I want to discover everything there is to discover about this device and then use that knowledge to make something amazing with it. I'm starting with the hardware, so the first step is to trace the PCB design and obtain a schematic that can be used as a starting point for exploring what can be done with software running on the device. Towards that end I sacrificed one of my devices, cleaned off both sides of the PCB, and took a very high resolution scan of each side with a flatbed scanner.
Next up is carefully tracing out a schematic using the scan.
I have asked SMART Technology if they can release the schematics to the DIY community but they refused.
I have made a copy of your scan and worked on the layers with gimp in order to superimposed one layer's tracks onto the other with a different color. It makes it easier to follow a track from end to end.
I am currently working on the schematic. I will release it in a few days as I still need to verify some parts. There is a large amount of resistors that are used to switch options and some parts of the schematics are looking "strange".
I have identified all the components except one. I was not able to find what U5 is. It has an I²C interface, has some decoupling capacitors and what looks like an enable coming from the CPU. I have searched if it can be a serial EEPROM, a voltage monitor, a temperature sensors, and so on but found nothing with a similar pinout.
Nice work! Collecting all that info into one place is super helpful. I haven't had time to work on this project recently but I still have ~30 or so of the devices and intend to use them for something in the future. The repos you've made are a perfect place to jump back in.
In case this project is still alive here is a link to my github with the schematic https://github.com/fdufnews/SMART-Response-XE-schematics
Added information to use the terminal with Arduino IDE https://github.com/fdufnews/SMART-Response-XE-Low_level