AVGCART

[flashjazzcat]

8 minutes ago, orpheuswaking said:

wait, where is this fabled FJC novel? 

Floppy disks somewhere... probably should be securely destroyed.

 

[Mclaneinc]

Pron?

[leech]

11 minutes ago, flashjazzcat said:

Floppy disks somewhere... probably should be securely destroyed.

 

Floppy disks are pretty stubborn about being able to just rip them up like paper.  Probably a good thing teachers never asked assignments be handed in on floppy disk, the 'dog ate my homework' excuse probably wouldn't have worked as well!

[Sinjinhawke]

2 hours ago, flashjazzcat said:

Floppy disks somewhere... probably should be securely destroyed.

 

Waiting for the youtube video series of FJC sitting in the comfy chair in front of the fireplace reading a chapter from his book.

He will probably need to read it from a tablet emulating or displaying a remote Atari since it doesn't exist in dead tree format.

[Panther]

9 hours ago, flashjazzcat said:

Floppy disks somewhere... probably should be securely destroyed.

You brought it up, time to share!

 

[leech]

Ha, if I had a better keyboard on my 130xe, I would write my novel using FJCs The Last Word.  Or if I had an 80 column set up for one of the 800xls that have a much nicer keyboard...

[Mr Robot]

Now I'm testing cart functionality with the 576NUC+ I've been hitting an issue that also affects the XEL and XLD computers (and anyone using a TK-II or AKI keyboard interface).

 

By default the PS2 keyboard arrow keys are mapped to CTRL+ -=*+ (the four directions) so there's no need to hold down CTRL, but on the AVGCART because the CTRL key is being pressed for you they are behaving like Page Up, Page Dn, Home & End. The PS2 PGUP, PGDN, HOME, END buttons do nothing on the AVG (They send the Atari 1200 SHIFT-F1 - SHIFT-F4 buttons).

 

Is there any way to implement a TK/AKI mode which just reverses the CTRL+ arrows and also maps the PGUP/PGDN/HOME/END buttons? 

 

[venom4728a]

I recently purchased a second Avg cart and it arrived with firmware 021.  On the AVG webpage I only see ver. 020.  How do I get the latest firmware and what are the differences?

[flashjazzcat]

6 hours ago, Mr Robot said:

Is there any way to implement a TK/AKI mode which just reverses the CTRL+ arrows and also maps the PGUP/PGDN/HOME/END buttons? 

I was asked not to map different functions to +/=/-/* with and without CTRL in my stuff for this exact reason. Fixes the issue across the board with all external keyboard solutions.

[tmp]

7 hours ago, Mr Robot said:

Now I'm testing cart functionality with the 576NUC+ I've been hitting an issue that also affects the XEL and XLD computers (and anyone using a TK-II or AKI keyboard interface).

 

By default the PS2 keyboard arrow keys are mapped to CTRL+ -=*+ (the four directions) so there's no need to hold down CTRL, but on the AVGCART because the CTRL key is being pressed for you they are behaving like Page Up, Page Dn, Home & End. The PS2 PGUP, PGDN, HOME, END buttons do nothing on the AVG (They send the Atari 1200 SHIFT-F1 - SHIFT-F4 buttons).

 

Is there any way to implement a TK/AKI mode which just reverses the CTRL+ arrows and also maps the PGUP/PGDN/HOME/END buttons? 

 

doing a special fw build that remaps those keys should be easy, making it configurable wouldn't be hard either but i have a feeling that it might take more (currently quite precious) code space than it'd be generally worth (unless there are many people having this issue, you're the first to report this)

so if a special fw is fine, let me know (and if someone else has also a use for that, shout)

Edited June 23, 2021 by tmp

[tmp]

20 minutes ago, venom4728a said:

I recently purchased a second Avg cart and it arrived with firmware 021.  On the AVG webpage I only see ver. 020.  How do I get the latest firmware and what are the differences?

carts shipped recently have beta firmware installed (d021 i think) for a reason you might be able to guess if you got two carts

 

nothing groundbreaking is enabled there, mostly some fixes (some side emu+atr combinations are fixed, atr/atx seeks beyond capacity fixed (bruce lee), changed s4/s5 handling due to 800 design (just in case), xex loader now loads xex files that have segments in $0800 page), max atr mounts were bumped to 8, sdx stacking (emulating both sdx cart and pass-through cart), that's probably all

 

i'll send you the link when i find it

 

[Luke210]

23 minutes ago, tmp said:

i'll send you the link when i find it

 

Could You put it on Your discord too? The newest firmware i see there is BB21.

Edited June 23, 2021 by Luke210

[Mr Robot]

55 minutes ago, tmp said:

doing a special fw build that remaps those keys should be easy, making it configurable wouldn't be hard either but i have a feeling that it might take more (currently quite precious) code space than it'd be generally worth (unless there are many people having this issue, you're the first to report this)

so if a special fw is fine, let me know (and if someone else has also a use for that, shout)

A separate TK/AKI firmware would certainly work, but do you really want to get into maintaining two different builds? I know firmware updates don't happen as often as they used to but it's still a pain in the arse to have to remember to maintain multiple builds.

