New (alt) BIOS for Ultimate 1MB/Incognito

[lemiel]

Or maybe - Jon do you mean Soundboard core on VBXE which is not detected?

[flashjazzcat]

I don't know where the undetected core was situated: Candle told me about it but later said there was some other unrelated reason for it not showing up. The detection method is very simple so I'm not sure what the problem is. I can only test in Altirra, and it works there.

[+DrVenkman]

We put the day first in the UK, so the files are actually dated December.

D'oh! Sorry for being a backward colonial rube ...

 

And again, thanks for the amazing work. I want to add that the "full" ROM you posted in that archive is just about ideal for my needs, in both emulation and real hardware. Fantastic!

[fujidude]

We put the day first in the UK, so the files are actually dated December.

 

Yeah, in the USA the most commonly used format is mm/dd/yyyy. While I think the UK's dd/mm.yyyy is a little better, I personally prefer yyyy-mm-dd. It's ordered from most significant to least, just like time of day is expressed pretty much universally (hh:mm:ss). As a benefit, it sorts correctly with an alpha search too and also does so nicely when the time of day is included i.e. yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss. Cheers.

[+SoulBuster]

 

Yeah, in the USA the most commonly used format is mm/dd/yyyy. While I think the UK's dd/mm.yyyy is a little better, I personally prefer yyyy-mm-dd. It's ordered from most significant to least, just like time of day is expressed pretty much universally (hh:mm:ss). As a benefit, it sorts correctly with an alpha search too and also does so nicely when the time of day is included i.e. yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss. Cheers.

for sorting purposes you cannot beat yyyy-mm-dd.

[Sugarland]

flashjazzcat thank you very much for this new update! Got it working. Very excited. =)

[flashjazzcat]

Thanks for posting. I'm seeing a lot of photos showing the new BIOS running at various meetings and parties and I'm enjoying them very much.

[tuf]

I've noticed my U1MB is losing it's settings lately. I replaced the battery around 3 weeks ago and the bios has reset again - prob only used it 3 or 4 times over the last few weeks. I'll stick another battery in there, but I suspect it'll drain once again.

 

Any ideas? The only update I've added was one of Bryan's video boards, but did that 3 weeks ago when I replaced the batt. The first batt died just before that unexpectedly.

[flashjazzcat]

What kind of machine is U1MB installed in? Random NVRAM resets with a good battery sound like the noisy reset line issue which was fixed by a cap between RST and GND. Alternatively, the machine could be overloaded with upgrades.

[Marius]

Thanks for posting. I'm seeing a lot of photos showing the new BIOS running at various meetings and parties and I'm enjoying them very much.

Well it is the best BIOS. It does do everything the original BIOS did, and much more. Can recommend it!

[Kyle22]

I just had an idea for a feature request. What do you guys think?

 

OK, I am running software that is in early crashy stages. Everytime I find it locked up, I must press Fuji+Reset, then B to reboot. Then I must type COLD /N to turn SDX off.

 

I can't put COLD /N in AUTOEXEC.BAT, because I need SDX sometimes. That's why I don't just disable it in Setup.

 

How about a one time hotkey R that reboots with SDX disabled? Or even toggles the state of SDX for this reboot only (without saving any changes).

 

Only an idea...

 

Edit: like pressing L then ctrl-R, but one key at the main BIOS screen.

Edited March 3, 2017 by Kyle22

[flashjazzcat]

I think recent versions of the IDE Plus 2.0 BIOS implemented a temporary SDX disable hotkey (X) which I could probably squeeze in (there isn't even room left for another menu item). The new BIOS doesn't do "one shot" changes to the config (the settings in NVRAM are observed at all times), but I can surely check for the X key during a restart and disable the internal ROM after the config has been decoded.

 

Hopefully I'll add this to the final, final update which I'm sitting on at the moment. The only other change is minor clarification of the keyboard shortcut legend.

 

Another thing I'll mention now is that there are still some folks out there who are completely unaware of the OS-independent high-speed SIO and SIO2BT support in the PBI BIOS and are using patched operating systems with the new firmware. This is totally unnecessary unless you're using OS A or B or some other OS which doesn't have PBI support.

[Marius]

For this kind of purpose I use the 2 profiles. Profile one is with a BLUE U1MB bios screen and completely setup but with SDX off, and Profile two is with a RED U1MB bios screen and completely setup but with SDX on. I think that does everything you want...

[fujidude]

For this kind of purpose I use the 2 profiles. Profile one is with a BLUE U1MB bios screen and completely setup but with SDX off, and Profile two is with a RED U1MB bios screen and completely setup but with SDX on. I think that does everything you want...

 

It's a wee bit more effort, but I don't mind it at all.

[w1k]

ehm..

 

flashing ultfull.rom with latest uflash, but system halt on reading file 512/512kb

[tuf]

What kind of machine is U1MB installed in? Random NVRAM resets with a good battery sound like the noisy reset line issue which was fixed by a cap between RST and GND. Alternatively, the machine could be overloaded with upgrades.

