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Archive for the ‘Firmware’ Category

1541 Ultimate II: New firmware v2.2

May 31st, 2011 No comments

A new version of the firmware for the interface 1541 Ultimate II is released. This version only runs on the Ultimate-II! Release for Ultimate-I (MK1) will come very soon.

Major improvement in latest release:

  • MAJOR bug fix: Updater caused to unit to fail when “Force update” was selected on the first batch Black boards (with Atmel Flash)…
  • Updater updated: Now possible to clear all configuration pages in flash.
  • Issue fixed with configuration of objects that did not have a config page yet (write/effectuate decoupled).
  • Issue fixed with re-freezing into an empty D64 (or file with headers but no items); caused a blank screen.
  • Version number of FPGA increased [to $A6], because REU was fixed. (See previous commit).
  • Simulation environment set up for REU.
  • REU verify bug fixed. More testcases to be added.
  • …/target/simulation/sim/$ make reu_tc_1.gui will start ModelSim with the REU testcase.
  • Missing simulation package added.
  • SdCard cannot be renamed, of course… fixed…
  • Build of MK1 firmware fixed, using the 250E FPGA.
  • Makefile changed to output a warning when ISE locations from the project is used, instead of your own.
  • Tested on ‘clean’ system with Xilinx ISE 13.1 installed.
  • Missing file added: sid_mapper.vhd. Why did nobody notice this? :D

download: 1541ultimate.net

Categories: Firmware, News & Rumors, Today

Turbo Chameleon 64 beta firmware v5b released

May 13th, 2011 No comments

Turbo Chameleon 64 is an extremely user-friendly cartridge that can be used without opening the computer. It is just plugged to the expansion port of the C64.

The Turbo Chameleon 64 cartridge can also be operated as a stand-alone unit (since it’s basically an FPGA computer like the C-One or the Minimig in a C64 cartridge case), replacing the computer, the floppy drive and the heavy power supply.

When used as a stand-alone unit, a USB power adapter or active USB hub can be used as a power source.

Changelog:

Beta-5 to Beta-5a:

  • Fix crash when turbo limit is set in menu without activating turbo. (or when disabling active turbo with button while a limit is set)
  • Fix D030 mirror of the turbo bit emulating C128 2Mhz mode with Chameleon turbo.

Beta-5a to Beta-5b:

  • Eliminate spurious resets by masking reset line in standalone mode.
  • Fix keyboard matrix so joysticks are properly emulated (IR, numpad) in standalone mode.
  • Block normal button functions in menu mode (only exception is reboot by pressing 0.7s on right button)

source: syntiac.com

Categories: Firmware, News & Rumors, Today

SIO2SD new Firmware v3.0RC5

April 28th, 2011 No comments

The SIO2SD is a device that allows you to load games/applications into any 8-bit Atari XL/XE computers via SIO interface from SD/MMC cards.

Changelog:

RC4 -> RC5

  • Changes in SD initialization routines (“card init error” should appear much less frequently)
  • SD speed is choosen automatically (SD speed option was removed)
  • Fixed card insertion/removal logic.
  • Added ability to go directly to setup when card is not present (using dbl-shift)

source: sio2sd-dev.gucio.pl

Categories: Firmware, News & Rumors, Today

Turbo Chameleon 64 beta firmware v5 released

April 25th, 2011 No comments

Turbo Chameleon 64 is an extremely user-friendly cartridge that can be used without opening the computer. It is just plugged to the expansion port of the C64.

The Turbo Chameleon 64 cartridge can also be operated as a stand-alone unit (since it’s basically an FPGA computer like the C-One or the Minimig in a C64 cartridge case), replacing the computer, the floppy drive and the heavy power supply.

When used as a stand-alone unit, a USB power adapter or active USB hub can be used as a power source.

Changelog:

  • Framebuffer writes now use MMU.
  • Framebuffer writes can be switched off (buffer can be used by software)
  • Cartridge buttons emulated on PS/2 keyboard (F11,F12 and PrintScreen)
  • Chameleon can use real BASIC and Kernal ROMs in machine in cartridge mode.
  • Emulated IEC bus can be disconnected from C64 (Chameleon is drive emu)
  • FLI bug fixed.
  • Added Stereo SID support.
  • Turbo feature added.
  • Relative CPU speed displayed in VGA debug bar.

source: syntiac.com

Categories: Firmware, News & Rumors, Today

HxC Floppy Emulator: Firmware updated

April 22nd, 2011 No comments

The HxC Floppy Drive Emulator is a software and hardware system created by jfdn aka Jeff.

The aim of this project is to replace the floppy disk drive by an electronic device emulating the floppy disk drive (list of supported Computer/Hardware).

There are two differents emulators:

  • A USB version which allows to connect the floppy disk drive interface of the computer to a PC via a USB cable.
  • A SDCARD version which allows to emulate floppy disks which images are stored in a SDCARD.

