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Harmony 1.06 BIOS (beta)


batari

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It's time to post the beta version of the 1.06 Harmony BIOS.

 

To update the BIOS, using the USB cable is no longer necessary (provided your Harmony is loaded with 1.05 BIOS or later.)

 

Instructions:

1. Make sure there are no existing BIOS files on the SD card (filename starts with "hbios"). If they exist, delete them first.

2. The zip file contains two files - copy both to the root directory of your SD card.

3. Boot your Harmony in your 2600.

4. In the Harmony menu, run the "bios_updater_NTSC.cu" (select and run it as you would to play a game.)

5. The Harmony will take about 5 seconds to update the BIOS.

 

Harmony_Bios_106_beta.zip

 

You can also use the USB cable method to update the BIOS if you prefer.

 

This is the NTSC BIOS. A PAL BIOS will be built and posted in a few days.

 

Changes since 1.05 include:

MMC card support
Improved E7 auto detection
Changed AUTORUN to AUTOROM to avoid problems with Windows autorun files
Console switches bugfix in Menu

7800 detection preserved

 

Harmony Encore support, new bankswitching types:

3E (e.g. Boulderdash)

F0 (e.g. Megaboy)

X07 (e.g. Stella's Stocking)

EF (64k)

EFSC (64k+SARA)

DF (128k)

DFSC (128k+SARA)

BF (256k)

BFSC (256k+SARA)

... more coming soon.

 

Feedback is welcome. If you find any issues, please let us know!

  • Like 6
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Tried the new bios on my Harmony (ordered Feb 2010).
Navigation using console switches now works, but filenames are truncated to 9 characters (the first 8 are from the filename, the 9th seems to be random). I switched back to 1.05 for now.

Here is a pic (colors are wrong because my console is PAL)
post-10599-0-74425900-1403889740_thumb.jpg

Here the same directory viewed with the 1.05 PAL firmware.
post-10599-0-01708900-1403889751_thumb.jpg

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Tried the new bios on my Harmony (ordered Feb 2010).

Navigation using console switches now works, but filenames are truncated to 9 characters (the first 8 are from the filename, the 9th seems to be random). I switched back to 1.05 for now.

Here is a pic (colors are wrong because my console is PAL)

 

This is the NTSC BIOS. A PAL BIOS will be built and posted in a few days.

;)

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This is the NTSC BIOS. A PAL BIOS will be built and posted in a few days.

;)

 

I know, but the only effect of using a NTSC bios on a PAL machine is that the menu is at 60Hz and with different colors because of the different palette.

Most PAL tv handle a 60Hz signal and in fact there was also a PAL60 version of the 1.05 bios, which just differs from the NTSC one for the colors.

 

So apart from the colors, there's no difference. It is even impossible to write a program which autodetects the region of the console, because they work in the exact same way.

Edited by alex_79
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Same problem here. It appears to be related to traversing the directory structure.

 

When first powered up all the filenames in the root directory were fine. If I went into a subdirectory, the filenames in it were truncated. Returned to the root directory and they were now truncated as well.

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That file name issue is weird, I don't experience that. What size card? What format (FAT, FAT32) are you using? What OS are you using to format and copy files? Let me know and I will try to replicate it.

I use a 2gb SD with a single primary FAT32 partition, Linux OS ('fdisk' for partitions, 'mkfs.vfat' for filesystem, 'fatsort' to sort the files).

 

I did some more tests:

 

The partition type was 'b' "W95 FAT32" and it worked fine with the previous bios.

I dont know what the difference is, but I changed it into type 'c' "W95 FAT32 (LBA)" and reformatted.

Tested again with firmware 1.06 and I get the correct filenames while browsing the first couple of pages (doesn't matter in which directory I start), after that I only get garbled text (4 or 5 characters usually), even if I return to the previous pages, until I power-cycle the console. Sometimes I can see some 8.3 filenames (those generated by Windows from Long File Names, with the tilde and a number at the end) mixed with the garbled ones.

Moreover I can't see the full filename by keeping the firebutton pressed, even in the first pages when the text is correctly displayed.

 

Reflashed bios 1.05 and everything works fine again.

 

Tomorrow I'll try with different SD cards and report back.

post-10599-0-67960000-1403910583_thumb.jpgpost-10599-0-38909200-1403910585_thumb.jpgpost-10599-0-04299500-1403910588_thumb.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

I tried the bios on the 7800 after reflashing the eeprom. Still have the same name issues. 7800 support seems a bit glitchy. Hack 'em says 2600 mode, but detects the pause switch and acts somewhat glitchy. Ms 'Hack acts similar, but says it's in 7800 mode. The sound occansionally cut out on Ms. 'Hack.

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  • 1 month later...

I tried the bios on the 7800 after reflashing the eeprom. Still have the same name issues. 7800 support seems a bit glitchy. Hack 'em says 2600 mode, but detects the pause switch and acts somewhat glitchy. Ms 'Hack acts similar, but says it's in 7800 mode. The sound occansionally cut out on Ms. 'Hack.

No idea about the sound. Can't be Harmony related.

 

Regarding 7800 detection, probably the hacks use a different algorithm to detect the 7800. We only restore two bytes, the ones which are usually used for 7800 detection. Maybe we should ask Nukey about this. I am sure if what I suppose is the case, he can easily adapt his hacks.

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Flashing was difficult.

Followed instructions. Reported success. Info screen still said 1.05.

Used the computer to run the Harmony program on the mounted SD card. Put back in Atari. Info screen still said 1.05.

Third I selected and ran the .cu program for the second time. Reported success. Info screen says 1.06.

 

Also when paging the display takes a moment to stabilize each page whereas before it would flip smoothly (on LCD).

 

I haven't ever seen those games say "7800 mode" when playing on the 7800, however it must be detecting the 7800 as the pause works.

 

Thank you for all your work and Atari products!

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

This beta obviously still needs some more work, but I tried it out and noticed the Snow White proto still isn't working when it did using the 1.03 bios. Does anyone know what happened that caused that game not to work in 1.05 or what can be done now to get it to work properly?

Without digging to deeply I would say it is the game rom and not the bios at all. It looks like the reset vector is missing in one bank so you have a 50-50 chance of the game working. I made a rom fix...

 

 

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (02-09-1983) (Vector Fix).zip

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