 

It's an 800XL, fully socketed NTSC. I put a new battery in a few nights ago as an extra test, and just now the machine came up to the bios setup with missing clock settings. In an extra twist I'm unable to set the clock - pressing return to change the clock value just flashes the Please set clock! message at the bottom of the screen - I cant boot, exist, continue, etc.

 

The only other upgrade in the machine is Bryan's SVideo card, which I added after the first battery failure. I took the opportunity to change the battery when I installed it, and that one ran down in a week. This one lasted 3 days.

 

One additional note - it's not just the NVRAM resetting. I'm unable to store new settings until I change the battery.

 

I'll take your advice on the noise - do you have link to a DIY on that fix? Thanks!

Edited March 21, 2017 by tuf

[flashjazzcat]

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/224151-ultimate-1mb-in-1200xl/page-3

[+DrVenkman]

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/224151-ultimate-1mb-in-1200xl/page-3

 

I'm so glad you posted this! In a month or two I plan to buy a second U1MB and install it in one of my 1200XL's. You probably don't recall, but I was one of the ones experiencing the symptoms you report in your own post with the fix you came up with. When I get that second U1MB, I am going to install the fix (I already have the capacitor I need) along with one of Bryan's UAV video boards.

[flashjazzcat]

Note: we should thank Matthias Reichl for suggesting the cap fix.

[fujidude]

As stated before... a cap a day keeps the noise away.

[ggn]

Hi flashjazzcat,

 

Just thought I'd bump this thread to thank you for the BIOS and a screenshot of my machine working 100% after flashing (using sio2sd).

 

 

Just a couple of notes:

 

1) uflash did not recognise my u1mb extension so I had to select it by hand (although the manual advised against it!)

2) After flashing and verifying uflash actually displayed garbage in all descriptions which freaked me out quite a bit because I didn't have the forethought of copying the stock BIOSes in the .atr I used . Fortunately all went fine.

 

Anyway, again thanks for all your hard work - this BIOS sets a high standard for other custom BIOSes/OSes to follow (I know because I'm fiddling around with something on the ST side )

[flashjazzcat]

1) uflash did not recognise my u1mb extension so I had to select it by hand (although the manual advised against it!)

Is this U1MB from Candle's original run? If so, perhaps the BIOS is very old and UFLASH can't detect it properly yet (this is entirely my fault, since I didn't yet amend the program to use the information I was provided with in May last year).

 

2) After flashing and verifying uflash actually displayed garbage in all descriptions which freaked me out quite a bit because I didn't have the forethought of copying the stock BIOSes in the .atr I used . Fortunately all went fine.

Side-effect of the above: BIOS revision remained indeterminate during the upgrade, so the descriptions were derived from the wrong location. Glad it worked, though!

 

Anyway, again thanks for all your hard work - this BIOS sets a high standard for other custom BIOSes/OSes to follow (I know because I'm fiddling around with something on the ST side )

Many thanks! Primary objective accomplished, then. I'm (still) adding the finishing touches to next update which hopefully adds further subtle improvements.

[ggn]

Is this U1MB from Candle's original run? If so, perhaps the BIOS is very old and UFLASH can't detect it properly yet (this is entirely my fault, since I didn't yet amend the program to use the information I was provided with in May last year).

Well I have no idea - I'm pretty sure that I ordered it via lotharek but in any case it looks exactly like this:

 

 

(verified by popping the lid and taking a look inside.

 

Side-effect of the above: BIOS revision remained indeterminate during the upgrade, so the descriptions were derived from the wrong location. Glad it worked, though!

 

Yup, just thought I'd post it here so other people won't freak out if try try it!

 

Many thanks! Primary objective accomplished, then. I'm (still) adding the finishing touches to next update which hopefully adds further subtle improvements.

Nice - I'm all for subtlety!

 

One last thing: Maybe you should also provide an .atr image in your website with the rom files and uflash? I had to get a random 14mb .atr image and use altirra to inject the necessary files by hand. Not a biggie by any means, it'd just make things easier for people.

[+mytek]

That looks like a Candle original board (early rev), which would probably also explain the uncertainty of the BIOS when doing the upgrade.

 

- Michael

[flashjazzcat]

Well I have no idea - I'm pretty sure that I ordered it via lotharek but in any case it looks exactly like this:

Definitely early rev. Candle board, exactly as Mike says. The PCB lacks the R8 and R9 resistors which are to the left of the RAM on later revisions; prior to their addition, RD4/RD5 resistors were required on the MMU cable itself to protect the CPLD from 5V. Another change was to the "WP" label, which became "VB" for VBXE.

 

One last thing: Maybe you should also provide an .atr image in your website with the rom files and uflash? I had to get a random 14mb .atr image and use altirra to inject the necessary files by hand. Not a biggie by any means, it'd just make things easier for people.

You're right, I should. I keep thinking everyone is using SIDE2 to perform the update, but not all U1MB owners even have one (although they certainly should). I will include ATRs in the forthcoming updates.

Edited August 29, 2017 by flashjazzcat