XTW100 Mini Programmer Schematic and Driver

I recently found a new serial programmer, the XTW100 Mini Programmer which is supposed to be an "upgraded" variant of the well-known CH341A Mini Programmer. Having a similar price to CH341A, I didn't wait any longer and ordered myself one. With a PCB slightly bigger (in length) than the PCB of CH341A, this new device is built around an STM32 ARM microcontroller. Having native USB port and hardware I2C and SPI, these microcontrollers with proper firmware could do a good job for this purpose.

Yet, there are some advertised features of this programmer that seem to good to be true (for a 4 USD programmer). Just as I did with the CH341A, I will try to draw the schematic and look for drivers and software for this XTW100 memory programmer. Because the STM32 is a 3.3 V device I can say for sure that this programmer will not have the 5 V bus levels issue. I got my XTW100 from AliExpress / WAVGAT store.

Product photo of XTW100 programmer

CH341A Mini Programmer Schematic and Drivers

CH341A is an USB interface chip that can emulate UART communication, standard parallel port, memory parallel port and synchronous serial (I2C, SPI). The chip is manufactured by Chinese company Jiangsu QinHeng Ltd. CH341A is used by some cheap memory programmers. The IC is somehow limited in this configuration, because the programmer makes use only of the SPI and I²C interface and leaves a lot of pins unconnected. A popular device is the black CH341A MiniProgrammer that you can buy for 2 to 5 USD.

The problem with these devices is that you get them without any documentation or software. Drivers are available from manufacturer's website (but the site is written in Chinese). Also, some source codes are available from manufacturer. There are open source applications that support this programmer. But, first of all, let's have a look at the hardware.

Photo of the black CH341A Mini Programmer

Using Magix USB-Videowandler 2 on Linux

Videowandler 2 is an USB analog video capture card. There is no official driver support for Linux and the device does not work when you plug it in. According to lsusb, the device is Afatech, which is totally wrong. The kernel only loads modules for USB audio - and this is the only thing that works (the audio input appears as a separate sound card).

Videowandler 2 is based on eMPIA 2861 USB chip. Video conversion is done by SAA7113 and audio conversion by EMP202. The IDs of the device are 1B80:E349. When opening the case, you may find printed on the board UB317 Ver:A or UB315 Ver:C. The latter my be identical to Kworld UB315 but I’m not sure.

Magix USB-Videowandler 2 board. Photo by Christian Enders.

Install Sky Digital Key (AverMedia A867) on PC

Sky Digital Key is an USB DVB-T tuner designed to be used with this provider's satellite receivers. There are two variants, one with green LED and the other with blue LED, the last being an AverMedia device with Maxlinear MxL5007T tuner and Afatech AF9035 USB demodulator.

The DVB-T key can be installed on PC too. However the driver installation is not quite straightforward. The device is a copy of AverMedia AverTV Volar HD Nano with two small differences: there is no remote control sensor on Sky key although the PCB has the pads for it and USB IDs are different for the two devices. This aspect makes drivers installation difficult.

This article will describe the installation procedure on Linux and Windows. The USB tuner can be used to receive DVB-T signals with BDA compatible software on Windows (such as ProgDVB) and Kaffeine on Linux.

AverMedia A867 - Sky Digital Key