Concerto firmware thread

[+batari]

17 hours ago, Karl G said:

That's definitely great news. I'll definitely want to pick one up for testing purposes when they are available.

 

One question - how much will they add to the cost per-cart if one releases a homebrew that uses them?

I can't give an exact number on that, as Albert publishes the games. But, as the main point of HOKEY is to make POKEY-enabled homebrew games affordable again, I can say with confidence that it will be reasonable.

[Ritchie]

On 7/15/2021 at 8:08 PM, x=usr(1536) said:

Has anyone given The Byte Attic's Sally Adapter a shot in a 7800?  Not certain how compatible it would be in terms of software, but the idea of being able to use an off-the-shelf modern 6502 is an interesting one.

I'm about to test this. I got my multicart and most NTSC retail games are fine but demos just don't work on my Synertek 6502. It's a crap CPU, but my Rockwell - Mexico-12 one died. If you order a CPU from Best, you're gonna get a Synertek.

I've ordered the PCB's and the new W65C02S with supporting Logic Chips. I'll start a new thread for the testing report. Hoping to have it soldered up and tested end of next week.

 

 

[+batari]

1 hour ago, Ritchie said:

I'm about to test this. I got my multicart and most NTSC retail games are fine but demos just don't work on my Synertek 6502. It's a crap CPU, but my Rockwell - Mexico-12 one died. If you order a CPU from Best, you're gonna get a Synertek.

I've ordered the PCB's and the new W65C02S with supporting Logic Chips. I'll start a new thread for the testing report. Hoping to have it soldered up and tested end of next week.

If some demos don't work, it may not be related to the CPU. The problem is likely firmware-related and will be fixed.

[+batari]

On 9/17/2021 at 1:30 AM, batari said:

I can't give an exact number on that, as Albert publishes the games. But, as the main point of HOKEY is to make POKEY-enabled homebrew games affordable again, I can say with confidence that it will be reasonable.

I worked it out with Albert. For non-bankswitched 7800 homebrews (up to 48k), a HOKEY will only add $10 to the price. The non-BS boards will be using the Basic HOKEY.

 

If the game is bankswitched, it will be a few dollars more, but still this will be reasonable. The bankswitch boards will be using the more capable Standard HOKEY.

 

I don't want to clog up this thread so I will post more about the various HOKEY versions in another thread.

[Goochman]

To possibly help others - I had random freezes using my Concerto cart on my 7800.  The CPU and other chips can be found in the pictures in the thread below.  It appears my problem was the cart port pins.  Using a dental pick I pulled on them slightly to make better contact and everything works pretty well.

 

 

[ts4z]

Hi. I got a Concerto cartridge a few weeks ago, and I'm new to the thread.

 

I have a few real POKEYs, so I pulled one off an old arcade board and put it in. With a real POKEY installed and 0.94a firmware, Ballblazer played and made music. I have a couple versions of the ROM, I don't remember if they both worked, but at least one did. Neither version of Commando that I found played music, although I got sounds I assume are coming from TIA.

 

After upgrading to 0.95, I can boot to menu.  One Ballblazer ROM that I found crashes before startup. One gets kind of a wavy picture (connected to a CRT). One got to the Lucasfilm screen, but no farther.

 

Other games just crash, even stuff like Centipede, to a warbling screen. 

 

(I have a PokeyONE here and it behaved similarly for all uses I tried.)

[+batari]

7 hours ago, ts4z said:

Hi. I got a Concerto cartridge a few weeks ago, and I'm new to the thread.

 

I have a few real POKEYs, so I pulled one off an old arcade board and put it in. With a real POKEY installed and 0.94a firmware, Ballblazer played and made music. I have a couple versions of the ROM, I don't remember if they both worked, but at least one did. Neither version of Commando that I found played music, although I got sounds I assume are coming from TIA.

 

After upgrading to 0.95, I can boot to menu.  One Ballblazer ROM that I found crashes before startup. One gets kind of a wavy picture (connected to a CRT). One got to the Lucasfilm screen, but no farther.

 

Other games just crash, even stuff like Centipede, to a warbling screen. 

 

(I have a PokeyONE here and it behaved similarly for all uses I tried.)

Sorry about this, but the version numbers shown on the screen are not accurate. If you had 0.94a you likely had the latest version, and installing 0.95 actually reverted to an older version of the firmware which had loading issues on some consoles.

 

I would revert to the last posted version of the firmware, even though it does say 0.94a on the screen.

 

There are some bad versions of Commando out there. I would only use Trebor's ROM pack as this has known working versions of most binaries.

[ts4z]

23 hours ago, batari said:

Sorry about this, but the version numbers shown on the screen are not accurate. If you had 0.94a you likely had the latest version, and installing 0.95 actually reverted to an older version of the firmware which had loading issues on some consoles.

 

I would revert to the last posted version of the firmware, even though it does say 0.94a on the screen.

 

There are some bad versions of Commando out there. I would only use Trebor's ROM pack as this has known working versions of most binaries.

