(Here it is with my attempt to wire the JTAG port.) I'm afraid I forgot to take a pic of the CPU side of the board before taking a soldering iron to it. I traced these pins and they end up at the CPU. It's possible that the USB functionality has simply been disabled in the firmware. It seems to be missing a couple of components (resistors?), or perhaps they are not even needed for USB to be operational. For some reason, inspite of having a non-operational USB, the port is still wired. The most interesting thing here, is to take a close look at that USB connector. I disconnected the battery, and the LCD screen, here is the board without them: It seems I got lucky, because although a bit of a struggle I managed to open it without breaking it. There are no screws and it's a snap-together job. The USB connector is it seems only used for charging.Īfter a moment's hesitation (this is a very attractive photo frame, with nice mat finish, and great picture quality), I prized open the casing. I was really, really hoping this would be recognised as a USB device by my laptop, but no such luck.
It's still on some of theprice comparison sites, but no longer being sold (by Jessops at least). It has Jessops written on the box, and a brief search comes up with model number AJESSFR805141124. It was too tempting to pass up, so I ordered it.
I eventually came across a no-name photo frame going cheap on Ebay that looked like it had USB. The small 1.5 inch keychain photo frames are great and are extremely hackable, thanks to the efforts of Sprite, however they are little more than a toy, and with 128x128 resolution not really useful for any serious applications. It seems clear that USB connectivity is a must, since alternative communication methods like SPI, UART or GPIO pins won't be able to shift data from Bifferboard to photo frame quickly enough for multimedia applications.
For some time I have been looking for an appropriate display for the Bifferboard.