SDMInst - an installer for SDM (and CHDK) under Mac OSX

SDMInst is a Java application designed to install SDM or CHDK on a Mac OSX machine. Currently it works under all versions of OSX from Panther (10.3) to Lion (10.7). It also requires version 1.4 or later of the Java Runtime.

Note for Mountain Lion (10.8) Users. Mountain Lion requires root access to make changes to cards. As a result, SDMInst will fail with a "permission refused" message unless it has root access. To run SDMInst under Mountain Lion, download this zip file and unzip it. You'll get a folder called SDMInstML which contains an sdminst.command script and two class files. Double-clicking the script will bring up a terminal window and sudo will ask you to type your logon password so SDMInst can get root access. SDMInst will run when you press return.

You may find my ACID app useful in identifying and downloading a suitable build.

The image below shows the SDMInst main window. Click on a field or button to get help about it.

To download the SDMInst App, click here.

Version History:

• version 1.25 - updated November 9th 2012 - ensure EXFat cards are properly diagnosed
• version 1.24 - improve testing of card sizes (e.g. accept 7.4GB card)
• version 1.23 - offer the option of making a FAT32 card bootable. This option is only suitable for DryOS R47 cameras introduced since January 2011 such as the A3300, SX150, SX220, SX230, IXUS220 and IXUS310. For an up-to-date list of such cameras see the bottom of the list on this page
• version 1.22 - January 26th 2012 - ensure ExFAT SDXC cards recognised under Lion
• version 1.21 - December 27th 2011 - ensure cards of size e.g. 29.7GB are recognised
• version 1.20 - improve drag-and-drop, fix bugs with large (SDXC) cards, add Licks improvements (fontsize, logging)
• version 1.19 - minor update for Lion and 128GB cards
• version 1.18 - updated 18th September 2011 - allow 128GB cards
• version 1.17 - updated 29th July 2011 - ensure 4GB cards can be formatted as a single FAT16 partition
• version 1.16 - updated 2nd May 2011 - improved testing of card sizes
• version 1.15 - updated 8th March 2011 - search more than 10 disks (via ndisk property)
• version 1.14 - updated 14th February 2011 - deal with switch from two partitions back to one
• version 1.13 - updated 14th January 2011 - ensure change to max card size is reflected in on-screen messages
• version 1.12 - updated 22nd December 2010
  1. deal properly with card sizes > 16GB
  2. exclude Terabyte-sized hard disks
• version 1.11 - updated November 7th 2010
  1. allow max card size to be adjusted via the UI (and not just by editing the properties file)
  2. add the "smallpsize" property. When SDMInst creates two partitions, this determines the size of the smaller one (which normally just holds DISKBOOT.BIN) The default is "16M" or 16 megabytes.
• version 1.10 - updated May 17th
  1. ensure PS.FIR or PS.FI2 are copied to boot volume
• version 1.09 - updated May 4th
  1. ensure volume names are greyed out unless partitioning/formatting is requested
• version 1.08 - updated April 28th
  1. ensure file copying copes with multi-word volume names
  2. add scanning progress indicator
• version 1.07 - updated on April 26th
  1. ensure maxsize card is accepted when card size = maxsize (16GB cards were not accepted when maxsize = 16000)
• version 1.06 - updated on April 14th
  1. fixed improper truncation of multi-word volume names
  2. fixed rounding down of card size
  3. capture and report return code from bash commands
  4. added eject card button
  5. add checkbox to turn debug on or off
• version 1.05
  1. add the Browse button
  2. handle formatting in a different way to avoid a Leopard problem that affects some USB card readers
  3. make copy options a choice not a checkbox
• version 1.04 - fixed a drag/drop bug and made the log window a TextArea rather than a List.

Additional Features

SDMInst has some extra features that can be enabled by changing its properties file, "sdminst.properties", (which you will find in the same folder as the app once you've run it). These features are:

• the ability to specify the maximum size card the app will handle via the 'maxsize' property. By default the properties file contains the line:

  maxsize=16000
  

  which sets the limit at 16000MB or 16GB. Changing it to 32000 would make the limit 32GB.

• the ability to specify the maximum size card on which to allow one partition via the 'max1size' property. By default the properties file contains the line:

  max1size=2000
  

  which sets the limit at 2000MB or 2GB. Changing it to 4000 would make the upper limit 4GB.

• the ability to specify the minimum size card on which to allow two partitions via the 'min2size' property. By default the properties file contains the line:

  min2size=4000
  

  which sets the limit at 4000MB or 4GB. Changing it to 8000 would make the lower limit 8GB. Note that if 'max2size' and 'min2size' are the same, that size card can be formatted with either one or two partitions.

• the ability to specify the size of the small partition when two partitions are to be created. By default the properties file contains the line:

  smallpsize=16M
  

  which sets the size to 16MB (large enough to hold DISKBOOT.BIN). Changing it to "1G" would make the small partition 1GB in size.

• the ability to search more than 10 attached 'disks'. For example, by adding the line:

  ndisks=12
  

  SDMInst will search for 12 'disks' (from 'disk0' to 'disk11').

• The properties file also lets you change the font used ('fontname=...') and remembers the size of the window 'height=...' and 'width=...').

The source code of SDMInst is available here.

Comments, suggestions and bug reports welcome. Dave@zenoshrdlu.com.

All my apps are freeware, but if you've found them useful and would like to thank the author, you can make a donation (for example £1, €1 or $1) to show your appreciation for the many hours spent working on them!

For other SDM and CHDK-related stuff of mine, see here and here.

Thanks to cowboytronic for the bash script which inspired this App.