The secret of the "Debug Accessory Mode" Adapter.

The exact internals of Google’s proprietary “Suzy-Q” debugging device are, at the time of this writing, unknown. However, I have found how to make an apparently-compatible device: We connect the USB-C “business end” into a Asus C101PA machine; the USB-B end into a reasonable Linux PC, where we then: echo 18d1 5014 > /sys/bus/usb-serial/drivers/generic/new_id …and […]

Open Problem: "Debug Accessory Mode" on the Asus C101PA

Edit #2: Aaaand it’s solved: echo 18d1 5014 > /sys/bus/usb-serial/drivers/generic/new_id triggers creation of /dev/ttyUSB0 … 5 , several of which spew console log… Example spew on boot. (Looks like RK’s UART..?) Edit: apparently they’re USB lines! When connected as D-/D+ through a USB B-connector, to a Linux box, we get a device that enumerates with […]

Open Problem: Forcing MaskROM Mode on the Asus C101PA

The Asus C101PA is based on a Rockchip RK3399. These have a “maskrom mode”, where if the SPI EEPROM is disabled, the chip will attempt to boot from other devices: first, NAND flash, then microSD, and then finally a USB debug mode where you can attach a A-A cable and use the rkflashtool utility to […]

Wanted: Write-Once MicroSD Card !

Allegedly these exist! — though I have only been able to find them offered for sale by the railroad car. For certain applications, nothing else will really suffice. If any of my readers know of (or wish to become) a vendor offering, in (for starters) mid-three-digit quantities: a) One Time Programmable MicroSD card b) MicroSD […]

Open Problem: Delousing the Asus C101PA.

Apr. 26 update: This article is obsolete, the pill — was found; if you have this machine, scroll to the end. The Asus C101PA Chromebook is a very interesting device: it contains a Rockchip CPU, for which we already have a working deloused Gentoo; it also contains such marvels as a non-blobulous Marvell 802.11 card, […]

A Clean Gentoo for 'Rockchip'.

This recipe will re-create the hygienic gentoo installed on the RK pilot plant at Pizarro. The resulting install will also contain the full set of distfiles used in the rebuilding of the ‘world’, in /usr/portage/distfiles. No promises are made of fitness for a particular use, or of provenance, OTHER THAN as described above. ——— Materials […]

The Return of Phuctor!

I have the pleasure of informing my readers that… Phuctor is back! It — exactly as it was, but with a few minor fix-ups for browsing speed — now lives on a very spiffy 32-core Opteron at Pizarro, the ISP. The WWW UI is already up; the factoring proper will resume later tonight.

“Finite Field Arithmetic.” Chapter 10: Introducing Karatsuba's Multiplication.

This article is part of a series of hands-on tutorials introducing FFA, or the Finite Field Arithmetic library. FFA differs from the typical “Open Sores” abomination, in that — rather than trusting the author blindly with their lives — prospective users are expected to read and fully understand every single line. In exactly the same […]

Dicţionar Român-Englez.

This post exists to give a permanent home and linkable reference point for certain materials. Specifically, a — to my knowledge, currently the only one found anywhere on the entire Net — grep-able plain-text English-Romanian dictionary. The original source was an ancient piece of MS-Windows nagware. The perpetrator of this item (I hesitate to dignify […]

“Finite Field Arithmetic.” Chapter 9: "Exodus from Egypt" with Comba's Algorithm.

This article is part of a series of hands-on tutorials introducing FFA, or the Finite Field Arithmetic library. FFA differs from the typical “Open Sores” abomination, in that — rather than trusting the author blindly with their lives — prospective users are expected to read and fully understand every single line. In exactly the same […]