Bringing back GrcardSIM2

[Mychaela Falconia]

Hi Harald,

> I don't recall anything about it. But given that this was 2012, I'd assume
> XP would be sufficient.

Thank you for the encouragement.  I just found a copy of GRSIMWrite
version 3.10 on the Internet (to those whom I emailed off-list asking
for a copy, that request can now be scratched :), so I will try
running it on that WinXP machine.

> we noticed some Chinese-language pop-up message showing up on the display.

Hmm, such visual observation seems to be only possible with a phone
handset whose fw includes a Chinese font (how can a device display
something in Chinese if it has no font for it), and AFAIK none of the
Western-market classic GSM dumbphones I play with support Chinese
characters.  It looks like I will need to invest in a SIMtrace setup
(hardware + learning curve) in order to truly confirm for sure what
these cards do and don't do in terms of STK.  Adding to my long to-do
list.

Now the big question in need of answering - just *why* am I messing
with these Grcard SIMs instead of embracing the latest offerings from
Sysmocom like the rest of this community?  Two reasons:

1) As a general principle, I feel severe displeasure whenever
something (anything really) that was available in the recent past gets
discontinued and taken away.  It is a well-known trait in human
psychology, called loss aversion.  Thus I see good moral value in
bringing a discontinued product back from the grave just for its own
sake, regardless of how poor that product may actually be.

2) Cost: this Grcard deal seems to be the only way to get programmable
SIM cards in 2FF-only cut with a GSM-only file system (no USIM/ISIM)
at an affordable price (a few hundred USD for 100 to 200 cards),
without spending 3-4 kUSD on an MOQ-based custom order from The
Premier Vendor.  Spending 3-4 kUSD just on the SIM cards alone, on top
of all other costs like BTS hardware and everything else, is simply
not justifiable unless there is absolutely no other way.

So I am trudging along...

M~