Review of the AVRKEY (Open-Design of PS3KEY)

[garyopa]

With the sudden growth of the PS3 console scene, with the release of PSGroove and the many different payloads, and custom code being designed by various homebrew developers, there was a need in the market for small device that could be quickly flash on your PC and then used on your PS3 console.

Enter the AVRKEY, the device picture above, is simple USB dongle containing the very powerful ATMEL ATMEGA32U2 chipset with a huge amount of memory over 32K of memory, and already programmed encrypted bootloader, leaving you 28K of available flash memory to erase and use for your own code, along with two bright LED's to clearly show you what it is doing!

Unlike others in the marketplace of ATMEL USB Development boards, PS3KEY the designers behind the AVRKEY, designed to use the larger more powerful ATMEGA32 chipset, giving people right away almost 32K of codespace to use in their flashing needs, instead of just a tiny 16K of space that most other USB Development boards have available to your usage.

Also they fited the whole design into a neat very small little metal case, making it easy to carry around with no worry in damaging the high-end quailty electronics packed inside, as pictured below after I ripped open my own AVRKEY to study all it finest little details and workings:

To put this little metal bundle of joy into flashing mode on your PC, since their is no buttons their pre-programmed encrypted bootloader uses a insert/remove trick to tell itself to switch from RUN mode to FLASH mode.

What you do is insert the dongle in your PC, the RED led will appear, you then remove it, and then right away insert it again, then right away remove it again, and then right away insert it again, and then right away remove it again, (you still with me?), insert it again and bang if you got it right the BLUE led will suddenly light up, and your PC will ask the first time to install the USB device drivers for the ATMEGA32U2 chipset it detected.

Those drivers are lucky enough buried inside the folder of the standard ATMEL Flip software. -- The first few times I tried this trick it never worked for me, until I found out you need to be using the latest v3.4.2 of the ATMEL Flip software. -- Remember that's v3.4.2 on your PC, and your PS3 has to be still running firmware v3.4.1 -- Don't go putting v3.4.2 on your PS3 or else this who thing will be pointless to you!

The only problem I found is there is not much public information on how the LED's are connected to the dongle internally, so most of the current already complied versions of PSGroove like those with "Hermes v3" payload work fine on your PS3 after flashing with this nice shiny metal box, but sadly the LED's are dead, no lights to know if it worked or not on your PS3 console, you have to go look on the XMB to see if "Install Package Files" appears to know if your PS3 has been Jailbroken after using this device.

So for my review, I signed up to the members section of the PS3KEY website, and downloaded their latest PS3KEY_OPEN firmware file which was v2.1 that has the older "Hermes v2" payload in it, but not the latest auto-patch needed for some of the newer games to fix "controller sync issues", but of course with their own file the nice RED and BLUE led's work correctly on the PS3 console!

When the PS3 starts up, only the RED light will be on, and then once the PS3 has been Jailbroken, the LED will switch colors to BLUE, you can then safely remove the AVRKEY which is a great feature, since my 40gb PS3 only has two USB ports, unlike the original launch PS3 models that had 4 ports.

Once the XMB came up, I then installed the latest Open Manager and tried out a few PS3 games, and everything worked like it should.

Overall, the AVRKEY is nice solid dongle for this usage, but the only flaw I found in my testing, is that it is so darn small and metal is so smooth, I had tough time pulling it out of my PS3. -- It is just my big hands getting in the way again. -- Maybe, I needed tape a wooden stick to it like a big handle!

But to end this review on good note, the best feature of the AVRKEY is that it uses a standard USB connection, so even tho it is very small, it fits perfectly in both my PC and PS3 usb ports, unlike other dongles have reviewed in the past.

I end my personal review with a list of PRO's and CON's for this device:

PRO's:

* Standard USB connection, fits perfectly on your PS3!
* Two nice LED's to know what mode your dongle is in!
* Well layout PCB design with powerful chipset in super small design!
* No buttons needed, just insert/remove 3 times to trick it into FLASH mode!

CON's:

* It was too small for my big hands to at times to pull out of my PS3!
* No extra holes or pins for possible hardware expansion, just ATMEL only!
* The pre-programmed bootloader, eats up 4K leaving you only 28K to use!

That's all folks, my many thanks to FoundMy for sending me samples of this device the moment it was available!

Foundmy Online Shop: FoundMy

Official Product Website: PS3KEY

ATMEL Flip Software: Atmel Products - AVR Solutions - FLIP

UPDATE: Even tho AVRKEY looks like the PS3KEY, it not the same, the AVRKEY is an fully open-developer-design, you can flash any of your complied ATMEGA32 HEX's into it, the only way you can tell the difference besides the missing logo on the metal casing, is the anti-static bag that it comes in has a GREEN sticker, instead of the genuine YELLOW serial number label that is found on the PS3KEY anti-static bags!

