github.com/bigbigmdm/IMSProg @v1.8.5

IMSProg

• System software requirements
• How to use
• List of supported chips
• Packages
• Changelog
• Project structure
• Chip database format
• Licensing
• Translations

IMSProg - I2C, MicroWire and SPI EEPROM/Flash chip Programmer - is a program to read, write EEPROM chips use the CH341A programmer device and CH347T programmer device.

CH341A/B v1.2	CH341A v1.7	CH347T v1.0	CH347T v1.1

The IMSProg makes respect to QHexEdit2 hex editor and SNANDer programmer. The format of the chip database is based on the format used in EZP2019, EZP2020, EZP2023, Minpro I, XP866+ programmers. Warning, format is not the same!

IMSProg is a collection of tools:

1. IMSProg - the chip programmer (it's the main part).

2. IMSProg_editor - chip database editor.

3. IMSProg_database_update - update chip database using external web-server.

Compiling project

git clone https://github.com/bigbigmdm/IMSProg.git && cd IMSProg
sudo ./build_all.sh

System software requirements

Linux

For build are needed: - g++ or clang - CMake - libusb 1.0 - Qt5 or Qt6 - Qt5LinguistTools or Qt6LinguistTools - pkgconf or pkg-config - udev

On Debian and derivatives:

• for Qt5:

sudo apt-get install cmake g++ libusb-1.0-0-dev qtbase5-dev qttools5-dev pkgconf

• for Qt6:

sudo apt-get install cmake g++ libusb-1.0-0-dev pkgconf qt6-base-dev qt6-tools-dev linguist-qt6 qt6-l10n-tools qt6-base-dev-tools qt6-tools-dev-tools

On Debian >=13 and Ubuntu >=24.04:

sudo apt-get install systemd-dev

On older:

sudo apt-get install udev

:information_source: Debian < 11 and Ubuntu < 20.04 are not supported, you may unable to have it working on them.

On Fedora and derivatives:

• for Qt5:

sudo dnf install cmake libusb libusb1 libusb1-devel qt5-qtbase-devel 
sudo dnf install pkgconf-pkg-config qt5-linguist

• for Qt6:

sudo dnf install cmake gcc-c++ libusb1-devel pkgconf-pkg-config qt6-qtbase-devel
sudo dnf install qt6-qttools-devel qt6-linguist

On OpenSUSE and derivatiles:

• for Qt5:

sudo zypper install cmake gcc-c++ libqt5-qtbase-devel
sudo zypper install libqt5-linguist-devel libusb-1_0-devel

• for Qt6:

sudo zypper install cmake gcc-c++ libqt6-qtbase-devel
sudo zypper install libqt6-linguist-devel libusb-1_0-devel

macOS

if using Homebrew then Xcode Command Line Tools will install by default, if not then install manually from terminal:

xcode-select --install

install the required packages

using brew:

brew install qt@5 libusb cmake pkgconf

if not using the build_all.sh script then make sure libusb is in your C_INCLUDE_PATH

export C_INCLUDE_PATH=/usr/local/opt/libusb/include

How to use:

Note: for macOS use CMD ⌘ instead of CTRL for keyboard shortcuts.

Chip programmer

Launching

Can be launched from Terminal by running the command

$ IMSProg

Connecting

• Insert the chip into the appropriate slot of the CH341A programmer. The 24xxx and 25xxx series chips must be inserted directly, according to the markings on the PCB of the CH341A programmer. The 93xxx series chips must be inserted into the 93xxx adapter and the adapter into the marking 25xxx programmer slot. The DataFlash AT45DBxxx series chips must be mounted in a SOP-8 DIP-8 and this adapter shall be inserted into the 45xxx adapter. The 45xxx adapter must be installed in the programmer slot marked 25xxx. The SPI NAND Flash chips must be mounted in a WSON-8 DIP-8 adapter. This adapter must be installed in the programmer slot marked 25xxx.

[!NOTE] In the current version, the MicroWire (93Cxx) protocol is not supported by the CH347 programming device.

CH347T V1.1 - a device with a lower speed than the CH347T V1.0.

• If the chip supply voltage is 1.8 volt he must be inserted in 1.8 volt adapter and the adapter into needed programmer slot.

• Plug the CH341A programmer into the USB socket of your computer and running the IMSProg.
• You can plug and unplug the programmer device (CH341A) to the USB port at any time when basic operations (reading, checking, and programming) are not in progress.
• Read more about adapters here.

Chip type selecting

Select the type of chip used from the Type pop-up menu: SPI_FLASH when using SPI NOR FLASH chips of the 25xxx series, SPI_NAND when using SPI NAND FLASH chips, 24_EEPROM when using I2C EEPROM of the 24xxx series, 93_EEPROM when using MicroWire EEPROM of the 93xxx series, 45_EEPROM when using DataFlash chips AT45DBxxx series. When using 25xxx series SPI NOR FLASH chips (Menu item type -> SPI_FLASH), or SPI NAND FLASH chips (Menu item type -> SPI_NAND), or AT45DBxx series SPI FLASH (Menu item type -> 45_EEPROM) the Detect button will be available. When the Detect button or or <Ctrl+D> is pressed, the JEDEC information is read from the chip and all parameters of that chip are loaded from the chip database. Any parameter (size, page size, block size, VCC voltage, and 4-bit address length) can be changed manually. You can manually enter the Manufacture and Name pop-up menu data - all other parameters will be automatically loaded from the chip database. When using 24xxx or 93xxx or 95xxx or 25xxx SPI EEPROM (non NOR FLASH) series chips, it is necessary to manually enter the Manufacture and Name pop-up menu data - all other parameters will be automatically loaded from the chip database.

