alber e35

[mar6490]

thanks for sharing. i dont know much about coding but i am curios to find out if this code helps to own my alber e-fix e35. "unfortunately" i do not have qr-codes on the wheels and the user manual for the efix e35 app is a bit different than the one for e-motion. but it still feels like it is the same app... as you mentioned creating different products out of one to sell more items is a thing in the company.

[mandle420]

this won't help you. The e-fix appears to have a single speed only, unlike the the e-motion which goes faster with the app and payment.

This is utterly diabolical tho. If this isn't a subscription, I have no doubt they'll turn it into one. It's becoming more common for these corpo's to say "here ya go, lifetime app" and then revert to subscription later on.
And for what? 2 and half clicks an hour? A couple features which took a single person to recreate in what, a couple months?? Took them a week probably.. Like 5000 lines of code? And charging 600 per chair? When you've already paid 6000? And garbage security??? The grift is strong with this corp...
I've made a backup on my drive if this ever disappears. Not gonna fork tho, just in case. I can see this corp filing a lawsuit. Also, here cuz Louis Rossmann. :D

I'd also add in the readme the firmware version of the wheels. And the caveat that the corp may "upgrade" the firmware to disable this workaround in the future.

google translate, apolgizes if it sucks. :D

Das ist ja echt teuflisch! Wenn das kein Abo ist, machen sie bestimmt eins draus. Es kommt immer häufiger vor, dass diese Konzerne sagen: „Hier, eine App fürs Leben“ und später wieder auf Abo umstellen.

Und wofür? Zweieinhalb Klicks pro Stunde? Ein paar Funktionen, für deren Entwicklung eine einzelne Person, was, ein paar Monate gebraucht hat? Wahrscheinlich nur eine Woche … 5000 Zeilen Code? Und dann 600 pro Stuhl? Wenn man schon 6000 bezahlt hat? Und die Sicherheit ist unter aller Sau? Bei diesem Konzern geht’s richtig zur Sache …
Ich hab ein Backup auf meiner Festplatte gemacht, falls das mal verschwindet. Fork werde ich aber nicht, nur für alle Fälle. Ich kann mir schon vorstellen, dass der Konzern klagt. Ach ja, und hier ist Louis Rossmann. :D

Ich würde in der Readme auch die Firmware-Version der Räder angeben. Und den Hinweis, dass der Konzern die Firmware „aktualisieren“ könnte, um diesen Workaround zu deaktivieren.

[roll2own]

Hi @mar6490! I took a brief look into E35 specifics and it's sort of a matter of time until I'll add support for it (likely in an own dedicated repo, since it's using a different application layer communication protocol). It might take some time as I don't have a test drive at hand atm, so I can't comprise anything as of today. Since the licensing is different, there's especially no promises that using the paywalled features without buying a license will be supported. Non-paywalled features are way less problematic in terms of this.

@mandle420 The e-fix apparently actually has a mobile app, that also includes a speed increase feature from 6km/h to 8 km/h - at least the screenshots on Google Play show this. The licensing logic is quite different from the M25's: it's a license code bought at 'your local dealer' that is entered into the app, the app then computes a licensing request that is sent to Alber's licensing server, which will return a license that will be written into the MMI (the hardware controller). The M25 licensing is way more simple as it's an in-app purchase that unlocks the hidden sections of the app corresponding to the features.

Firmware updates could make it harder to use the paywalled features, but the M25 device supports firmware downgrades, if that's ever going to become a thing (which would be no surprise at all IMHO - also disabling the downgrade functionality). The code in this repo does not support firmware upgrades or downgrades of the M25 drive yet, but it's on the to-do list since it's just a bunch of other messages in the already documented protocol.

I'll keep this issue open, until I have news on that, and then link to a repository if it becomes available - also for other people seeking for E35 support.

[tripfish]

Yes, I can confirm that it is possible to increase the speed to 8 km/h on the E35 if you buy the corresponding mobility pack.

As roll2own already mentioned, the process is unfortunately not as simple as with the M25. Here, the activation is actually written to the control unit.

I looked into the process several years ago, but then I abandoned it because it's a rented device. I then bit the bullet and bought the mobility pack.

[roll2own]

@mandle420 + @tripfish There is a migration underway for migrating the Github organization and repo to Codeberg. This issue got migrated too, and is now available at https://codeberg.org/roll2own/m5squared/issues/1. There's also work going on wrt. support of more devices, so there should be updates on implemented E35 support in the middle- to long-term.