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Tigard

An open source FT2232H-based, multi-protocol, multi-voltage tool for hardware hacking

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A Simple, Open Source Tool for Hardware Hacking

Tigard is an open source FT2232H-based, multi-protocol, multi-voltage tool for hardware hacking. By incorporating commonly used pin-outs, a labelled wiring harness, onboard level-shifting, and a logic analyzer connection, it is designed specifically for attaching to and communicating with low-speed interfaces on reverse-engineered hardware targets.

Tigard combines support for all of the most-used interfaces and most-needed features on to a simple board. As a drop-in replacement for dozens of other hardware tools based on FTDI chips, it has native support from a number of commonly used hardware tools like OpenOCD, FlashROM, and more.

There’s a wide range of more advanced hardware hacking tools available. Tigard serves as an excellent complement to these by supporting the 20% of the features that enable 80% of the common hardware hacking tasks involved with speaking various protocols. Whether you’re new to hardware hacking, or you just need a quick and simple solution, Tigard is designed to be the best first step - sometimes followed by a more capable tool, if needed.

Documentation and hardware files can be found in the Tigard Tools GitHub repository.

Features & Specifications

Software Support

In general, Tigard was designed to work as-is with several tools and libraries that already support the x232H family of chips. This includes:

Thanks to the drop-in compatibility with so many tools, there is no need for Tigard-specific tools to interface with any targets. If you do find the need to customize a tool or script using Tigard, it should work fine with any other FT2232H interface board.

Example Use Cases

Block Diagram

Comparison Table

Tigard C232HM Cable UM232H-B Adafruit FT232H CJMCU FT232H BusBlaster BusPirate Glasgow
UART Dedicated Shared Shared Shared Shared With Gateware Shared With Gateware
SPI/JTAG Dedicated Shared Shared Shared Shared With Gateware SLOW With Gateware
I2C Hard Switch Add'l Parts Add'l Parts Hard Switch Add'l Parts With Gateware Yes With Gateware
SWD Hard Switch Add'l Parts Add'l Parts Add'l Parts Add'l Parts With Gateware Yes With Gateware
Headers ALL, labeled Loose Wires wires/2.0 mm I2C, Through Holes Through Holes Header, Generic Header, Generic Header, Generic
Level Shifting 1.6-5.5 V N N N N 1.5-3.3 V 0.8-5 V, with effort 1.8-5.4 V
USB Type C Type A Type A Type Micro-B Type A Type Mini-B Type Mini-B Type C
Open Hardware Y N N Y N Y Y Y
Wire Harness Included Built-in Varies N N N Additional Additional
Cost $45 $43 $16 $15 $9 $35 $27 $??

Why does all this matter?

Available Products

Tigard

One open source FT2232H-based, multi-protocol, multi-voltage Tigard board for hardware hacking, with wiring harnesses included.

BitMagic

Combine Tigard with a BitMagic Basic Logic Analyzer for live debugging of serial protocols.

BitMagic Basic is an open hardware FX2-based logic analyzer. It’s designed specifically to work with the open source fx2lafw firmware and the open source Sigrok logic analyzer suite, including the Pulseview GUI.

BitMagic Basic supports eight channels sampled at up to 24 Msps. It works like any other logic analyzer and includes a labeled wiring harness so you can use it with any 2.54 mm pin headers or your favorite probe clips.

It also includes a 14-pin cable for connecting directly to Tigard. When it’s all wired up, you can use Pulseview to monitor all the communications between Tigard and your target system. This is helpful for debugging electrical, protocol, and signal integrity issues.

Applied Physical Attacks Online Kit

We’ve used a number of different tools for our own research as well as for our Applied Physical Attacks training, but none of them seemed to be just the right combination of features we need with the simplicity that we want. Tigard came about in order to create the tool we needed to teach the basics of hardware hacking on embedded and IoT systems.

Faced with a calendar free of travel and face-to-face training commitments, we used the time to design, build, and test Tigard, as well as bring our hands-on in-person training to a self-paced online format, updated to work with Tigard and BitMagic.

This kit includes:

This kit goes hand-in-hand with online access to 3+ days of lectures, labs, and support that will guide you through the process of:

Support & Documentation

Tigard was designed as a drop-in replacement for other FT232H-series devices. In general, there are zero software changes required for support, though customizing configuration files might be necessary.

This greatly simplifies the support requirements for Tigard, and allows easy A/B testing with other FT232H-series devices when potential issues arise.

The entire design is open hardware, designed in KiCad with a public git repository. The documentation covers using a variety of software tools to complete several common tasks with Tigard. Should you have difficulty, Tigard has LEDs that will assist in debugging your target, your protocol, and your software.

We’re putting the finishing touches on a free online training for some common uses for Tigard.

We’d love to hear what you’ve done with Tigard - let us know by submitting a field report to Crowd Supply so we can highlight all the cool uses you come up with.

In the Press


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Produced by SecuringHardware.com in Portland, OR.

Sold and shipped by Crowd Supply.

Tigard

A Tigard board with wiring harnesses

$49 $8 US Shipping / $18 Worldwide

BitMagic Basic Logic Analyzer

A BitMagic open hardware FX2-based logic analyzer. It includes a labeled wiring harness and a 14-pin cable for connecting directly to Tigard.

$30 $8 US Shipping / $18 Worldwide

Tigard + BitMagic

Combine Tigard (with wiring harnesses) with a BitMagic Basic Logic Analyzer for live debugging of serial protocols

$75 $8 US Shipping / $18 Worldwide

Applied Physical Attacks Online Kit

Toolkit with Tigard, Bitmagic, and more - everything you need for the self-paced "Applied Physical Attacks on Embedded and IoT Systems" online course which covers the basics of hardware hacking on embedded systems. Includes access to all online lectures, labs, and supporting materials.

$2,000 Free US Shipping / $18 Worldwide

About the Team

SecuringHardware.com

Portland, OR  ·   securinghardware.com

SecuringHardware.com offers hands-on training on hardware hacking skills geared towards security testers and product security developers.

See Also

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