[This was originally posted on blogagotchi.com --ed.]
So I finally got my much awaited tama after a few days of worry. I
made the mistake of using Google checkout when I ordered my tamagotchis
from toys r us online. Unfortunately one was backordered (just HAD to
get the glow in the dark one...) but the other (a black lightning style)
came in today. I wasted no time in yanking its little tab out and
started playing with it. I was struck by the lack of a "Sleep"
command, since my digimon, and most of my other pets for that matter
have a "sleep" function.
I decided to test my IR thing, but it wouldnt pick up the signal for
some reason. Dont know why, could be something to do with the
transmitter, but who knows. Perhaps it's on a different spectrum
range? Perhaps I could solder on some tabs to clip some test leads to,
and feed that directly into my Universal Breadboard, and then into my
sound card.
I popped it open and noticed that the antenna is just plastic. Not
that I was expecting any high-tech RF modulation, but then again, I
expected _some_ use.
I notice two jumper pads, much like the "DEBUG" pad. They're labeled
JP1 and JP2, while DEBUG is labeled JP3. Curious. They are neighbor
pins. Curiouser and Curiouser. Perhaps a serial terminal?
I must say that the screws holding the board were _very_ tight, and I almost stripped one or two in the process :X
I started verrry gently started prying the board off its mounts and
thought I had moved the lcd. This, of course, made me wet myself,
thinking I had just pwn3d my own, new, tamagotchi. so I quickly
stitched it up and put the battery back in. I pwn3d it. I screamed, I
swore, I woke my parents. It looked like I could only see the bottom 3
rows of pixels. "Poop." So I turned it over and popped out the lens,
and rested the board in the back half of the case, and put the battery
in. It worked, but the lcd looked different. I poked it. It changed.
Of course! It needed pressure on the connectors to the lcd!
And so here I sit, staring at the lcd, not wanting to pop it off for
fear of never getting it back on again. Oh, wait, there it goes.
*crash* And there went my screwdrivers...and the screws >_<
Hmmm, it's one of those black epoxy blobs again! After talking to an
electrical hobbyist friend of mine, I am now informed that I should use
rubbing alcohol to remove it, and not to let it run at all, lest it
melt through the board.
The LCD interface is definitely interesting, the bottom 12 pins on the
left hand side of the lcd go through the board, around to the other
side, and back to the processor. Very smart! This let them route the
traces around the buttons, without having to actually route around em!
The whole thing is 40 pads to a side, for a total of 80
pads/traces/whatever, most are I/O pins straight from the processor,
but some are power/ground.
I have a horrible feeling that they will have simply glued the
processor and ram onto the board, rather than soldering it, but I dont
know yet. On second thought, it's probably a single integrated chip,
since the AVR and TI MSP430 chips all have onboard ram and flash rom.
BTW, all you intrepid tamahackers, dont take off the LCD. It's a royal
pain to put back on. (If you dont take the wimpy way out and just drop
it back into the plastic case) And the bubble of glass on the edge of
the lcd goes towards the top of the tama. Look for the label "SW3",
notice the trace above that, and the trace above that. That's where
the bottom edge should be.
Use a VERY soft cloth to remove any fingerprints on the lcd/lens assembly.
Also, you need to tighten the pcb board rather tightly for the lcd to
connect properly, at least to just before the point where the
screwdriver begins to slip.
Truly amazing, I managed to completely disassemble (Short of
de-soldering it) and reassemble the tama and it survived. I am now
more confident in my Hacking abilities :P
See you next entry, when I Destroy the Blob!
Look at my Flickrstream!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/grycueusp/
So I finally got my much awaited tama after a few days of worry. I
made the mistake of using Google checkout when I ordered my tamagotchis
from toys r us online. Unfortunately one was backordered (just HAD to
get the glow in the dark one...) but the other (a black lightning style)
came in today. I wasted no time in yanking its little tab out and
started playing with it. I was struck by the lack of a "Sleep"
command, since my digimon, and most of my other pets for that matter
have a "sleep" function.
I decided to test my IR thing, but it wouldnt pick up the signal for
some reason. Dont know why, could be something to do with the
transmitter, but who knows. Perhaps it's on a different spectrum
range? Perhaps I could solder on some tabs to clip some test leads to,
and feed that directly into my Universal Breadboard, and then into my
sound card.
I popped it open and noticed that the antenna is just plastic. Not
that I was expecting any high-tech RF modulation, but then again, I
expected _some_ use.
I notice two jumper pads, much like the "DEBUG" pad. They're labeled
JP1 and JP2, while DEBUG is labeled JP3. Curious. They are neighbor
pins. Curiouser and Curiouser. Perhaps a serial terminal?
I must say that the screws holding the board were _very_ tight, and I almost stripped one or two in the process :X
I started verrry gently started prying the board off its mounts and
thought I had moved the lcd. This, of course, made me wet myself,
thinking I had just pwn3d my own, new, tamagotchi. so I quickly
stitched it up and put the battery back in. I pwn3d it. I screamed, I
swore, I woke my parents. It looked like I could only see the bottom 3
rows of pixels. "Poop." So I turned it over and popped out the lens,
and rested the board in the back half of the case, and put the battery
in. It worked, but the lcd looked different. I poked it. It changed.
Of course! It needed pressure on the connectors to the lcd!
And so here I sit, staring at the lcd, not wanting to pop it off for
fear of never getting it back on again. Oh, wait, there it goes.
*crash* And there went my screwdrivers...and the screws >_<
Hmmm, it's one of those black epoxy blobs again! After talking to an
electrical hobbyist friend of mine, I am now informed that I should use
rubbing alcohol to remove it, and not to let it run at all, lest it
melt through the board.
The LCD interface is definitely interesting, the bottom 12 pins on the
left hand side of the lcd go through the board, around to the other
side, and back to the processor. Very smart! This let them route the
traces around the buttons, without having to actually route around em!
The whole thing is 40 pads to a side, for a total of 80
pads/traces/whatever, most are I/O pins straight from the processor,
but some are power/ground.
I have a horrible feeling that they will have simply glued the
processor and ram onto the board, rather than soldering it, but I dont
know yet. On second thought, it's probably a single integrated chip,
since the AVR and TI MSP430 chips all have onboard ram and flash rom.
BTW, all you intrepid tamahackers, dont take off the LCD. It's a royal
pain to put back on. (If you dont take the wimpy way out and just drop
it back into the plastic case) And the bubble of glass on the edge of
the lcd goes towards the top of the tama. Look for the label "SW3",
notice the trace above that, and the trace above that. That's where
the bottom edge should be.
Use a VERY soft cloth to remove any fingerprints on the lcd/lens assembly.
Also, you need to tighten the pcb board rather tightly for the lcd to
connect properly, at least to just before the point where the
screwdriver begins to slip.
Truly amazing, I managed to completely disassemble (Short of
de-soldering it) and reassemble the tama and it survived. I am now
more confident in my Hacking abilities :P
See you next entry, when I Destroy the Blob!
Look at my Flickrstream!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/grycueusp/
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