Add TS101 support

[rozwell]

Hopefully TS101 hardware will be easy to adapt and there won't be any bootloader issues.

[Ralim]

Trying to source one. Miniware so far have not shared any details (firmware, schematics). May or may not be worth my time to to depending on complexity, but will try.

[River-Mochi]

Hopefully TS101 hardware will be easy to adapt and there won't be any bootloader issues.

see if the word could be put out in the Miniware community if someone is willing to either mail Ralim a TS101 or easier if bunch of people can put some funds into the Sponsor link in top right of the screen (the heart).

Miniware should send Ralim one since his open firmware runs on most of their products and makes people like using the Miniware products more (don't know if they will). The default miniware firmware is not as fun or good so it would be nice if Miniware could have more cooperation with open source IronOS.

I know Ralim does this for the love of IronOS community. however, the community doesn't send him much love and coffee back (but rather many issues).

See reference link below, there are over 155,000 downloads of open IronOS just for TS100 alone (yet maybe ~24 Kofi/coffees donated to for all his time and volunteer work over several years (most of those Kofi donations are from Pinecil community which is small % of downloads in comparison to TS100/miniware users).

If even 10% of people donated 0.25 cents it would be meaningful since Ralim has a day job to pay for rent/food. I'd like to get that word out. And he tries to do everything he can to only use features on Github that are free and don't trigger the Advertisements. wouldn't it be nice if he could use some paid features but he can't afford it.

this is not pressure (people do what they can with what they have). But if you are in any social media groups with other Miniware people, just putting out some friendly info to help people know how much work goes into firmware, and how little the community is aware of it, and ralim never asks, the heart sponsor link is barely visible. I also know he buys a lot of equipment and chargers with his own money to test them and improve issues.

Reference datasheet is here

[rozwell]

@Ralim I'm actually surprised they IronOS isn't the default firmware for Miniware irons, since it's just fantastic compared to default. Were you ever in contact Miniware about it? Or them supporting the project in any way? The least they could do, is provide 1 unit...

@River-b good point. I really love IronOS (using on TS100) so I just donated 4 Koffis 😉 It's good you pointed it out, cause I didn't actually notice that option it until now 😅 - dealing with all the daily crap can make people so dull...

[rozwell]

@Ralim, @River-b Miniware responded to my YouTube comment:

MINIWARE 9 hours ago Already send to Ralim.

@Ralim Can you confirm? 😀

[sorgelig]

I've just got TS101. That's great improvement over TS100. And it's really useful updates unlike Pinecil64 v2.0 (BT addition is dumbest feature ever). I like new larger screen and clean interface. PD support. New slot for tip not requiring to screw it every time you change the tip. The only problem with original FW is bad work with non-original tips with noisy temperature sensors. Otherwise FW is great.

[Ralim]

Alrighty my TS101 has arrived.

First a word of warning, don't rush to open it, (1) I broke plastic clips for the back cover (there is no screw). (2) You have to remove the front glass to get the screen out (if you just pull up on the PCB, you will tear off the screen). As such as I have not done a full teardown yet.

First impression notes:

• Same STM32F103CU as the TS80P
• Screen is a tiny bit larger, looks to be same resolution as others
• Their bootloader is huge at 32k as they have packed storage into its region instead.
• • This means to make IronOS work either need to replace bootloader, or get creative at moving as much as we can into that area somehow.
• Features are basically same as the old PinecilV1 though less powerful CPU as still on the F1.
• Tip retention with the spring loaded ball, though nothing I would write home about, tips spin when using non-round ones.
• Their firmware does the same serialisation check at the end of the firmware like MHP30 so backups need to be for your device if you want to run their firmware

Biggest issue is that at the moment only have ~32k of flash to work with, which is small. So will need to ponder this a bit about how best to handle this; will add some complexity to bring up.

Have dumped the firmware off mine, and started poking around, need to figure out pinmaps and do all the usual bringup mess. Once I confirm OLED+Buttons I will try and get my DFU bootloader working so we have a backup plan.

[sandmanRO]

I personally don't like the new design. It's somehow bulky / non-fluid as opposed to the old TS100 design, more likely dictated by the parts size fitted in rather than the other way around. It's very unlikely I would buy this product. But then again, I already have four TS100 units so I would not be needing more portable irons any time soon. P.S. Please don't shoot...it's just a personal opinion ;-)

[SubZer01]

I personally don't like the new design. It's somehow bulky / non-fluid as opposed to the old TS100 design, more likely dictated by the parts size fitted in rather than the other way around. It's very unlikely I would buy this product. But then again, I already have four TS100 units so I would not be needing more portable irons any time soon. P.S. Please don't shoot...it's just a personal opinion ;-)

and who is interested in your opinion? it is about the firmware Support from the TS101. furthermore, the new design is made softer rather than vice versa.

