Synching ML settings between SD cards while swapping them

[Roman]

Hey,

Just thinking about how with ML you can format the card, and opt to reinstall ML afterwards.

I know it's a different kettle of fish when the SD card door opens, but would it be possible to store some information in a buffer somewhere about what settings you've just been using in ML, so it translates across to another SD card?

This is the scenario I have issues with:

-I have 5 8gig SD cards, as this was the most efficient way $$$ wise to get that much space, and 8gigs is big enough for any one thing that I've done so far.

-If I fill up one of my SD cards and load the next one in, ML defaults to the settings last used on that card, rather than what I've just been using prior to switching the card over.

It would be great to be able to retain my last used settings between card swaps!

However I can also imagine that's a lot harder than it sounds, if there's some sort of shut down that happens as soon as the door opens.

[ilguercio]

I guess the RAM is cleared at the door opening.

[Kunibert]

+1

That would be a nice feature.
Beside swapping cards - it would be nice if you can see if you have your 'default' setting or something changed. Sometimes i switch the camera on and take some bracketing shots as that was my last thing i did. So maybe there would be a way to make a 'user default' setting which is used if you turn on the camera? If you want something spezial you have to change the settings.

[nanomad]

I guess the RAM is cleared at the door opening.

This. The camera actually does something like this:
- Open card door
- Re-read autoexec.bin (why canon? why?)
- Power camera off

[scrax]

+1

That would be a nice feature.
Beside swapping cards - it would be nice if you can see if you have your 'default' setting or something changed. Sometimes i switch the camera on and take some bracketing shots as that was my last thing i did. So maybe there would be a way to make a 'user default' setting which is used if you turn on the camera? If you want something spezial you have to change the settings.

You can disable autosave feat.

[Roman]

Thanks Scrax, that's a good idea.

Ultimately if I'm wanting to get a lot of footage with minimul fussing around, getting a single larger SD card is the most practical solution regardless.

Setting up one SD card as per my own preferences, and then copying that across to the other SD cards ahead of time and turning off autosave sounds like a good plan. 

[a1ex]

It will be possible on 5D Mark III, because it has two slots. One card can contain ML and the settings, and the other slot can be used for swapping cards used for taking pics/videos.

It's not possible to do this on older cameras, unless trying to save ML settings somewhere in ROM (which I won't do, because a bug could be fatal).

[g3gg0]

well, we can use RAM starting at 0x40000000.
this area isnt cleared completely imho. (right?)

so we could do that:

Code Select Expand


uint32_t *mlSaveBuf = (uint32_t*) 0x40100000;

mlSaveBuf[3] = data...;
mlSaveBuf[...] = ...;

/* set data valid flag */
mlSaveBuf[0] = SAVE_MAGIC_1;
mlSaveBuf[1] = SAVE_MAGIC_2;



and upon startup, ML can read that area and compare for the magic, rewrite settings and clear the magic flags.