[Leica] M8 firmware 2.005

[dennis at hale-pohaku.com (Dennis)]

Hi Frank,

I think this is a good idea.  Charging for upgrade firmware is a 
reasonable support solution for Leica. In the past Leica has provided 
custom upgrades to bodies on an individual basis and I see firmware as 
no different. Of course the upgrade is not customized to an 
individual's  specification but designed to provide a functionality with 
broad appeal. This is somewhat  akin to adding slow shutter speeds to 
the II series Leicas thus upgrading them to the III series.Not to 
mention finder upgrades for M series.

In order to ensure each upgrade is paid a buyer should receive firmware 
that it tied to their camera's serial number. Nothing is unbreakable but 
by using encryption it can be made difficult enough that typical buyer 
is not going to be able to give away, or use, copies on other cameras.

I took  a look at the M8 2.005 firmware file, m8-2_005.upd, and it's 
4,899 KB, sort of an odd number. If it's a complete image then it 
implies about 4MB of flash in the camera. If incomplete, i.e. unused 
memory space not filled, then the flash could be quite a bit more.

As to making your camera a doorstop by installing a bad firmware it's 
unlikely as most firmware designs will have a firmware loader in flash 
that is not overwritten when installing firmware.

It's not uncommon for manufacturers to disallow downleveling, i.e. 
installing an older level of firmware. No doubt there is a way to 
downlevel, but only the manufacturer, and hackers, will know how to do this.

It's my impression that most camera firmware hacks are simply turning on 
features that already exist in the firmware. These hacks do not require 
detail knowledge of the hardware nor significant reverse engineering of 
firmware.

I am sure that Leica learned a lot with the M8 firmware and made a 
decision to improve the design for the M9, make it more modular, easier 
to maintain, etc. Good firmware is expensive and I  hope Leica has made 
the M9 firmware modular and abstracted hardware detail such that it's a 
solid base for future digital M cameras.

Dennis



red735i at earthlink.net wrote:
> The orginal statement on M8 having a lens menu like the  M9....had it as 
> not possible......
> Not possible and too $$$ are totally different things.....
>
> One is a management decision not to supprt your customer base, the other 
> is a technical evaluation of feasibility.
>
> I do not understand why this kind of FW could not be a chargeable fee....  
> If they can get $175 for a $16 battery, why not $100-300 for a FW update 
> with some meat in it?  Say a few thousand folk did the update at $300 
> each, that would pay for the SW inveestment... the code is already written 
>  ( for the M9), it just need to be put into the M8 space, and then tested. 
>  It is not that expensive to do this....
>
> Your fears over FW hacking..... Both the M8 and M9 code is accessible.... 
> and comparisons can be made.
> BUT, successful hacking is not done by amateurs, but by people that write 
> code for a living.
> I am not suggesting that some Physicican/Lawyer/Indian Chief decide to 
> hack code on his M8.....
>
> Frank
>
>
>   
>> Leica Camera said that it would be too expensive to implement after the 
>> fact
>> and was only possible with the M9 due to writing the new firmware from
>> scratch.
>>
>>     
>
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