[discip]

@SubZer01

and who is interested in your opinion?

I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be "talking" like that if you knew that this man contributed a significant part of the code that makes your device heat so precisely.

Look here: https://github.com/Ralim/IronOS/issues/1038

P.S. Please don't shoot...it's just a personal opinion ;-)

Furthermore he literally asked for not being shot. 😞

[Ralim]

@SubZer01 Please watch your tone, you are coming across super rude. I would rather not block anyone, but not against it.

Making some gradual progress on this. Dont have a huge amount of time at the moment, but have started poking a flash dump in Ghidra.

My rough plan is to:

• Figure out the pinout they are using
• • Mildly concerned as they are bit-banging everything like before so wondering how many signals are on hardware pins sigh
• Get all the basic features working
• Trace out USB-PD stuff and see how thats done
• Figure out how to use the screen (it is 128x32 so higher resolution)
• • I knew this day was inevitable but have to think about best way to handle it. Worst case will just scale possibly for now (unsure; would love ideas)
• Wonder what to do about bootloaders, their one is super wasteful. They are clearly storing the virtual disk in the bootloader area. Which means we can store settings there but not the bootup logo.

I'll dump Ghidra and bins up sometime soon when I get more time, out of time for this weekend really.

@sandmanRO I'm fairly similar tbh. Also dont like that tip contacts are soldered to the board; and assembly of screen under glued glass makes it muuch harder for repair. (Thus why I'm disassembling code rather than multimeter probing it).

EDIT: Confirmed pinout is a mess, so at the minimum going to be bit-banging I2C. sigh ffs

[BF3000]

I've just got TS101. That's great improvement over TS100. And it's really useful updates unlike Pinecil64 v2.0 (BT addition is dumbest feature ever). I like new larger screen and clean interface. PD support. New slot for tip not requiring to screw it every time you change the tip. The only problem with original FW is bad work with non-original tips with noisy temperature sensors. Otherwise FW is great.

Actually Pinecil v2 have much more improvements than TS101. BT support is dumb, but 28v PD support & short tips (3 sec to heat up from 20C to 300C) is not.

[PUF52]

Just mini ware posted the firmware 1.09

[PUF52]

http://www.minidso.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=4937 http://www.minidso.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=4937 firmware is here

[PUF52]

really called it 1.10

[PUF52]

but it's 1.09

[bot-enot]

Another update v1.11

[River-Mochi]

Actually Pinecil v2 have much more improvements than TS101. BT support is dumb, but 28v PD support & short tips (3 sec to heat up from 20C to 300C) is not.

• the newest Pinecil V2 came with the BL706 chip which has BT-BLE support as a side bonus. It was a low cost and readily available chip unlike other chips that are in short supply in the world. This is one main reason the BL706 MCU was chosen for Pinecil V2.
• Pinecil also serves the Pine64 FOSS community as a RISC-V development tool. It is not just a soldering iron like other soldering irons.
• Some people buy Pinecil and do not have any tip installed. They just have a Usb-C break-out board connected to the back side which helps with development (working with USB-C libraries for example). Sometimes they also have a completely different development OS running on pinecil that is not IronOS.
• People often do not realize that Pinecil is not meant to be just a soldering iron and then criticise these other features it has based on an idea that a soldering iron can only function as a soldering iron.
• If you think of it first as a RISC-V development hardware for the open source community and second as a soldering iron then it might make more sense why it has extra features for the open source community to explore.
• See Pinecil Wiki here which explains how it serves as a RISC-V development tool
• Other irons only care if they can solder. The Pinecil is held to an additional standard - how well does it meet the needs of the open source community purposes to be a RISC-V dev tool and could features be added that allow some community requests for fun and science.

[Ralim]

I am planning to continue work on this, motivation is lower as I'm going to have to rebuild a lot of the firmware to support this iron, so initial firmware will probably not be great.

So far all of the hardware pinouts I've found were done by an idiot, and so not going to be able to use hardware peripherals for things. About halfway through making a pi out for the device.

Question for the community: the current bootloader wastes a bunch of space on the device. Is it worth pushing people to replace it or not?

[sorgelig]

If flashing bootloader will go wrong, will it brick the device? If so, then it's better to avoid flashing bootloader unless it's absolutely required.

