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Who Makes The X-coils? Who Sells Them?


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Wait, the chip code is broadcasted unencrypted? Are you sure?

Man, I'm gonna have to go download a firmware update and see if it's unencrypted out of curiosity. If not, I can just disable the chip authentication myself without cutting a cord. I seriously doubt they would have made that big of a mistake though. I'm not even sure how to go about figuring it out since a compiled program just looks like gibberish anyways in a text editor but anything can be found online I suppose.

 

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The link to download that program doesn't work. I did however take a peek at the GPZ update in a random hex editor off Google. It does appear to be showing some sort of X86 assembly code instructions in a "disassembly" window when I click line by line. Am I mistaken in saying that means this GPZ firmware appears to be unecrypted then? 

It can't be that easy. There has got to be like some checksum to validate the update or something. Man, for my own good I hope I can't just decompile this into something easy like C++ because I'm going to fall down a rabbit hole of modding the crap out of my detector as far as the software will let me and eventually breaking something inside. :biggrin:

But a thought occurs to me, even if we could disable the chip authentication, the connector containing the chip (and plugging into the GPZ) is still some weird non-standard larger connector. At least it's larger than the typical coil connector. So unless that connector is commercially available, a coil would still need cut.

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There IS a program out there to read the resultant code, Ive seen it done. The frequency variation is easy to discern though, part of the chip appears to be a simple frequency matcher. I would have to chat with the tech who showed me to get more info. He made 3 bench coils for the zed back in 2017. Just for fun I think...

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That's the assembly language I was seeing too - is ASM as far as it will decompile in your program too? Like is that the native language it was written in, or can it go up one more level to something like C?

For instance, I used to program 8 bit MCU's and at first I had to do it all in ASM, but then Microchip released a C compiler that went from C to ASM. So here, can it be done in reverse one level higher up the abstraction ladder and the program takes a guess whatever higher level language it was written in? Or was it written in ASM originally?

I'm utterly astounded it was that easy in any case.

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Wow, you fellows are blowing the mind with these revelations, if you come up with a program that can update the software on the Z so as one can remove and add features I`ve a Z here, don`t mind taking risks and have the inclination and time to test. I would love nothing better then to be able to remove the necessity to fast track when you change some modes. My experience, on the ground I prospect on, with the Z is it`s own auto ground tracking is very capable of doing this itself without user intervention. 

 

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If you guys are code hackers.. maybe I could have you add a simple time stamp to the front page so I dont have to hit a few keys to show it in the gps screen.  Ha ha

I know nothing of the legalities of changing code, unfortunately.

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4 hours ago, phrunt said:

It breaks all the rules Norvic.  Although possible to be done by an experienced disassembler there are big copyright issues around it.

I wouldn't be so sure Simon, I decided to look further into it and chase down an official Minelab EULA (those things we mindlessly click "ok" on when installing a new piece of software, for those less computer saavy amongst us) in order to figure out what sort of copywriting was involved and wether they sourced libraries or open source code that users have every right to edit. And I found this:

https://www.minelab.com/opensource

So, they might be using open source already to create their firmware in some form another. Or on second thought it could be the XChange software, or who knows. However, the GPZ 7000 link doesn't work for me. In fact their entire site is blocking every IP from my ISP for some reason so I can't actually open any link anywhere from Minelab right now.

*note to Minelab: The link needs fixed, it's a part of the agreement for the code you have reused.

But another thing I wanted to mention given the obvious fact the GPZ is manufactured in Asia - my buddy used to work in the video game industry and they would hire out a ton of programming from Asia and India, none of which they could enforce copywrite on for reasons that were never really explained to me. I'm not sure we know Minelab themselves even wrote all the firmware anyways, it could have been written in Asia without copywrite (or under GPL or similar), or if they only wrote parts then maybe some are editable.

For instance, they may have used directly the library code right from the security chip manufacturer. And library code is generally covered under open source EULA's which mean it is editable.

There is nothing wrong with talking about this stuff and figuring out what is right and wrong. Minelab watches these forums, they are welcome to let us know if we've misinterpreted something themselves too.

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And of further relevance, here is the Wiki post on the legality of decompilation of software even in the event Minelab didn't use open source and 100% of their firmware was their own creation under exclusive license.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decompiler#Legality

Note the specific case they reference is one company decompiling another company's software locking mechanism. Almost exactly what is happening here. And the US case ruled that was legal.

Seems to me there is a stronger case to make for the legality of circumventing the chip through software for a need of interoperability, than hardware. At least in the US or Europe, when it comes to laws and court precedents. A 3rd party company could definitely make this case in the US anyways.

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If you want to make a backup/replacement One-wire ID chip for the coil here is what you will need. 

The video explains the process rather well.

It will require that you shave off enough plastic on the 7 pin plug to read the chip number.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2T78o7oxfQ&t=9s

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Serial-EEPROM-FLASH-PROGRAMMER-1-5-5V-ICSP-USB-24x-25x-93x-95x/301984133071?hash=item464fa82fcf:g:acAAAOSwjVVVp-Gd

https://www.digikey.com/products/en/integrated-circuits-ics/interface-specialized/754?k=one-wire

Have a good day,
Chet
 

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