L0pht Heavy Industries Jolly Box Project

A multi-frequency, programmable telephone signalling device


10/26/96 UPDATE!



Since people have shown interest in this project, we will provide the original Jolly Box design by Jolly Roger and some of the modifications we have done. At least this way, those with the knowledge will be able to take advantage of this tool. It is suggested that you examine the circuit layout carefully for design errors.

9/96 UPDATE

The Jolly Box project has taken a new course. Major revamping of the hardware and software are soon to occur. We are giving the whole unit a facelift, adding plenty of new features, making the footprint smaller, and making the box more user-customizable/programmable. We were slated for an August 1996 release which didn't happen because of lack of a keypad supplier. I am glad we couldn't find one, as it led me to think over some of the concepts of the Jolly Box and begin some redesign. The new project will have some similarities with the Hacktic Demon-Dialer, a unit which was released a few years ago in Amsterdam for $250 US which is now discontinued. Possible modifications include: Optional LCD display, RAM for storing phone numbers and customized timing/signalling macros, low-cost keypad, serial interface, custom frequency generation (on-the-fly), audio tone sweep (for testing of audio circuitry), and a slew of not-so-common telephone signalling frequencies.

Click here for a list of the old Jolly Box functions, which will be included in the new version. If you have any comments about things you would like to see in the new box, or have specific questions, feel free to mail kingpin@l0pht.com.

The following describes my experiences with the old design of the Jolly Box.


6/96 UPDATE

The Jolly Box is currently under development and should be available by mid-August 1996. The Jolly Box is a microprocessor-controlled programmable multi-frequency generator for telephone signalling. The unit is based on an Intel 8049 processor and an original design by Jolly Roger from Germany back in 1993. L0pht Heavy Industries has brought the project back to life with updated circuit and PC Board design, software updates and additions/bug-fixes.

We will be releasing a Jolly Box project kit, which will include everything you need (except a project enclosure) to construct the unit. Electronics knowledge/assembly and soldering skills are required, and lack thereof will result in a non-functional heap of electronic components. The project is an excellent and educational way to learn about basic microprocessor theory and and assembly language programming (if you wish to modify the software to suit your personal needs).

The first stage of the project was to put the original circuit onto a breadboard for troubleshooting purposes. The breadboard also made it easy to tweak/replace components and EPROM firmware:



Once we got the basic functions of the circuit to work, we created circuit schematics in OrCAD EDA Tools and created a double-sided PC board design with Protel Easytrax, an excellent freeware PC Board layout program. After routing was complete, we etched a prototype PC board by hand. The result looked like this:



The final step in the hardware portion of the project was to double check our netlists and PC Board design and prepare the board for professional out-sourced manufacturing.

The software side of the project included general bug-fixing, optimization, and adding new features/functions. Click here for a partial list of Jolly Box functions, listed in order of menu. More functions are going to be added before the final release. If you have any suggestions or ideas, send mail to kingpin@l0pht.com.

Please return to this page for more information in the near future, as the Jolly Box project is rapidly nearing its end, and any news will be posted here.

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Last update occurred on 10/26/96 at 1:09am
kingpin@l0pht.com