[TempHK01]

Frist, thanks for your amazing review, I have a question:
I also have this PS3Key, but I read that if you program it with the Atmel FLIP sw you lose the ability to program in the future with the original firmware (encrypted) that you download from the site (via the Firmware Updater). Is that true?

I know the team has also released the open firmware but if in the future they do not release anymore this kind of FW, and adds new and important features in the encrypted FW flashabile only by their FW Updater, we could not take advantage of these, right?

thanks

[garyopa]

Frist, thanks for your amazing review, I have a question:
I also have this PS3Key, but I read that if you program it with the Atmel FLIP sw you lose the ability to program in the future with the original firmware (encrypted) that you download from the site (via the Firmware Updater). Is that true?

I know the team has also released the open firmware but if in the future they do not release anymore this kind of FW, and adds new and important features in the encrypted FW flashabile only by their FW Updater, we could not take advantage of these, right?

thanks

I not sure about the PS3KEY, I only have the AVRKEY, the AVRKEY is made by the same people but is un-branded open design that comes with a GREEN sticker on the bag, instead of the YELLOW sticker on fully-encrypted PS3KEY.

But the only part that is protected is their bootloader, so you can erase it, leaving you only 28K of space to work with, and I was able to flash other complied firmwares onto it with no problems except the LED's I could not get to work, maybe in the near future someone will update the LED's.H in the PSGroove to support them correctly, if you don't care about little blinking status lights, then you can easy grab any complied ATMEGA32 HEX and it will work on the AVRKEY, which is fully open unlike it's directly supported PS3KEY.

[dcemureviews]

Frist, thanks for your amazing review, I have a question:
I also have this PS3Key, but I read that if you program it with the Atmel FLIP sw you lose the ability to program in the future with the original firmware (encrypted) that you download from the site (via the Firmware Updater). Is that true?

I know the team has also released the open firmware but if in the future they do not release anymore this kind of FW, and adds new and important features in the encrypted FW flashabile only by their FW Updater, we could not take advantage of these, right?

thanks

Yes that is true based on what my source at PS3Key has said. However, there has been no instructions as to how to do so. So as of now, NO. Yes, its confusing but at the same time, PS3Key doesnt really give you much information. If there is a way to overwrite PS3Key's proprietary files with HEX, you have NO way of installing PS3Key files. FLIP reads ONLY HEX files and PS3Key's update reads ONLY .upd (PS3Key's file). Follow me?

I emailed my source at PS3Key to see if he can give me info on how to overwrite PS3Key for those who are interested. But in all honesty, why buy a PS3Key and give up future PS3Key support when you can buy a AVRKey?

[dcemureviews]

Got a response on how to overwrite PS3Key

People can install HEX files onto PS3Key by erasing the PS3Key bootloader using the Atmel programming software. It's a one-way process, though. They won't be able to make it into a PS3Key again afterwards!

[PuppetMaster]

Got a response on how to overwrite PS3Key

People can install HEX files onto PS3Key by erasing the PS3Key bootloader using the Atmel programming software. It's a one-way process, though. They won't be able to make it into a PS3Key again afterwards!

I wonder if Devs will ever figure out a way to backup the PS3Key encrypted files before erasing them and be able to switch back and forth from AVRKey to PS3key at will. That would be sweet.

[dcemureviews]

I wonder if Devs will ever figure out a way to backup the PS3Key encrypted files before erasing them and be able to switch back and forth from AVRKey to PS3key at will. That would be sweet.

Too much work for something like this. Its either you keep PS3Key or turn it into a AVRKey. Essentially, they all do the same.

[abaker]

What hex file did you use ? with Hermes V3

i will try posting the led conection later on


thanks

[itsMoeyy]

Hey there, great review the only thing i'd like to tell you is that the con's are kind of personal based. What i've seen is that the usb being a small thing is actually helpful for me since if it's something big, it just eats space up as well as it comes with a case dont take it personally I too have large hands.
Also I read your other reviews too and you failed to mention on those reviews that they only have 16kb worth of space but here you wrote that 28kb is a con? wtf.

And lastly a member on PS3 Hax posted a hex file containing Hermes V3 with working led lights. So yeah it is quite possible.

[dcemureviews]

Hey there, great review the only thing i'd like to tell you is that the con's are kind of personal based. What i've seen is that the usb being a small thing is actually helpful for me since if it's something big, it just eats space up as well as it comes with a case dont take it personally I too have large hands.
Also I read your other reviews too and you failed to mention on those reviews that they only have 16kb worth of space but here you wrote that 28kb is a con? wtf.

And lastly a member on PS3 Hax posted a hex file containing Hermes V3 with working led lights. So yeah it is quite possible.

Link?

From what I have read, Minimus AVR hex files is the one that works on AVRKey with working LEDs.