ZipIt Tech Details

ZipIt wireless IM device

 * Discussion of ZipIt modification http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zipitwireless
 * Details on how to flash new firmware into ZipIt http://aibohack.com/zipit/
 * Info on adding MMC memory to ZipIt ZipIt_MMC
 * large scan of main board
 * really large scan of main board
 * directory listing Media:ls-lR.txt slightly out of date
 * appears static linked to uClibc
 * is static linked to uClibc
 * is the main binary, static linked to glibc and likely more
 * Made by Aeronix and imported
 * GPL/LGPL sources are available or documented
 * Note: object file for Zipit binary is not available for re-linking so they are in violation of the LGPL license for glibc
 * http://www.zipitwireless.com/linux.html
 * ZipIt_Peeks_&_Pokes

Hardware

 * Cirrus EP7312
 * 2M flash - MX 29LV160ATxBC-70
 * 16M SDRAM - Hynix HY5V26D
 * 320x240x4 LCD (grayscale)
 * Agere WiFi chip - WL600114LY (basically "WL60011", a Wavelan Hermes-II)
 * Wolfson Micro WM8751L Stereo DAC

amazon http://www.elkgrovewireless.com/zipit/zipit.jpg http://www.elkgrovewireless.com/zipit/

Source Code

 * Zipit Wireless Messenger Release 1.00-1.12
 * http://kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/linux-2.4.21.tar.bz2
 * patch-2.4.21-rmk1.bz2
 * http://www.zipitwireless.com/linux/patch-2.4.21-rmk1-zipit.gz
 * http://ftp.sf.net/pcmcia-cs/pcmcia-cs-3.2.1.tar.gz
 * http://www.agere.com/mobility/docs/wl_lkm_722_abg.tar.gz - Agere Wireless Driver
 * http://www.zipitwireless.com/linux/patch-wl_lkm_abg_alfa2-zipit.gz - Aeronix Patch
 * http://busybox.net/downloads/legacy/busybox-1.00-pre1.tar.bz2
 * http://uclibc.org/downloads/old-releases/uClibc-0.9.15.tar.bz2
 * http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/glibc/glibc-2.2.5.tar.gz
 * http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux/wireless_tools.26.tar.gz
 * Note: as stated above the LGPL license requires that the object file for the Zipit binary be made available for re-linking with glibc and this has not happened.

Serial Port Access

 * ground on GND
 * debug on DBG
 * on left side of R121
 * on right side of R122
 * on unlabeled point near midpoint from R42 and R53
 * is not available
 * you will need a level shifter circuit with something like the MAX233A or MAX233 to convert to to rs232 signal levels.

How to find the Firmware Version
 

What's in ROM
From Zipit Pet's post on the subscriber only Yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zipitwireless

Updated to 1.16 version

The ZipIt device has 2MB or Flash ROM and 16MB of RAM

The Flash ROM contains a small boot loader, a zImage compressed Linux kernel and gzip compressed ramdisk. These get expanded to RAM when the device boots. At the end of the Flash ROM is a small area where settings are saved (eg: passwords, SSIDs etc).

Flash ROM Memory Map: (version 1.16)

Linux
The linux kernel build string is:

Most components were built a long time ago (2002 or 2003). Not customized for the ZipIt.

in /lib/modules are a few dynamic loaded modules:
 * audiodrv.o [audio, not GPL],
 * wlags49_h25_cs.o [WiFi, GPL]

http://www.agere.com/mobility/wireless_lan_drivers.html

init script
The brief init script, /sbin/init

[a bunch of echo statements] /bin/mount /proc /sbin/ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1 insmod /lib/modules/audiodrv.o

cd /usr/bin /bin/ash & ./Zipit /bin/ash

ramdisk - custom app "Zipit"
The /usr/bin/Zipit app is ~1.6MB program that has all the goodies in it. It uses a number of support files for the user interface
 * Sounds are in standard WAV format (/usr/bin/Sounds)
 * Images are in standard BMP format (/usr/bin/GUI)
 * The user interface is stored in .SDF data files for the different pages (/usr/bin/SDFs) Looks like a proprietary format
 * The string "insmod /lib/modules/wlags49_h25.o" is buried inside /usr/bin/Zipit

Release history
A URL for a checking/getting a release looks like:

http://www.zipitwireless.net/~zippy/90300089.txt <- with different numbers on the end.

Tim Riker only has partial info, but wishes we kept track so here's a start: