 hash to compare against.
One owner has suggested that the sd card ID has to match the license file for picbrowser to work... thus copying the files is insufficient. Also, even doing a raw block copy of the whole card didn't work either (i.e. to copy over the dead space on the card) so that's probably not involved.
So, either a patched binary or spoofing the card ID is probably the only solution.
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Well, it would be possible to have unique binaries too {edit - but unlikely, too much administrative burden}. There's a license file on each card, and I will get the md5 hash to compare against.
One owner has suggested that the sd card ID has to match the license file for picbrowser to work... thus copying the files is insufficient. Also, even doing a raw block copy of the whole card didn't work either (i.e. to copy over the dead space on the card) so that's probably not involved.
So, either a patched binary or spoofing the card ID is probably the only solution.
[div align=\"right\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div] (http://index.php?act=findpost&pid=152553\")
It would interesting to find out what are the contents of the license.pli file. I always wondered if that file is watermarked in some way.
At one point the SD organization was promoting digital watermarking of MP3 files through the [a href=\"http://www.sdmi.org/]SDMI[/url] (Secure Digital Music Initiative). The algorithym was cracked after a hack challenge was issued by the group. It is possible that Panasonic could have locked Picsel to the SD using this technology with a few extra lessons learned to make sure it wasn't so easy to crack.
I agree patching the binary is the way to go since, that would give the owners of the cards the most flexibility to use the program as they see fit.