A start-to-finish "disposable" digital walkthrough

A start-to-finish "disposable" digital walkthrough
Maybe I'm slow, but I couldn't find a hack/unlock/conver/whatever you wanna call it tutorial that worked for me. So I got bored and made my own. :P Hey, whatever works. Anyway, I thought I'd share it with the rest of you. http://mywebpage.netscape.com/yukichigai/dispdigicam.html I wrote this up kinda quick, so I may have overlooked something. If anybody I "borrowed" information from thinks I didn't give enough credit where credit is due, let me know.

Nice touch yukichigai. How many indisposables do you have? You did not have to edit libusb.inf? Can you redo with la-*test*-('") libusb - it has a wizard for creating inf file? To my knowledge only PV2s are dakotas sold at Ritz/Wolf. You might get more hits calling your process - DIY Drugstore Digital Downloads.

Well done yukichigai! This is the first tutorial *without* firmware mods and *with* the new RAW processing tools - quite cutting edge. You did not have to edit libusb.inf? He's using the pre-edited libusb device driver from tango's tutorial (aka "tom vickers howto") yukichigai, you might care to mention that the reader *needs* to use the linked libusb pv2 drivers, instead of the official ones at sourceforge.net. Now open up PV2Tool. (the 0.1.8.0 version, though I think CVS/Walgreens cameras require the "CVSxxx..." version) This is wrong - the CVS here doesn't actually relate to the CVS stores. CVS is a system for working on source code, and here it just references a particular pre-release version of libusb. But these are all nitpicks - nicely done! One of the features I'm looking to put in the 2.0.8 version of pv2tool is a "Get My Raws" button, so hopefully downloading won't be as much of a drag anymore. (will also have a "Erase My Raws" button too)

Gracias for the input
Yeah, I wasn't sure on some of the info, but now I know. I'll update the page accordingly. I wasn't aware the la-*test*-('") libusb had a driver creation utility. I'll have to try it with my install process sometime here. I should probably try updating libUSB anyway. Does anybody know, offhand, if Tom Vickers' modified drivers will be compatible with the la-*test*-('") libusb? Seems like they should be, but I thought I'd ask in case anybody knows. And I'll change the title to reflect the fact that it works with CVSes and PV2s.

FWIW, I had mine working with only the libusb filter installed. Only tonight did I install the setup file from the device download. That allowed me to finally hear the "beep" upon selecting "Connect" in PV2Tool. Obviously, INFs had been editted to account for the new PIDs

I hacked the old Dakota digital camera (without the lcd). Doesn anyone know if i can just buy the pv2, plug it in, and it will work? ive had problems trying to switch back and forth between drivers for the new camcorder and am wondering if the pv2 will just "plug 'n play" email me at damicomj@clarkson.edu if you are positive you know. thanks in advance

I hacked the old Dakota digital camera (without the lcd). Doesn anyone know if I can just buy the pv2, plug it in, and it will work? I've had problems trying to switch back and forth between drivers for the new camcorder I too have the dark blue one time use Dakota Digital Camera from Ritz/Wolf Camera from back when it was originally hacked and I'm unable to easily use both it and the new CVS OTU Camcorder on the same PC. I have to uninstall libusb, delete the USB devices, and re-install the other to switch between the two. I suspect the two can co-exist, but I couldn't figure it out after a two hour session where I pulled out much hair and verbally abused my computer. With the price drop and the $5 off coupon, I have thought about upgrading to the red CVS PV2 to see if it is any easier to share a PC that has the camcorder driver. However, after a cursory glance it appears to use the older libusb, which causes me to have flashbacks of cursing at my computer. Hacking is supposed to be fun, not frustrating. I like a good challenge but not misery. :cry:

Can't get this method to work - "Could not find camera&
I decided to try these instructions (they're the simplest I've seen so far!) - I got the USB cable made OK and the libusb drivers installed. I used the "patched" ("Tom Vickers' modified PV2 drivers...") libusb and had no trouble getting Windows to recognize the camera. When the camera is plugged in I have a happy "Ritz PV2 Red, Version 2/15/2004, 0.1.8.0" showing in device manager. However, whenever I try to run PV2Tool2, I always get "Could not find camera". This happens with both the old 2.0.7 version of PV2Tool and the la-*test*-('") 2.13. The camera in question is a brand new CVS Red, firmware 6550. Any suggestions? Thanks, Bob Armstrong

RE: "Could not find camera" - doing better...
Well, I solved the "Could not find camera problem" - I missed the distinction between installing the libusb driver and the libusb filter and forgot to do the latter. Sorry... Now I can open the camera with PV2Tool, however when I try to unlock it I get "Could not unlock the camera with any of the known keys". I assume this is a problem with the 6550 firmware - is there a fix for this? Thanks again, Bob Armstrong

View Full Version: A start-to-finish "disposable" digital walkthrough