Monthly Archives: August 2010

This is the initial public release of my ‘fwtool’ firmware manipulation tool.  The utility can be used to ‘unpack’ a firmware update “.bin” file into the component pieces (kernel, rootfs, (optional)wifi firmware), or to ‘pack’ these files back into a … Continue reading →

As you may have noticed, the iSpot’s web interface refuses to let you upload a firmware that isn’t “newer” that the current firmware. When making this decision, the web interface looks to the “/etc/version.svn” file to see what the ‘current’ … Continue reading →

As I pointed out in my earlier article “Backing up the flash memory on your iSpot to your PC“, there are 10 ‘partitions’ on the flash memory chip in the iSpot (at least on my device). You can get a … Continue reading →

In case of future corruption of the flash memory chip on your iSpot (especially if you are ‘hacking’ your device), it’s a good idea to make a backup of the contents.  Hopefully, having this backup will make it possible to … Continue reading →

I’ve analyzed the structure of the “.bin” files used for firmware updates on the iSpot, and will document/update my findings below. Here is a hex-dump of the beginning of a firmware update “.bin” file (this is from “iSpot_Software_080510.bin”): 00000000 49 … Continue reading →