Release notes for the SD HxCFloppyEmulator firmware upgrade v1.6.0.0:

  • File browser.
  • Direct access mode.
  • HFE file renaming Function.
  • New boot/power up mode.
  • Autoboot/file selector program boot mode enhanced.
  • Write support.
  • Various bugs corrected and code enhancement.
  • … full release notes here

source: hxc2001.free.fr

SIO2SD new Firmware v3.0RC4

April 22nd, 2011 No comments

The SIO2SD is a device that allows you to load games/applications into any 8-bit Atari XL/XE computers via SIO interface from SD/MMC cards.

Changelog:

RC3 -> RC4

  • Fixed SIO routines (mainly incompatibilities with software made for TOMS turbo)

source: sio2sd-dev.gucio.pl

Categories: Firmware, News & Rumors, Today

SIO2SD new Firmware v3.0RC3

April 14th, 2011 No comments

The SIO2SD is a device that allows you to load games/applications into any 8-bit Atari XL/XE computers via SIO interface from SD/MMC cards.

Changelog:

RC1 -> RC2

  • Fixed LCD handling bug (RC1 doesn’t work without LCD)
  • Added “swap” command (K3 in VDISK MODE swaps mappings of D1 and D2)
  • Added “rol4″ command (K4 in VDISK MODE moves mappings D1<D2<D3<D4<D1)
  • Added “ror4″ command (SHIFT+K4 in VDISK MODE moves mappings D1>D2>D3>D4>D1)

RC2 -> RC3

  • Fixed xex-loader.
  • Added new key combinations OPTION+SELECT and OPTION+START to turbo-loader (new turbo IRQ locations: $700 and $500).

source: sio2sd-dev.gucio.pl

Categories: Firmware, News & Rumors, Today

1541 Ultimate II: New firmware v2.1

April 12th, 2011 No comments

A new version of the firmware for the interface 1541 Ultimate II is released. This version only runs on the Ultimate-II!

Major improvement in latest release:

  • Config menu is now ‘hot’, meaning that all settings that can be applied when exiting the menu will be applied immediately without reboot.
  • Audio options added.
  • Stereo SID emulation added.
  • Initial support for domark cartridges added; not yet tested (and no support from the menu in this release).
  • Improvements made in file system handling.. (It’s not ‘clean’ yet, but delete and rename now work)
  • Issue solved that caused errors when more than one cluster was used for a directory.
  • Bug fixed that caused a crash when partition list was skipped.
  • Some additional testing with SID support.
  • Created module for selecting audio options in the Ultimate configuration menu. Address for second SID now configurable.
  • Some experiments done with EM1010 USB to Ethernet module. The module doesn’t comply with the USB philosophy of interrupts.. it *always* gives an interrupt every poll.. (wrong!) But nevertheless, managed to send a DHCP discover and receive a reply from the router. :) (not yet functional in this release)
  • Command Interface created and handler set up for testing VHDL. (not yet functional in this release)
  • Cartridge Logic restructured to make it a little more plug and go.
  • Reading of ISO9660 added (both as .iso file, as well as from external USB CD-ROM..)
  • Partition list skipped when there is just one.

download: 1541ultimate.net

Categories: Firmware, News & Rumors, Today

SIO2SD new Firmware v3.0RC1 and a new Wiki page

April 5th, 2011 No comments

The SIO2SD is a device that allows you to load games/applications into any 8-bit Atari XL/XE computers via SIO interface from SD/MMC cards.

Changelog:

Supported cards:

  • MMC/SDSC/SDHC (and very likely with SDXC, but only FAT32 formated)

Supported partitioning schemas:

  • no partition, MBR (Master Boot Record), GPT (GUID Partition Table – EFI)

TURBO:

  • additional turbo mode. I’ve called it 7-bit mode (7th bit of command switches turbo). This is new turbo mode very similar to XF551 turbo mode.

Number of simulated drives:

  • 15 + 100

Configuration program:

  • has to be present on SD card, but any program can be used.
  • New ATR files and new folders can be created using SIO commands.
  • “Empty disk” mode (ATR file created automatically during format command).
  • Deleting files from card using SIO commands.
  • Renaming files and folders using SIO commands.
  • Reading and writting all files using SIO commands (inside ATARI folder and subfolders).
  • 100 extra “virtual drives” V0..V99, which can be mapped to any drive from D1 to D15.
  • Fast mapping – Drives V0 to V3 have additional, special meaning. When one of keys from K1 to K4 is pressed during start then device overrides mapping of D1 and maps one of those drives to D1 (K1 = V0, K2 = V1 etc.).
  • Builtin very simple TURBO loader (for 7th bit mode – turbo mode similar to one used in XF551).

source: sio2sd-dev.gucio.pl

Categories: Firmware, News & Rumors, Today

Micro SwinSID – Firmware update by Swinkels

February 27th, 2011 No comments

Micro SwinSID (SwinSID88) is a hardware replacement for legendary SID sound chip which was placed in every Commodore C64 computer and other devices. Firmware update (27022011):

  • This new firmware brings 6581 filter emulation by connecting B0 AVR pin to ground (on the Photo).
  • Filter distrortions are still not emulated, only filter cutoff is affected.

source: forum64.de

Categories: Firmware, News & Rumors, Today

HxC Floppy Emulator: Firmware updated

February 3rd, 2011 2 comments

The HxC Floppy Drive Emulator is a software and hardware system created by jfdn aka Jeff.