File operations

• The or <Ctrl+S> button is used to save the computer buffer to a file.

• The or <Ctrl+O> button is used to save the file in the computer buffer.

• The or <Ctrl+Shift-S> button is used to save a part of the computer buffer to a file (the start address and length of the part must be entered). This operation can be used when splitting a binary data image into parts.

• The or <Ctrl+Shift-S> button is used to load a small file to a certain address in the buffer. The data fragment in the buffer will be replaced with new data from the file.

• The or <Ctrl+Q> button is used to invoke the chip database editor.

• The menu item File / Import from Intel HEX is used to save the Intel HEX file in the computer buffer.

• The menu item File / Export to Intel HEX is used to save the computer buffer to a file in Intel HEX format.

Basic programmer operations

• Pressing Read or or <Ctrl+R> to read data from the chip into the computer buffer.

• Pressing or <Ctrl+W> to write data from the computer buffer into the chip.

• Pressing or <Ctrl+E> will erase all data in the chip.

• By selecting Main Menu -> Chip -> Check erase or pressing <Ctrl+J>, you can check whether all data has been correctly deleted from the chip.

• Pressing the or <Ctrl+T> button causes the data in the chip and in the computer buffer to be compared.

The progress bar shows the progress of the read, erase, and verify operations.

• The Auto button is used to perform erase, check erase, write and verify operations in sequence. If one of these operations is not needed, you can uncheck the checkbox for that operation.

• The or <Ctrl+I> key is used to force interruption of chip read/write/erase/verify operations.

• The i key show the connection chip to CH341A device image form.

• The Main menu -> Chip -> Chip info or <Ctrl+P> item shows the Serial Flash Discoverable Parameter (SFDP) register and the status registers of the SPI NOR flash memory chips.

If the SPI NOR FLASH chip is detected normally, but is not read (gives the message Error reading sector 0), then in the Chip info window you can change bits BP4 and BP3 to zero and press the Write registers button. Then repeat the chip reading operation.

If the SPI NOR FLASH chip is read unreliably (with a different checksum each time) and Status Register 2 is available in the chip, you can change bits DRV0 and DRV1 to zero and press the Write Registers button. This will increase the power of the output stage of the DO pin of the chip. Then repeat the chip read operation.

For 25xxx, 95xxx and 45xxx series chips that have only one status register, the Chip info form is as follows:

For SPI NAND FLASH chips the Chip info form is as follows:

• The Main menu -> Chip -> Security Registers or <Ctrl+U> item is used to work with SPI NOR Flash and SPI NAND FLASH security registers data. This form allows reading, write, erase, save and load security register data from the computer.

The buttons at the bottom of the form (, , , , ) perform a similar function to the top buttons on the main form. The Security register number: drop-down menu allows you to select one of the valid registers for the current chip for operation. The security registers can be locked for writing forever. If you want to know about this, please see Main Menu -> Chip -> Chip Information item or , data fields in LB3, LB2 and LB1 in Status register 1. Please refer to the datasheet of your chip for detailed information. For NAND FLASH chips you can scanning bad blocks, use Main Menu -> Chip -> Bad block management or <Ctrl+B> key.

For these chips, you can also change the erase and write parameters in this menu.

[!NOTE] In this version of IMSProg, damaged blocks are not skipped when executing the Verify and Check erase functions for NAND Flash chips. If your chip contains damaged blocks, please do not use these functions.

Buffer (Hex editor) operations

The hexadecimal chip editor (right side of the screen) is used to display and modify buffer data.

It contains the following controls: undo, redo, and the search/replace. The [Ctrl+A] key used to update the CRC24 checksum. The [Ctrl+G] key used to move the cursor to the entered address. The [Ctrl+L] key is used to fill the hex editor buffer with a special test array. The [Ctrl+K] key is used to fill the hex editor buffer with a user code. The [Ctrl+M] key used for compares the results of the last and penultimate chip read or file open operation.

Programmer type

The Main menu -> Programmer item is used to change the programmer type.

List of hotkeys:

Hotkey	Function
Ctrl+A	Checksum calculate
Ctrl+B	Bad block management for NAND chips
Ctrl+C	Copy selected bytes (Hex editor)
Ctrl+D	Detect chip
Ctrl+E	Erase chip
Ctrl+F	Find/Replace (Hex editor)
Ctrl+G	Goto address (Hex editor)
Chrl+H	About IMSProg
Ctrl+I	Force stop chip operation
Ctrl+J	Check erase chip
Ctrl+K	Fill the user code (Hex editor)
Ctrl+L	Fill the test array (Hex editor)
Ctrl+M	Compare files (Hex editor)
Ctrl+N	Edit chip database
Ctrl+O	Open file
Ctrl+P	Chip info (SFDP + status registers)
Ctrl+Q	Exit
Ctrl+R	Read chip
Ctrl+S	Save file
Ctrl+T	Verify chip
Ctrl+U	Security registers
Ctrl+V	Paste selected bytes (Hex editor)
Ctrl+W	Write chip
Ctrl+X	Exit
Ctrl+Y	Redo (Hex editor)
Ctrl+Z	Undo (Hex editor)

Chip database editor

Chip base editor - IMSProg_editor is a stand-alone program that can be launched from the Development menu or from the IMSProg program by clicking on .

All operations in the editor become available only after loading a chip base file with .Dat extension.

Menu File.

• Open or [Ctrl+O] or ![open](img/op