Port this firmware to Md380 and others...

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EB3AM
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Port this firmware to Md380 and others...

Post by EB3AM » Wed Feb 19, 2020 6:27 pm

I got a donation. An Md380 vhf, without battery and the internal microphone does not work. But amazon has solved the battery theme, Radioddtity the charger theme and also the external microphone that sent me along with a gd77.
Well, I think it carries a relative of the HRC6000, the HRC5000, and possibly similar hardware.

Could a version of the GD77 open firmware be made for this model? The MD380tools work, but are by no means as functional as this wonderful firmware.

G4EML
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Re: Port this firmware to Md380 and others...

Post by G4EML » Wed Feb 19, 2020 9:15 pm

This question has been asked before.
Whilst it might be technically possible to port the openGD77 firmware to the MD380 and other radios it is a massive task.
The Processor and hardware are completely different so the whole firmware structure would have to be ported over to another development environment.
We have very little documentation for the HR-C6000, the HR-C5000, whilst similar, seems to have even less.

I would be great if someone had the time and knowledge to attempt this but it doesn't seem likely at the moment.

VK3KYY
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Re: Port this firmware to Md380 and others...

Post by VK3KYY » Wed Feb 19, 2020 9:31 pm

It’s something I am considering but it’s a lot of work.

The first step is to build the underlying structure of the RTOS, and the USB handler

You need to decide which framework to use.

The options are probably to use STMs official HAL ( Hardware Abstraction Layer), or whether to use something like LibOpenCM3.

I had a quick look at libopenCM3 but I don’t know if it supports I2S, so I think that you probably need to use the official HAL.

STM bought Atollic last year and their IDE called True Studio is now free for STM users and I think may be the recommended IDE


When you have a base project running on the MD380, you would need to write a display driver, and then you would need to port the drivers for all the other devices.

I wrote 75% of the drivers for the OpenGD77 and it took me around 50 hours.

Hopefully, if you get something basic working, e.g. FM Rx the MD380TOOLS devs would then start to help, and I am happy to help if I have time.

However I do not have much spare time at the moment

G4EML
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Re: Port this firmware to Md380 and others...

Post by G4EML » Wed Feb 19, 2020 9:51 pm

The MD380 is quite an old radio now, if someone was to go to all the effort I would think it would make more sense to target one of the newer ones like the MD-UV380 or the MD-2017.

Alternatively the Anytone radios are a good candidate as the firmware doesnt appear to be encrypted, however the baseband chip is different which would add to the workload!.

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EB3AM
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Re: Port this firmware to Md380 and others...

Post by EB3AM » Wed Feb 19, 2020 10:08 pm

You really are right.
Better work on a current model and with good characteristics.
If it were possible that a high-end model could have a port of the openGD77 would be great.
No need to spend effort on old or poor quality radios

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Re: Port this firmware to Md380 and others...

Post by VK3KYY » Wed Feb 19, 2020 10:37 pm

I'm not sure if there is much difference between the MD-380 and the MD-380UV or the other radios apart from them being dual band.

There are a lot of MD-380's out there, and I think you'd probably find more dev's willing to help port to the MD-380 and you could use it as a springboard to the other STM32 based radios

The Retrovis RT3x radios are also TYT MD-3xx really, so those are also one possibily

I know Retrovis are keen to get the firmware onto their radios, but I don't think they were willing to supply any sample radios or an documentation :-(

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DU2XXR
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Re: Port this firmware to Md380 and others...

Post by DU2XXR » Thu Feb 20, 2020 12:54 am

I can check with my contacts at Retevis marketing, if they can provide documentation or even test/sample radios.

In my opinion, the MD380 is old, but still has some advantages. I have an MD380 and a Retevis RT8 (bsasically a rebadged MD390), and I run TyToolz on them. Still very capable, and I like the superheterodyne receiver, which is significantly more selective than direct conversion receivers that most newer radios have (even our GD77).

I also have an MD-UV390, but I prefer using the RT8 and MD380 over the 390 because the latter still uses stock firmware, and the receive is, in my observation, less selective than the older radios.

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Re: Port this firmware to Md380 and others...

Post by DU2XXR » Thu Feb 20, 2020 12:56 am

VK3KYY wrote:
Wed Feb 19, 2020 10:37 pm

I know Retrovis are keen to get the firmware onto their radios, but I don't think they were willing to supply any sample radios or an documentation :-(
Retevis seems to be very receptive of custom firmware, since they are aggressively marketing their products toward amateurs. They even link to custom firmware on their website.

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Re: Port this firmware to Md380 and others...

Post by VK3KYY » Thu Feb 20, 2020 1:00 am

Do you know what DMR processor is in the Retrovis.

Do they still use the HR-C6000 ?

What radio chip do they now use ?

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Re: Port this firmware to Md380 and others...

Post by DU2XXR » Thu Feb 20, 2020 2:07 am

Retevis RT8, Retevis RT3, TYT MD-380 and MD390 all still use C5000.

The newer MD-UV380 and MD-UV390 use C6000.

There's also the MD-2017 which is essentially the same as the Retevis RT82, which I believe also use the C6000 chip.

Maybe it would be easier to port there?

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