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Tashtari's ADB Tools (also a plea for rare devices!)

tashtari

PIC Whisperer
I've been trying to clean up and publish some of the tools I've been using for my ADB-related adventures. Neither of these are complex enough to warrant a TashName, but I want to put them out there just in case they might come in handy for someone else.

I've made an ADB protocol analyzer:


And a test host:


Both use the delightful PIC12F1840 and connect to some Python code on a PC using its UART.

ALSO!

Lately I'm kind of obsessed by rare and weird ADB devices. It all started with the Global Village A300 modem, then progressed to the media keys of the Apple Adjustable Keyboard (both of which I've documented over at TashNotes), but I need more! Anyone out there happen to have the Global Village A400 modem or the LaCie FM Radio or some other rare ADB device that is neither keyboard nor pointing device? If so, please get in touch, I'd love to work with you on documenting their protocol for posterity.

Also please let me know if you find any of my projects useful or would like to use them and need help.
 

Corgi

Well-known member
I don't know how rare it is, but I have an ADB Wacom. Still can't find a replacement for its long-lost stylus, otherwise I'd use it.
 

DarthNvader

Well-known member
What about a photo optic CRT calibrator?

It's an odd beast being ADB, but I don't have any CRT's to test it with.
 

tashtari

PIC Whisperer


Things like these exist.
Ooh. That's neat. What are they used for, do you need special software to interface with them?
How would this thing analyze a Griffin iMate, as well?
Well, you put the analyzer on any ADB bus and it should communicate the activity that's going on over it, whether that bus is driven by an iMate or a Mac or something else. I don't know if there's anything the iMate would do that would be that interesting to analyze, though, given that it's probably just going to behave like a Mac would.
I’ve got the FM Radio.
Cool! I'll send you a DM.
I don't know how rare it is, but I have an ADB Wacom.
I have one of those too, I may dip into its protocol at some point...
What about a photo optic CRT calibrator?
Huh, that's interesting! I might not know enough about its function to know how to decipher its protocol, but I would at least like to document its existence. Will send you a DM.
 

Phipli

Well-known member
Ooh. That's neat. What are they used for, do you need special software to interface with them?
They're great. The CS-1 was common in recording studios for audio and midi editing, but they also work with Adobe Premiere and probably other video editing software.

I have a copy of the software, but it works straight with some software. I'll backup my disk if it isn't on mac garden.
 

tashtari

PIC Whisperer
They're great. The CS-1 was common in recording studios for audio and midi editing, but they also work with Adobe Premiere and probably other video editing software.
Wonder if this is enough of a pseudo-standard that I could use it for media key emulation on TashTrio (which might end up being TashQuintet or more by the time I'm done with it...)

The replies to this thread so far are showing me that I should think seriously about knocking together a PCB for the ADB analyzer so I can send them to people with rare ADB devices...
 

Phipli

Well-known member
Wonder if this is enough of a pseudo-standard that I could use it for media key emulation on TashTrio (which might end up being TashQuintet or more by the time I'm done with it...)

The replies to this thread so far are showing me that I should think seriously about knocking together a PCB for the ADB analyzer so I can send them to people with rare ADB devices...
With that in mind, software dongles might be interesting. A general purpose dongle spoofer would open some restrictive software to use without needing software hacks?

Is there any dongle'd software that hasn't been cracked?
 

tashtari

PIC Whisperer
With that in mind, software dongles might be interesting. A general purpose dongle spoofer would open some restrictive software to use without needing software hacks?

Is there any dongle'd software that hasn't been cracked?
Also an interesting proposition, I've ordered a QuarkXPress 4 dongle to poke at just out of curiosity. If there's any software out there that still requires a dongle, I might be able to emulate it, though I'm sure by this point that anything of interest to any significant number of people has been cracked...
 

jeremywork

Well-known member
Echoing @Phipli, creating a way to image these would be nice if one doesn't already exist. Whatever software/hardware replacement can be made will probably still need program-specific (serial specific?) ROMs. Here are two versions I have and would be happy to poke at:
IMG_4474.jpg
IMG_5114.jpg
The casing on both units can probably be split open but may crack some plastics. If it's necessary I'll give it a try.
 

tashtari

PIC Whisperer
Echoing @Phipli, creating a way to image these would be nice if one doesn't already exist. Whatever software/hardware replacement can be made will probably still need program-specific (serial specific?) ROMs. Here are two versions I have and would be happy to poke at:
View attachment 48665
View attachment 48666
The casing on both units can probably be split open but may crack some plastics. If it's necessary I'll give it a try.

The QuarkXPress 4 dongle I ordered looks very similar to the second picture you linked, my hope is that I can get a capture of the bus activity when QuarkXPress 4 starts and figure out from there what's going on. If it's cryptographic, who knows, but if it's just spitting out a serial number of some kind, there's some hope...

Without splitting it open, there are some steps that you can perform (or that anyone with any ADB device can perform) to get some first-pass information on it:
  • Download and run ADB Parser on a mac with the device plugged in
  • Identify the device on the list
    • Your ADB keyboard and mouse should be the devices at addresses 2 and 3, and the host should be at 0, so the ADB device under test should be whatever's left over if there are no other devices plugged into your ADB ports
  • Click the device in the list and note the "Original Address", "Original Handler", "Current Handler", and "Current Address"
  • Click "Talk" on the radio buttons in the left panel and enter "1" for the register, then click "Send Command" and note the data received below (if any)
  • Do the same with "2" for the register
Doing this will help me start to compile a list of devices and their IDs and benefit the general cause of Apple history. =)
 

tashtari

PIC Whisperer
Oh, and a general word of warning, don't hotplug your ADB devices - even though this works sometimes, it's not safe to do and might require logic board surgery if you're unlucky. Everyone probably knows this already but just in case...
 

aladds

Well-known member
So I was searching for the ADB I/O Buzzzzzz stuff a while ago. Upon seeing this thread I thought to do a little digging. Turns out that the wayback machine has a somewhat complete copy of their website, and with a bit of wrangling you can get a (corrupt...) hqx file out of it which unar can extract some content from, including some source code!


EDIT: Uploaded a realbasic sample I found on a linked website (Waybackmachine 2001 of http://www.msystems.com/rb/ ) for completeness.
 

Attachments

  • ADB.zip
    1.3 MB · Views: 6
  • adbiorb-noapp.sit.hqx
    25.5 KB · Views: 5

tashtari

PIC Whisperer
So I was searching for the ADB I/O Buzzzzzz stuff a while ago.
All hail the Wayback Machine! But I'm lacking context, what is the "ADB I/O Buzzzzzz"?

EDIT: Nevermind, I clicked the link, which I failed to notice the first time...
 

tashtari

PIC Whisperer
This is cool! At a glance, the C source files look like they might contain enough information to duplicate the functionality of this device entirely...
 

aladds

Well-known member

tashtari

PIC Whisperer
PowerKey Rebound
Very interesting, a watchdog timer for the Mac. Trouble is that without having the device itself (or very technical documentation as for the ADB I/O) the software isn't of much use since I don't know what original address and handler ID it's expecting...
 
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