28 May
2020
28 May
'20
7:12 p.m.
On Thu, May 28, 2020 at 07:08:25AM -0700, Mark Knecht wrote:
Thanks. All I could find on the TC Electronic website was this page,
which attempts to foist an EULA on anyone who downloads the firmware:
https://www.tcelectronic.com/Categories/Tcelectronic/Guitar/Effects-Process…
I've sent an email to license-violation at gpl-violations.org to let
them know.
I'm not sure it would be wise for anyone to spend time trying to
reverse-engineer the X5 if its source code might be forthcoming. Trying
to get the source code seems a better use of effort in the first
instance.
(N.B.: I do not know whether TC Electronic is in fact violating the GPL,
nor whether it will ever publish its source code for the X5. Sadly, nor
can I help on that front beyond what I have already done, since I don't
hold copyright on any code in the Linux kernel nor do I own an X5. My
participation in this email thread has been on the basis that I would
like to see more audio equipment running and/or made compatible with
GNU/Linux, and on the basis that if the X5 were made more interoperable
with GNU/Linux then I might be interested in owning one.)
On Thu, May 28, 2020 at 4:31 AM Sam Kuper wrote:
Thanks.
On Tue, May 26, 2020 at 04:57:14PM -0700, Mark
Knecht wrote:
The front panel menu system:
Global->About->BSP-> Linux 4.9.47-rt37 2019-12-20.C23818C I purchased [a TC Electronic Plethora X5]. It
works well (so far).
It's Linux internally running 4.9.47-rt37.
I'm curious: how do you know which kernel your Plethora X5 uses? Finally, do
you know if TC Electronic has published any of the source
code relevant to the Plethora X5?
I haven't looked hard for any of that but I also haven't seen it in the
manual or on their website. mark@science:~$ diff /tmp/lsusb_x5_disconnected.txt
/tmp/lsusb_x5_connected.txt
10a11,13
Thanks.
Since the X5 presents a USB mass storage device to the OS and uses
that to upgrade the firmware, at least you should be able to upgrade the
X5's firmware from your GNU/Linux box.
That firmware upgrade path might provide opportunities for future
reverse engineering attempts. (In addition to searching the PCB for
JTAG headers, etc.)
I wonder how the Windows software communicates with the X5, though.
That's not obvious from the lsusb output. A reverse engineer might need
to intercept/sniff the USB traffic between the X5 and a Windows host to
figure that out.
|__ Port 2: Dev 3, If 0, Class=Audio,
Driver=snd-usb-audio, 480M
|__ Port 2: Dev 3, If 1, Class=Audio, Driver=snd-usb-audio, 480M
|__ Port 2: Dev 3, If 2, Class=Mass Storage, Driver=usb-storage, 480M
mark@science:~$
In Windows when you plug the device in your get a explorer window.
Dropping a firmware update into that window and power cycling does the
firmware upgrade automatically. A first response from TC Electronic via a moderator
named 'TC-Mike' is
that the ability to backup the device is 'on the roadmap'.
I asked about general timeframe but have received no response.
Thanks for the follow-up.
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