ProxPick
FAQ
ProxPick Frequently Asked Questions
For more information please contact
info@proxpick.com.
When will the ProxPick be available?
We do not have a release date for the ProxPick at this time.
When can I order one?
Soon. We will begin
processing pre-orders once we have demo’d the ProxPick on YouTube.
When will that be?
Before Halloween :)
So I can't give you my money yet?
No, not yet.
Can I get my hands on one any quicker if I'm
willing to help beta-test?
We've got all the help we need, but thank you.
If you're in the San Francisco area though, check out the
Noisebridge hackerspace (http://www.noisebridge.net/);
we'll likely hold a workshop there before we ship the first kits.
How can I find out more?
Read this FAQ, and then subscribe to our announcement list by
sending an email to info@proxpick.com with the words “Subscribe ProxPick” in the
subject line. We'll
announce all updates starting from there.
What payment types will you accept?
PayPal-only, initially.
Will you sell them individually or in bulk?
Both. If you
would like to order more than 10 please contact us for a special
rate.
Will the ProxPick have a warranty?
Kit-form ProxPicks will have a warranty that covers component
defects only. All
components are checked for quality assurance by the manufacture --
we can’t ship you a new part if you break something (but you will
have all the part numbers if you want to order one yourself).
Pre-assembled ProxPicks will have a 90-day warranty defective
units; this does not cover physical damage after receipt.
Will you ship worldwide?
Yes.
How much is shipping?
Shipping will be $10 within the United States.
International shipping costs will be determined based on
destination country.
Is it a kit that I'll have to assemble?
The first round of ProxPicks will be in kit form; they'll
require basic soldering skills to assemble.
Pre-built devices will follow a few weeks afterwards at a
slightly higher cost.
How difficult will it be to build?
Not very. We're
using all through-hole components (no surface-mount) for the
first-generation hardware.
Why no surface-mount?
ProxPick is designed from the ground up to be hackable.
We'd like to see some of the hacks that people come up with
before we decide what the sub-miniature surface-mount ProxPick will
look like.
Is it going to be open-source?
Yes. All firmware is
under GPLv2 (written in C for Microchip's C18 compiler), schematics
and board artwork are under Creative Commons.
We'll also be licensing the designs under commercial
agreements; please contact us for more info.
What kinds of antenna will the ProxPick
support?
ProxPick will initially support a very wide range of antenna
coils, ranging from fingernail-sized to building-sized with anything
from a few turns of wire to a few thousand turns.
Maximum output power will be announced when devices ship but
will be upwards of 50W.
What kind of documentation comes with
ProxPick?
ProxPick will come with full schematics and assembly
instructions. The
printed instructions will be enough to get you up and running, full
source will be available online to give you everything you'll need
to use the ProxPick to its full potential.
What types of tag will ProxPick read?
Initially, ProxPick will be able to read over a dozen different
125KHz / 134KHz tag formats including VeriChip, HID Prox (multiple
formats), Indala, TI, Q5, T555x, EM410x, HiTag2, and HomeAgain /
FriendChip pet chips.
There are many more tag formats we've not yet encountered that
ProxPick will also be able to read due to its general-purpose decode
routines.
What types of tag will ProxPick not be able
to read?
ProxPick operates entirely in the 125KHz / 134KHz LF (Prox) RFID
band. ProxPick WILL NOT
be able to read 13.56MHz tags such as credit cards, transit cards,
and passports, nor will it be able to read 900MHz tags such as the
EPC Gen2 tags used by EDL, PASS, and Walmart, or any other bands
used by RFID. If it's
not a Prox tag, ProxPick will not be able to read it.
Do you have plans to support other RFID
bands?
Yes. Subscribe to
our announcement list by sending an email to
info@proxpick.com with the
word “Subscribe ProxPick” in the subject line and we'll keep you
up-to-date.
How many tags can ProxPick store?
Initial devices will contain at least 1Mbyte of Flash memory,
this is sufficient to store over 100,000 distinct tags or more,
depending on the format.
Can ProxPick write new tags?
ProxPick's hardware is technically capable of this, but initial
software will not support it.
ProxPick will instead be able to emulate any tag type it can
read, allowing you to play back tag that you have read.
What's the read range?
ProxPick easily supports “doorway” antennas, wound around a
doorframe to read tags as they pass through.
Read range will largely be dictated by the antenna you're
using; expect a range of about the diameter of the coil (so a 2-foot
diameter antenna coil would yield about 2 feet of range from the
center of the coil).
How difficult is it to tune ProxPick?
Very easy. All tuned
stages will function acceptably in their mid-range settings (making
ProxPick functional from the start without needing an oscilloscope);
with an oscilloscope (or lots of patience) ProxPick will have a
special “tuning mode” to make the process as simple as possible.
What other modes will ProxPick have?
∙
Read mode: Act like a normal reader to read tags and save them to
internal storage.
∙ Sniff mode: Listen in on a “normal” reader and capture all tags
(PP mode).
∙ Playback mode: Act like a tag to replay stored ID numbers (PP
mode).
∙ Active Shield mode: Act like a tag but deliberately send corrupt
data to confuse readers (PP mode).
Wall-of-Sheep mode: Send tag data to a PC in realtime (requires
USB).
∙ All PP modes are passively-power modes that
do not require the ProxPick to be powered.
What's “Active Shield mode”?
In Active Shield mode, ProxPick will act like an RFID tag but
deliberately emit corrupted data; if you keep it next to your own
RFID tags in this mode it will help prevent them from being read far
more effectively than a conventional tinfoil “shield”.
What kind of user interface will ProxPick
have?
Very simple, just a few buttons and LEDs.
How will ProxPick connect to my PC?
ProxPick is intended to be a standalone device – no PC needed.
If you want to connect you'll need either USB for normal use
or ICSP for firmware development (the PCB will have an unpopulated
ICSP connector).
What software will be required?
ProxPick will appear to the PC as a Human Interface Device (it
provides input as keystrokes to a virtual keyboard); it will not
require drivers under Windows, Linux, or MacOS X.
Initial application software for firmware upgrades and
downloading of saved codes will initially be Windows-only, with
Linux support (including packages) to follow soon after.
All application software will be released under GPLv2.
