SpringCard has just released a new firmware version, tagged 2.00, for its H663 core.
The H663 core is a versatile contactless+contact module, which supports virtually all proximity/RFID HF chip cards (ISO 14443 & ISO 15693 standards, including Mifare, Calypso, etc), NFC-enabled mobile phones or other objects (ISO 18092, peer-to-peer in initiator mode, passive communication scheme), and could also accept up to 5 contact smartcards (ISO 7816, one ID-1 card and up to 4 SIM/SAM ID-000 cards).
SpringCard H663 is the foundation of the largest family of RFID/NFC USB PC/SC readers on the market:
- The H663S and H663A “bare” modules (designed respectively for either a Symetrical – balanced or an Asymetrical – unbalanced antenna)
- The H663-USB OEM PC/SC ready-to-use contactless coupler (H663 core + antenna)
- The CrazyWriter HSP, a complete multi-slot contactless+5 contact PC/SC coupler made for OEMs
- The TwistyWriter HSP, a contactless+ID-000 PC/SC coupler made for OEMs
- The CSB HSP, a desktop PC/SC coupler featuring contactless, 1 smartcard slot and 3 ID-000 slots
- The Prox’N’Roll HSP, a brand new version of SpringCard’s best selling desktop contactless coupler.
This new firmware version provides only a few new features, but introduces a new software architecture based on FreeRTOS which dramatically increases the device’s performance for a better transaction time – particulary when accessing numerous slots in the same transaction.
How to upgrade
To upgrade your H663-based product with this new version, please refer to our H663/H512 Firmware Upgrade Procedure.
The 2.00 firmware file is here: uc3b0256_rc663_h663_2-00.hex
(note for future readers: please always use the latest firmware version using this permanent link).
From 30/04/2015, all H663-based products will ship with this version (instead of earlier 1.81).
Some new feature
Adding the reader’s serial number to the slot names under Windows
Starting with version 2.00, the H663 family is able to insert the reader’s serial number in the name of the PC/SC readers as exposed by Windows’ SCardListReaders API call. On machines with numerous readers attached, this makes it possible to know which physical reader is actually bound to a logical slot without querying the reader through a SCardControl call.
To enable this feature, download the latest version of MultifConf; create a new project for the H663-product you own (CrazyWriter HSP typically), and in this project scroll down to “Misc. tricks”. Then find the “Insert the serial number in the name of the slots” entry and turn it ON. apply the configuration to the reader(s) (Project -> Write Configuration into Reader), restart the reader, and enjoy!
