Scriba

A command-line flash programming tool for IP camera chips. Scriba reads, writes, erases, and verifies SPI NOR, SPI NAND, and EEPROM memory using inexpensive USB programmers. Built for the Thingino firmware project.

Quick Start

# Build
git clone https://github.com/themactep/scriba.git && cd scriba
make && sudo make install

# Identify the flash chip
scriba -i

# Save a backup
scriba -R backup.bin

# Write new firmware
scriba -W firmware.bin

Supported Programmers

Scriba auto-detects the connected programmer — no configuration needed.

Programmer	VID:PID
CH341A (black PCB)	1a86:5512	Must be modified for 3.3 V; see CH341A guide
EZP2019 / EZP2019+	1fc8:310b / 310c	Works out of the box
EZP2023	1fc8:310d

Force a specific programmer with -P:

scriba -P ch341a -i
scriba -P ezp2019 -i

Build & Install

Prerequisites: GCC, libusb-1.0 development files, make

make              # dynamic linking (needs libusb-1.0 installed)
make static       # static build (bundles libusb)
sudo make install # installs binary + udev rules, reloads udev

make install copies udev rules for both programmers and reloads them. If your programmer was already plugged in, unplug and replug it after installation.

Usage

scriba [options]

Automation:
  -R <file>    Read chip twice and compare — reliable backup
  -W <file>    Erase + write + verify — safe flash

Operations:
  -i           Read chip ID
  -e           Erase chip
  -r <file>    Read chip to file
  -w <file>    Write file to chip
  -v           Verify after write (use with -w)

Options:
  -a <addr>    Start address (hex or decimal)
  -l <bytes>   Length in bytes
  -L           List all supported chips

SPI NAND:
  -d           Disable on-die ECC
  -o <bytes>   Set OOB size (64–256)
  -I           Ignore ECC errors during read
  -k           Skip bad pages

EEPROM:
  -E <chip>    EEPROM type, e.g. 24c32, 93c46, 25q64
  -8           8-bit organization (Microwire)
  -f <bits>    Address size (Microwire)
  -s <bytes>   Page size (SPI EEPROM)

General:
  -P <prog>    Programmer: ch341a, ezp2019, auto (default)
  --debug      USB debug output
  --trace      Dump all SPI traffic
  -h           Help

Examples

# Identify the chip
scriba -i

# Reliable backup — reads twice, compares, saves if identical
scriba -R backup.bin

# Safe flash — erases, writes, then verifies
scriba -W firmware.bin

# Single operations
scriba -r dump.bin -a 0 -l 0x400000    # read 4 MB from offset 0
scriba -w bootloader.bin -v            # write and verify
scriba -e                              # full chip erase

# Debugging
scriba --debug -i                      # see USB communication
scriba --trace -r dump.bin             # dump every SPI byte

# EEPROM
scriba -E 93c46 -r eeprom.bin
scriba -E 24c32 -w eeprom.bin

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Scriba began as a streamlined fork of SNANDer by McMCC, later modified by Droid-MAX, and has since been heavily reworked by Paul Philippov with EZP2019 support, code optimizations, and structural improvements.