 

If you need a little code space, you could use the bit you use for launching a random title. That was a feature I asked for, that you added, but I don't think it ever got announced as a new feature so I expect usage of it is low. 

 

It is a good question though. How many people have an AVGCART and a TK-II, AKI, DarkAKI, XEL, XLD etc? Is it just me? 

 

 

Edited June 23, 2021 by Mr Robot

[+Stephen]

20 minutes ago, Mr Robot said:

It is a good question though. How many people have an AVGCART and a TK-II, AKI, DarkAKI, XEL, XLD etc? Is it just me?

Well, I have an AVG cart and a 3 machines with a TK-II (1088XEL, 1088XLD, 576NUC).

[tmp]

50 minutes ago, Luke210 said:

Could You put it on Your discord too? The newest firmware i see there is BB21.

and ruin that deafening silence there? nah

 

https://avgcart.tmp.sk/files/atari/beta/avgcart-d021.zip

 

 

[tmp]

14 minutes ago, Stephen said:

Well, I have an AVG cart and a 3 machines with a TK-II (1088XEL, 1088XLD, 576NUC).

only people that plugged the cart into atari (and applied power) count

[StickJock]

45 minutes ago, Mr Robot said:

A separate TK/AKI firmware would certainly work, but do you really want to get into maintaining two different builds? I know firmware updates don't happen as often as they used to but it's still a pain in the arse to have to remember to maintain multiple builds.

 

If you need a little code space, you could use the bit you use for launching a random title. That was a feature I asked for, that you added, but I don't think it ever got announced as a new feature so I expect usage of it is low. 

 

It is a good question though. How many people have an AVGCART and a TK-II, AKI, DarkAKI, XEL, XLD etc? Is it just me? 

 

 

Just one, updated build if you make it general. 

A couple of ideas:

1) Add a hot-key mode toggle to switch the cursor keys into sending the non-controlled (-=+*) keys.

2) Modify the TK/AKI fw so that control+cursor keys sends out the non-controlled -=+* keys.  This may be the better solution.  You always get the preferred controlled cursor keys by default (Control + [-=+*]), but the control key acts as the toggle to get you out of control key mode.  It's even sort of intuitive, in a way (keys act as if control was held, so hold control to invert the behavior).

 

Of course, either way depends upon there being enough code space left in the PIC, as well as the developers' willingness to implement such a feature.

[Mr Robot]

2 minutes ago, StickJock said:

Modify the TK/AKI fw so that control+cursor keys sends out the non-controlled -=+* keys.

This already happens, pressing CTRL + cursor sends the symbol key.

You can also use ALT+A (on the TK-II at least) to switch between symbol/arrow mode but it defaults to arrow mode so you have to remember to do it every time.

[Mr Robot]

Would it be possible to just have the buttons do the same thing regardless of whether the CTRL key is pressed, and move the PGUP/PGDN/HOME/END buttons to the SHIFT+Directionals? Adding them to SHIFT+F1,2,3,4 as well? No need to create a new mode, the buttons just work whatever keyboard is in use. 

 

 

[flashjazzcat]

This was the solution suggested above.

[Mr Robot]

4 minutes ago, flashjazzcat said:

This was the solution suggested above.

I may be slow but I get there in the end, in my defense I've hardly finished my first coffee of the day 

 

[Wrathchild]

3 minutes ago, Mr Robot said:

I've hardly finished my first coffee of the day

Is it like Hitchhikers and you can't get a decent cup of tea?   

Edited June 23, 2021 by Wrathchild

[Mr Robot]

7 minutes ago, Wrathchild said:

Is it like Hitchhikers and you can't get a decent cup of tea?   

I haven't had a good cup of tea in nearly a decade! I got the tea, but the water and the milk still aren't right. 

 

[Faicuai]

5 hours ago, tmp said:

changed s4/s5 handling due to 800 design (just in case),

 

Is the mis-firing during power-up fixed for 400/800 platform (boot-menu cart coming in after OS Antic-DL and E: session established)?

 

If not, any serious challenge or impediment for doing so?

[tmp]

1 hour ago, Faicuai said:

 

Is the mis-firing during power-up fixed for 400/800 platform (boot-menu cart coming in after OS Antic-DL and E: session established)?

 

If not, any serious challenge or impediment for doing so?

no, that's a different issue as i've explained in the other thread (800's osb doing a quick ram size check very early and using that later as a "cart present" result), i've tried some things to try to solve that (with @a8isa1 to actually do the tests since i don't own 800) but no luck so far (the only current non-invasive solution is to press reset on power-on if you see this happening on stock 48kB 800)