[Ralim]

Yeah it can definitely go wrong. Its a problem that can be decided later on I guess. Just concerned since bringing in a new device also implies full feature completeness (langues etc) which is currently a fair bit chunky. And having to software bang more hardware chews up more space again.

[sorgelig]

will it require to flash original bootloader if for some reason an original firmware will be needed?

[BF3000]

As long as there will be a way to restore it to original, I'm fine with that. Flashing to IronOS is usually one way road. And BIG WARNING will be nice.

[Serrzh]

@Ralim Hello. sorry to bother you, I would like to ask if the firmware will eventually come out on ts 101? Is it worth waiting for this in the future?

[Ralim]

At this point I do not know if I will bother; it would most likely be a sub-par experience due to their hardware design decisions. Most likely answer is that I will add some basic support; but (a) it will take time and (b) its a lower priority as I'm not paid to waste 100's of hours working around their design decisions and decompiling their firmware.

[L1cardo]

They released v2 of their firmware which can go to 240w with PD3.1, that is crazy!!

[River-Mochi]

They released v2 of their firmware which can go to 240w with PD3.1, that is crazy!!

could you give me a link to where they say it will do 240W? I think they just enabled PD3.1 like we had in IronOS already for >4 months for Pinecil V2 (also supports EPR PD3.1). I've been running Pinecil V2 for 4 months with IRonOS at 28V, and with special Pine Short tip 6.2 ohm resistence the highest max would be ~126W for Pinecil V2.

Miniware TS101 says up to 28V 90W now on their website (the 28V is PD3.1 current chargers that are available). There are not even any USB-C chargers out yet that do 240w, the highest USB-C chargers that are EPR PD3.1 on the market in 2022 can only do 28V 140W.

Miniware website says only 90W, 28V on USB-C.

Miniware uses long 7.8-8.3 ohm tips, so at 28V EPR charger, with some manufacturer tolerance that would be about the 90W they say on their new listing. But not 240W (since that doesn't exist yet). A Special USB-C cable is required. the cable is rated at 240W (future proof), but the Chargers on the market are max 28V-140w right now. Cable is designed to last into new next standards for EPR that will be coming in the next few years, but the chargers are only capable of the lower end of the PD3.1 for 2022.

[Ralim]

I had to poke them a bunch and give them a hand to get them to add EPR support to the unit. I'm glad that they did it; but no idea why they didnt at launch.

[sorgelig]

I more wonder why 28V can be used on USB-C input but not on DC input. Is there are difference?

[PauliusMorku]

I more wonder why 28V can be used on USB-C input but not on DC input. Is there are difference?

I was wondering the same thing, it is so annoying that we can't use a fully charged 6s battery 😑 or maybe we can? Is there anything on the DC path that could not handle 25.2 volts?

[L1cardo]

@Ralim Just got my new ts101 iron, really like the tip slot. Looking forward to testing your new FW. Let me know if you need any of ny help.

[L1cardo]

I more wonder why 28V can be used on USB-C input but not on DC input. Is there are difference?

I was wondering the same thing, it is so annoying that we can't use a fully charged 6s battery 😑 or maybe we can? Is there anything on the DC path that could not handle 25.2 volts?

I asked the miniware, they say it can handle 28v

[River-Mochi]

I asked the miniware, they say it can handle 28v

they said for the DC barrel you can use up to 28V (like from a Bench DC power supply)? some DC barrel bricks can spike high and then it's not a good idea to use more than 24V on DC barrel side. or do they mean for USB-C only on EPR?

[River-Mochi]

Let me know if you need any of ny help.

see this https://github.com/Ralim/IronOS/issues/1420#issuecomment-1334529802

[PauliusMorku]

Do all of TS101 come with STM32 chip? Or some of them use clones? I had TS100 with a clone ship and that prevented me to upload IronOS.

[MaximusPanin]

Do all of TS101 come with STM32 chip? Or some of them use clones? I had TS100 with a clone ship and that prevented me to upload IronOS.

Chip clones on the TS100 have appeared recently. This is a strange decision if it is dictated by economy. If the situation with TS101 is similar, they will lose part of the audience. Reputation is hard to build and easy to lose.

[Ralim]

I can almost guarantee that they will use clone chips at some point, with all its issues, since its designed using the same STM chip. The only question is when not if.

[L1cardo]

I can almost guarantee that they will use clone chips at some point, with all its issues, since its designed using the same STM chip. The only question is when not if.

Is there a way to know if it is a clone chip without openning the iron case?