The aim of this project is to replace the floppy disk drive by an electronic device emulating the floppy disk drive (list of supported Computer/Hardware).

There are two differents emulators:

  • A USB version which allows to connect the floppy disk drive interface of the computer to a PC via a USB cable.
  • A SDCARD version which allows to emulate floppy disks which images are stored in a SDCARD.

Release notes for the SD HxCFloppyEmulator firmware upgrade v1.5.1.0:

  • Direct access mode : Bad Write mode corrected.
  • Display: Negative Track position bug corrected.
  • Internal : write mode selection code clean up.
  • … full release notes here

source: hxc2001.free.fr

HxC Floppy Emulator: Firmware & Software updated

January 27th, 2011 No comments

The HxC Floppy Drive Emulator is a software and hardware system created by jfdn aka Jeff.

The aim of this project is to replace the floppy disk drive by an electronic device emulating the floppy disk drive (list of supported Computer/Hardware).

There are two differents emulators:

  • A USB version which allows to connect the floppy disk drive interface of the computer to a PC via a USB cable.
  • A SDCARD version which allows to emulate floppy disks which images are stored in a SDCARD.

Release notes for the HxCFloppyEmulator software v1.5.2.0/v1.5.2.1:

  • BUG : Floppy dump tool broken. fixed.
  • New files Support : Atari ST DIM image (*.DIM) added.
  • New files Support : TI99 V9T9 (*.V9T9 / *.PC99) added.
  • IPF File format (http://www.softpres.org/) overlap bug corrected.
  • Internal : Tracklen is now the number of bit in the track.
  • Internal/HFE generator : Track encoding code now set correctly.
  • ISO/IBM track generator : ISO FM track data mark value corrected/changed to 0xFB.

Release notes for the SD HxCFloppyEmulator firmware upgrade v1.5.0.0:

  • SDcard : Init frequency corrected.
  • SDcard : Multi sector read & Write access added.
  • SDCard access time improved (Slow sdcard issues corrected)
  • Some important parts of the floppy write support fully rewritten : Important codes improvement (speed & size)
  • New MFM/DD  write support bitrate added.
  • FM write support added.
  • E-mu write support added (E-mu emulator, E-mu emulator II,…)
  • Two floppy drive emulation improvement/bug corrected.
  • SDCard HxC Floppy emulator settings (sound/blacklight…) are now stored into the eeprom and used at power up. At power up the last known settings are used.
  • … full release notes here

source: hxc2001.free.fr

Micro SwinSID – Firmware update & AVR ISP Adapter

January 20th, 2011 2 comments

Micro SwinSID (SwinSID88) is a hardware replacement for legendary SID sound chip which was placed in every Commodore C64 computer and other devices.

On the Photo you can see the AVR ISP homebrew Adapter for programming the firmware.

Firmware update (10012011):

  • Much improved ADSR envelope fading based on a real SID counter design.
  • More soft filter.

Hardware tip:

To increase audio quality and volume level replace R4 (2k2) resistor with 1K. This will boost volume by about 50%

source: forum64.de

Categories: Firmware, News & Rumors, Today

SD2Iec Firmware v0.10.1

December 26th, 2010 No comments

SD2IEC is a hardware mass storage device using an SD/MMC card and interfacing with the IEC bus. It is based on the ATmega644 or ATmega1284p microcontroller from the Atmel AVR microcontroller family.

The most prominent use of SD2IEC is emulation/replacement of a Commodore-1541 disk drive for a C64. Hardware and the microcontroller’s firmware is available as open source (GPL).

Changelog:

2010-12-25 – release 0.10.1

  • Bugfix: Remove remains of previous commands while parsing B-*
  • Bugfix: Fix response of UI command for unknown suffix chars.
  • Small improvement of JiffyDOS transfer speeds.

source: sd2iec.de gitweb forum thread c64-wiki

Categories: Firmware, News & Rumors, Today

Lallafa’s DTV2Ser v0.5 Released!

December 12th, 2010 No comments

Dtv2ser is a small hardware device that bridges TLR’s dtvtrans protocol used to communicate with a DTV via a RS232 interface to your Mac or PC.

By using a serial-to-USB adapter the dtv2ser provides dtvtrans access for all modern PCs where the original dtvtrans parallel cable cannot be used.

The new firmware integrate the support for Arduino 2009 board.

Changelog version v0.5 – 11.12.2010:

dtv2sertrans:

  • Fixed double open problem in pySerial on Windows.
  • Added missing ‘g’ command available in TLR’s dtvtrans for usage compatibility.

dtv2ser firmware:

  • Added support for Arduino 2009 board (ATmega168, 16 MHz, 250kB/s transfer)

source: lallafa.de