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Announcing wrdk

I’m happy to announce wrdk, a development kit for the WikiReader.

wrdk is a pre-built toolchain, libraries, set of examples, and simple
serial loader that makes developing applications for the Openmoko
WikiReader a little bit easier. Included is fairly high level access
to most of the hardware including the file system, LCD, buttons, and
touch screen.

The development cycle is pretty easy: write your app, build it, copy
it over to a SD card, and pick the icon off a menu to run it. The
serial loader, along with a modified WikiReader and custom cable,
speeds this up by letting you reset the device and load a new program
straight from your desktop machine.

Binaries are available for Linux and Windows. See

http://wrdk.seabright.co.nz/

for more.

I’m tempted to offer a pre-modified WikiReader and download cable to
help those who aren’t electronically inclined. Please contact me if
you’d be interested.

4 Comments

  1. Joseph Dye says:

    Can this render wiki xml stuff ?

  2. John says:

    Hello

    I bought a WikiReader to play with Forth however swapping the minisd card in and out is a pain. Would you consider posting a step by step how to mod your wiki reader to add a debug cable. Not being an electronics guy I may just decide to ask you to mod the device for me but if its doable I would like to have a go

    Thanks for the blog!

  3. michaelh says:

    Hi John. I’m hoping to write this up a bit further, but here’s the short story:

    Take the battery cover off and undo the two screws
    Open the WikiReader using a spudger or similar to pop out the plastic latches. See the wiki for pictures of the inside of the case
    Get a 2 mm pitch female header such as this one
    Solder the header onto the debug pads on the PCB
    Widen the debug hole in the case so that the header fits through
    Re-assemble the WikiReader
    Get a knock-off Nokia DKU-2 cable such as this one. These can be used as a 3.3 V serial cable
    Get a 2 mm pitch pin header, cut the end off the DKU-2 cable, and solder it to the right pins

    I’m happy to do this for you if you cover the postage and cost of the cable. Send me an email and we can talk further.

  4. michaelh says:

    Hi Joseph. Not really – you could, however, use wrdk to write your own application that renders what ever you want. Note that the WikiReader code itself is available from Openmoko and, in theory, can be used to create your own wiki, e-books, or potentially many other things.

    I’m tempted to do a WikiReader variant that has the pinouts for all the common connectors, ICs, and other electronic things that you often need out in the shed.

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