[Ralim]

Only other hint is usually "is their DFU more dodgy than usual"; generally opening case is easiest to go by until we know other means. (For TS100 we know all made after earlier this year are clones, and DFU versions above a certain number are all clones).

[MaximusPanin]

GD32F103TBU6 https://youtu.be/Lo77r6JwimU?t=1149 Compare board https://youtu.be/Lo77r6JwimU?t=850

GD32F103TBU6 (TS101) - 108 MHz STM32F103T8U6 (TS100) - 72 MHz

[PUF52]

Greetings to all lovers of soldering irons ts. The question is addressed to those who have ts101. The miniware company promised everyone that you can easily replace the regular logo with your own. How to do this is written in the user manual. I tried, but it didn't work out right. My logo appeared, but the miniware logo did not disappear either. That is, at first, when loading, I see the miniware logo, and then my own. Correspondence with the seller did not help. Here is the last answer: "The factory said this is a normal phenomenon, there is no way to solve it for the time being. Will not affect the normal use of the soldering iron." The conclusion follows from the answer, the developers did not implement this feature in the firmware, but promised .. Which of you managed to make the correct logo replacement and how?

https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/86562320/210090347-8c47c417-6b06-496d-a370-667f0dd5ff80.mp4

[MaximusPanin]

PUF52, firmware 2.0 ?

[PUF52]

Yes, now 2.0.

[MaximusPanin]

Send me your logo, I'll try after the new year. Happy New Year!

[discip]

As in the previous miniware irons, part of the logo is in the bootloader. So the bootloader has to be changed or rewritten. @Ralim already did that IronOS-dfu. But I doubt this is going to work with devices with GD chips.

[PUF52]

Пришлите мне свой логотип, попробую после нового года. С Новым Годом!

А куда прислать? Дайте свою почту, пришлите её на мою: pershin 52@list.ru

[L1cardo]

Sorry to bother! Any progress on this?

[Ralim]

TL;DR: No, and I have no timeline.

Miniware have gotten less and less helpful as time has gone on. No schematics or pinmaps or any help anymore really.

I did an initial investigation to figure out where I2C was, and it's been placed on pins that can't do hardware I2C.

This is super demoralising, as it means that a fair bit more work will need to be done for this to implement it all in software and make sure things work.

Can it be done: totally, but it will take a lot more work. And their dumb as a rock bootloader makes it even worse.

I did scratch out some basic support using the replacement bootloader but it would require flashing using an SWD adaptor to use, so it's not a good way forward.

Next steps is that all the signals on the board would need to be traced, and then all the components measured to figure out scaling values.

Miniware are not making this easier, I have asked for schematics and been told NO, I've asked for a basic pinmap and been told NO, I've for any help they can given and been told "nothing is available". So only real option left would be a lot of hours either decompiling their firmware to tracing with a multimeter to pin it all out.

Which is a ton of work, and not very motivating or interesting. Couple that with (relatively) low demand and impact compared to other things I could spend my time on.

So this is in the bucket for "future" when other projects are done.

I would happily take a PR, or even just a schematic and then I would look at it again. Or even just a roughly documented pinout.

If someone in the community wants to reverse engineer their firmware or the PCB back to a pinmap I would be happy to pick this up again sooner. But until then, burning 100's of hours on this feels like a poor way to spend my time when I could achieve a lot more in other places for the same time.

[L1cardo]

I asked a staff of MiniWare, and he said they offered some materials to you(don't know if it is true). I also asked him if he can offer more, he said he will look into it after the holiday. Following are the screenshots of the chat.

[Ralim]

They sent me a single TS101 unit (with NOT FOR SALE lasered on it 🤣 ) but refused any supporting documentation when I asked.

[Wuthoqquan]

Hi all! Hope this is not going to be too much off topic! I'd like to have a better understand on how to use the 90W support made available to the TS101 with the latest FW2.0 update.

The question is if the 90W can be unlocked on the TS101 only with a charger that complies with PD3.1 standard and can output 28V, or if it possible to supply the required power also with a PD charger that has for example an output of 20V at 5A (100W).

It is really not clear to my if the TS101 with FW2.0 can reach the advertised 90W power only with PD3.1 chargers (for example: 28V at 5A = 140W), or if it is also perfectly fine to use a PD charger with a maximum rating of 20V at 5A = 100W.

It is really not clear to me how the power management has been implemented in FW2.0 and if the 90W power can only be achieved with the latest PD3.1 chargers.

Thanks a lot! Marco