Camera: LaView L2
https://www.laviewusa.com/products/laview-4mp-light-bulb
To open the camera bulb for clip-flashing, apply inward pressure (towards the interior of the bulb) on the base half, while slipping a fingernail (or tool, be careful) under the edge of the outer half and prying outwards and away from the base. This disengages the 'hooks' from their 'holes'. After getting the edge, the rest should prove easier.
Remove this screw, and lift the lens housing out, minding the still-attached cables.
Remove the 2 screws holding the motor in place, and set to the outside. Optional: remove the cable shown for ease of flashing. The chip circled in light blue is the flashing target.
A modded CH341A Programmer, with SOIC8 clip. Note: one can do as I did and insulate pin 8 on the clip adapter rather than cutting it off.
You will need a CH341A (or B, like I have) programmer and SOIC8 clip. Such a unit and clip can be gotten cheaply from Aliexpress if you don't mind waiting, or Amazon. It has a characteristic black PCB with a gold edge. Once you obtain it, you will need to fix the data line voltage issue inherent in these programmers with a fairly easy fix outlined here:
It will require cutting a trace on the backside of the programmer PCB and a small piece of wire jumper soldered in as shown in the link. NOTE: Or you can use a v1.7 CH341A (green PCB with powder-blue socket) or similar device without the voltage issue and skip the need for a fix, if you prefer to. This would avoid the need for trace cutting and soldering. Additionally, pin 8 of the clip adapter must be either cut off or insulated to avoid conduction (I used packing tape folded on itself, then heated briefly with a lighter).
Whichever you choose, it must read 3.3v on the data lines (if the USB plug is pointed toward you, the pin headers on the right). This can be checked by using a multimeter and probing the USB plug housing and any data line pin when it is plugged in and powered. Lastly, attach another jumper (can be a bread tie if needed!) to the two end pins of the data lines as shown in the link above.
Everything is attached and ready for flashing.
That done, you are ready to backup the stock firmware and flash thingino. Attach the clip so the red wire lines up near the dot on the chip shown above which signifies pin 1 (I added the dot of white enamel). A tip: If you gently press forward and with a slight sideways motion while also keeping the other side of the clip well open, it should not budge; plastic fins on the clip fit between the chip's legs. Once satisfied with your positioning (centered!), gently close the other side of the clip.
Your clip must be dead-center, like this. The wireless module to the right is visually ID'd as an Altobeam.
https://github.com/themactep/thingino-firmware/wiki/CH341A-Programmer
This page explains the basic steps of reading and writing to the flash. On Windows, download Snander (I used the recommended fork in the linked page, x64 binary). The zip in releases page has both binaries and a drivers folder. Install the driver by opening zadig exe and executing. The programmer should be ready for read and write operations now.
To test:
snander_x64 -i
It should read what type of chip you have, and other info. If you see many f's, disconnect the programmer from USB and reattach the clip, and try again.
Once you get a good test read, you will want to dump the stock firmware at least twice, then get a checksum of each of the two bin files.
snander_x64 -r test.bin goes to completion, says OK
snander_x64 -r test2.bin goes to completion, says OK
...then run a checksum on both bin files.
If the checksum of both bin files match, you are not only connected perfectly and ready to flash thingino, but perhaps most importantly, you have a good dump of stock firmware should you need it. Save one of those stock firmware copies in a safe place.
In the picture above, you can see that the chip on the wireless module to the right says 'Altobeam'. Thus, it requires the 'atbm' variant of thingino firmware, named thusly:
thingino-laview_l2_t31l_sc3338_atbm6012b.bin
If yours does not say 'Altobeam', flash the other file!
With the right variant of the thingino firmware in hand, place the bin file into the same folder as the snander executable. Taken verbatim from the linked page above, the command to flash thingino:
Use snander -e && snander -w <filename> -v to erase the flash chip clean and write a new firmware to it with verification of the result.