Omega-TI Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 Damn... that was FAST. Too bad we don't have the 1.8 update program on the FlashROM99 for the TI! Come to think of it, while my HDMI TI is 1.8, my main system is still running 1.6. I think I'll ask in the TI section. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 Will this work on an Adam as well? I can't promise anything for Adam... mostly because I don't know what the compatibility issues are. I was told that Mario Bros didn't work on the Adam but I never got an opportunity to investigate why. If it launches, it'll work. Everything is carefully check-summed before it's committed. The host code does very little in this case, it just loads the updater to the F18A GPU and manages reading the joystick and cartridge banks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 Damn... that was FAST. Too bad we don't have the 1.8 update program on the FlashROM99 for the TI! Come to think of it, while my HDMI TI is 1.8, my main system is still running 1.6. I think I'll ask in the TI section. You should be able to run the updater from your CF card or your HDX? It will never be on the FlashROM99 (at least as it's designed today). It takes more than 32k. The bitstream alone is 166k and there's another 45k of ROM data. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 Oh yeah, I could run it from a CF, HDX, HxC or a 3.5... I was kind of thinking about people that might not have totally expanded systems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digress Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 Cool. Thanks for making this tool. Now for the unexpected question. can i downgrade the firmware to an earlier version? Doing some play testing and it would be interesting to see what happens if I had an earlier version of the firmware. Anyways just causing trouble. Thanks for making this upgrade. It'll help keep everyone up to date so there won't be any compatiblitlity issues with new f18a games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthew180 Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 This updater kicks ass, thank you Tursi for taking the time and effort to reorganize the code-base and make the updater more portable. I might have a crack at porting to the MSX1 since I have one I can test with. @digress: The updater will not down-grade the firmware, but if you have a JTAG programmer you can load any version you want. I only keep the latest firmware available, but the old version might be kicking around the Internet somewhere. If you down-grade below V1.6, then you are guaranteed to have problems since the V1.6 changes were pretty substantial. However, in every firmware release I have fixed bugs, so it is always recommended to run the latest firmware. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 Apologies for the delay here, but work caught me off guard with some unexpected issues. However, that's done and I'm pleased to release the ColecoVision F18A updater for the 1.8 firmware. F18APureGPU_Coleco.rom This is a 256k "megacart" style ROM, and I've tested it myself using the AtariMax SD cart. It's had a few tests by myself and a couple of tests by Digress, so confidence is good, but I'd still like to hear a few more successes. Over at Github the source code is available for porting: https://github.com/tursilion/f18aupdatecoleco My goal with this project was to move the entire F18A update to the F18A GPU, so that the same code could be run on any system with the host only needing to provide a loader. The loader requires only keypresses and file data from the host machine. Thanks to the careful checksumming and data CRC of the update code, writing the ColecoVision loader was fairly pleasant - bugs were extremely unlikely to damage the F18A. The data transfer is based on the TI disk access mechanism - if anyone takes a stab at porting it and finds the code a bit confusing, just let me know and I'll write up some better docs for you. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vazquezrick Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 Works great!!! Thanks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthew180 Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 @Tursi: you're time and effort to produce this are greatly appreciated! Now I really don't have any excuse (other than procrastination or laziness) to port it to the MSX. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 @Tursi: you're time and effort to produce this are greatly appreciated! Now I really don't have any excuse (other than procrastination or laziness) to port it to the MSX. A SV-328 port would be nice too. Actually if it was ported to the MSX then making it work on a SV-328 would probably be trivial since it's 'almost' MSX compatible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phattyboombatty Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 I just: downloaded the ROM transferred to my SD card popped into my Ultimate SD for ColecoVision and updated the firmware to v1.8 on my Adam FLAWLESS VICTORY!!! This is killer! Tursi, you are an amazing programmer, and I am totally impressed with your work! Thank you for contributing to the ColecoVision scene. It is cool to have a modern "BIOS" type of updater for my 33 year old piece of tech! