/evic-sdk

An open source SDK for the Joyetech eVic VTC Mini.

Primary LanguageCGNU General Public License v3.0GPL-3.0

eVic SDK is a software development kit for writing APROMs for the Joyetech eVic VTC Mini.

Installation

  1. You need to setup an arm-none-eabi GCC toolchain and newlib. On Fedora, install the following packages:

    arm-none-eabi-gcc
arm-none-eabi-newlib

    On Ubuntu, the following packages should be enough:

    gcc-arm-none-eabi
libnewlib-arm-none-eabi

    I only tested it on Fedora at the moment, but there shouldn't be issues with other distros. In case the precompiled packages aren't available for you distro, you may have to compile it yourself. I still haven't tested it on Windows.

  2. Clone this repository:

    git clone https://github.com/ReservedField/evic-sdk.git
cd evic-sdk

  3. Download the latest M451 series SDK from Nuvoton and copy the Library folder inside evic-sdk/nuvoton-sdk, as to have evic-sdk/nuvoton-sdk/Library.

  4. Point the EVICSDK environment variable to the evic-sdk folder. Tipically, you'll add this to your .bashrc file in your home directory:

    export EVICSDK=/path/to/evic-sdk

    Make sure to restart your terminal to ensure the variable is set before building.

  5. Build the SDK:

    make

At this point, the SDK should be fully set up. You can also generate Doxygen documentation with:

make docs

To clean up the build (for example if you want to do a full rebuild), use the standard:

make clean

Building your first APROM

The helloworld example should be the first thing you try compiling and flashing, to check that everything is working correctly. Building is as easy as:

cd example/helloworld
make

To clean you can use make clean, as usual. If the build succeeds, you should now have a bin/helloworld.bin file ready to flash.

Flashing

To flash, use python-evic. I suggest to backup your dataflash first, in case anything goes south:

evic dump-dataflash -o data.bin

Now, flash with APROM verification disabled:

evic upload --no-verify aprom --unencrypted bin/helloworld.bin

If everything went well you should see the "Hello, World." message.

This APROM doesn't include USB updating, so you need to reboot to LDROM to flash something else. To do it, remove the battery and disconnect the USB cable. Then, holding the right button, connect the USB cable. Now you can let the button go and flash away. You can also insert the battery while the button is pressed, then let it go and connect the cable. I find powering over USB is more convenient (as long as the APROM doesn't require significant power, i.e. it doesn't fire the atomizer). Similiarly, holding the left button during powerup will force the system to boot from APROM.

If python-evic fails and the eVic won't flash back to a functioning state, don't panic. Find a Windows/Mac machine (or virtualize one), boot the eVic to LDROM and flash an original firmware using the official Joyetech updater. It has always worked for me.

Unless you're messing with the LDROM, this is practically unbrickable - you can always boot to LDROM and restore. Actually, APROM update is always done from LDROM - the official firmware doesn't even contain flash writing routines, it only provides access to the dataflash and the actual APROM upload happens in LDROM after a reset.