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jblenkle Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 So this would update the firmware on both the CV and ADAM F18As? Is the update actually within this rom? Or is that another file? I don't need an update as I have a brand new F18A just installed in my ADAM, but it's good to know for possible future updates. Apologies for the delay here, but work caught me off guard with some unexpected issues. However, that's done and I'm pleased to release the ColecoVision F18A updater for the 1.8 firmware. F18APureGPU_Coleco.rom This is a 256k "megacart" style ROM, and I've tested it myself using the AtariMax SD cart. It's had a few tests by myself and a couple of tests by Digress, so confidence is good, but I'd still like to hear a few more successes. Over at Github the source code is available for porting: https://github.com/tursilion/f18aupdatecoleco My goal with this project was to move the entire F18A update to the F18A GPU, so that the same code could be run on any system with the host only needing to provide a loader. The loader requires only keypresses and file data from the host machine. Thanks to the careful checksumming and data CRC of the update code, writing the ColecoVision loader was fairly pleasant - bugs were extremely unlikely to damage the F18A. The data transfer is based on the TI disk access mechanism - if anyone takes a stab at porting it and finds the code a bit confusing, just let me know and I'll write up some better docs for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthew180 Posted April 7, 2017 Share Posted April 7, 2017 So this would update the firmware on both the CV and ADAM F18As? phattyboombatty posted (post #36) that he ran the updater on his ADAM, so yes, it will update both the CV and ADAM. Is the update actually within this rom? Or is that another file? Yes, this is a single ROM file that contains the program and firmware data you use with a CV/ADAM mega-cart of some sort (like the Ultimate SD, etc.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikrananka Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 (edited) Apologies for the delay here, but work caught me off guard with some unexpected issues. However, that's done and I'm pleased to release the ColecoVision F18A updater for the 1.8 firmware. Wow - somehow I missed this post. This is awesome and once I get my CV with F18A back from loan I will use this to update my F18A. A while ago I did buy a JTAG programmer but found that the cables it came with were the wrong pitch for the F18A connector. I would still like to get the JTAG working, does anyone know where I can buy a reasonably priced cable that will work? Edited January 18, 2018 by Ikrananka Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmack36 Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 This is what I use for JTAG. https://store.digilentinc.com/jtag-hs2-programming-cable/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikrananka Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 This is what I use for JTAG. https://store.digilentinc.com/jtag-hs2-programming-cable/ Ouch - is there no cheaper alternative? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmack36 Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 What jtag programmer do you have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikrananka Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 What jtag programmer do you have? It's a cheap Chinese one from eBay, like this : eBay Auction -- Item Number: 201540354531 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmack36 Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 Did it come with the 2mm 14 pin cable pictured? it looks like that should fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikrananka Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 Did it come with the 2mm 14 pin cable pictured? it looks like that should fit. I discussed this was Matthew a while back but never got round to resolving the issue. It seems that the connectors I received with mine are imperial (0.1" spacing) while the connector on the F18A board is metric (1mm spacing). I tried to use the fly leads but the pins on the F18A are too small to make contact with the larger fly lead connectors supplied with my JTAG unit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmack36 Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 The ebay listing shows a 2mm cable. You might be able to find a 2mm cable to plug in. 1 x 14-pin 2.0mm pitch 15cm flat cable, something like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/2Pcs-2mm-Pitch-2x7-Pin-14-Wire-28-AWG-Female-IDC-Flat-Ribbon-Cable-Length-50cm-/181212516186 If you have the adapter board shown in the ebay listing you should be able to just get the cable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthew180 Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 A new firmware V1.9 is available for download from the first post in this thread (as usual): http://atariage.com/...s/#entry2676606 This biggest change in this firmware is a fix to the horizontal timing that has been there since day-1. It is amazing how many problems 6.4 pixels, or about 254ns) can cause, and how 59.4Hz refresh vs. 59.9Hz will break a good number of games! On the 99/4A this fixes Pole Position, and probably some other titles that I am not aware of. On the ColecoVision it fixes a rather large pile of titles, as well as the problems on the PAL ColecoVision consoles. Note the unused sprite-linking feature was removed to ease up on the FPGA resource utilization. There is a complete change-log entry in post #1, so if you are writing software for the F18A please review the changes. Also in the update ZIP file is an in-system updater for the ColecoVision (requires a Mega-Cart). Thanks to Tursi for making this happen, and for automating the tedious process of making the in-system updater programs in general. I would like to encourage people to update, but as always, things can go wrong with the in-system updaters. If something happens and you end up with a non-functional F18A, I have a $1 update service on my website (basically it costs you shipping). I realize this can be expensive for people not in the U.S., but I might be able to find a few people in other countries who have a JTAG cable and who would be willing to help in cases where something goes wrong. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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