This solved both of my problems -- thank you. Do you happen to know how I make the controller not hurt my hand, too?

JK, thanks again.

[+DrVenkman]

7 hours ago, ts4z said:

This solved both of my problems -- thank you. Do you happen to know how I make the controller not hurt my hand, too?

JK, thanks again.

Buy or build an adapter and use a Genesis 3-button pad instead. I have an Edladdin Seagull 78 and it’s great. 

[esmith13]

Hi all. Just received my Concerto Cart in the mail today and excited to get it up and running, but I have a few questions:

 

• Do i need to perform an update to it before attempting to use it? Not sure if it shipped "blank" and if so may be damaged if tried in my 7800 before flashing.
• I attempted to connect the cart to my Win10 PC with the Harmony Cart software and it cannot find the cart. The Cart does show in device manager as a CH340 Serial Device on COM10 or COM12 depending on the port I plug into on my PC. Choosing "Connect" from the menu has it "Searching" but it just hangs like that and can't even be quit properly. Am I doing something wrong?
• What (if any) is the required layout of the FAT formatted SD card? Is there a required folder structure or limitation on items per folder?

 

I own and have setup/used/updated many flash carts, including an Unocart for my 2600, but I feel kinda lost with getting this one setup.

Thanks in advance for your time and any help and/or direction you might provide.

 

 

Eric

[+DrVenkman]

28 minutes ago, esmith13 said:

Hi all. Just received my Concerto Cart in the mail today and excited to get it up and running, but I have a few questions:

 

• Do i need to perform an update to it before attempting to use it? Not sure if it shipped "blank" and if so may be damaged if tried in my 7800 before flashing.
• I attempted to connect the cart to my Win10 PC with the Harmony Cart software and it cannot find the cart. The Cart does show in device manager as a CH340 Serial Device on COM10 or COM12 depending on the port I plug into on my PC. Choosing "Connect" from the menu has it "Searching" but it just hangs like that and can't even be quit properly. Am I doing something wrong?
• What (if any) is the required layout of the FAT formatted SD card? Is there a required folder structure or limitation on items per folder?

 

I own and have setup/used/updated many flash carts, including an Unocart for my 2600, but I feel kinda lost with getting this one setup.

Thanks in advance for your time and any help and/or direction you might provide.

 

 

Eric

Your Concerto should have come ready to use. No need to connect to your PC at all. Just do a search for Trebor’s Pro Pack of 7800 files, extract to any FAT-formatted SD card, put the card into the cart and you should be good. 

[esmith13]

35 minutes ago, DrVenkman said:

Your Concerto should have come ready to use. No need to connect to your PC at all. Just do a search for Trebor’s Pro Pack of 7800 files, extract to any FAT-formatted SD card, put the card into the cart and you should be good. 

Cool beans. Thanks for the info!

 

Any ideas about not being able to connect with the Harmony software? I'm guessing I'll need to update the cart somewhere down the line...

[+DrVenkman]

21 minutes ago, esmith13 said:

Cool beans. Thanks for the info!

 

Any ideas about not being able to connect with the Harmony software? I'm guessing I'll need to update the cart somewhere down the line...

That’s probably either a driver issue for the serial UART chip used on the Concerto, or the incorrect COM port settings on the computer. Fortunately, connecting directly to a computer shouldn’t be necessary for the vast majority of users. It’s only used to program the boot loader if necessary. Normal BIOS updates don’t need to be done that way - you can flash the cart with the updated BIOS directly off the SD card through the Concerto menu.

 

Otherwise, just copy the game binaries to your SD card with a card reader or something and you’re ready to play. 

[esmith13]

Just now, DrVenkman said:

That’s probably either a driver issue for the serial UART chip used on the Concerto, or the incorrect COM port settings on the computer. Fortunately, connecting directly to a computer shouldn’t be necessary for the vast majority of users. It’s only used to program the boot loader if necessary. Normal BIOS updates don’t need to be done that way - you can flash the cart with the updated BIOS directly off the SD card through the Concerto menu.

 

Otherwise, just copy the game binaries to your SD card with a card reader or something and you’re ready to play. 

Thank you again!

[esmith13]

OK, so my cart arrived with 0.94a firmware on it.

It plays 7800 games fine and plays "some" of the 2600 games I tried. (I tried only NTSC games since I have a US/NTSC 7800 and am using roms from RomHunter v16)

I am unable to choose any option in the "wrench" menu - it just dumps me back to t he SD card file manager.

I am unable to scroll past the 1st item under "Settings and Preferences", attempting to push UP anywhere or DOWN after already being on the first settings item dumps me back to the file manager.

 

I would assume I should update to 0.95

I can put the 0.95 update on my SD card using the Harmony program (it renames it to hbios.bin and puts it on root of SD) but since I can't activate the "Update BIOS" option in the wrench menu I dunno what to do.

Also, from what I read in this thread, any FW under 0.95 (which I am under 0.95) I need to flash the cart in the Harmony program, but where do I get the EEPROM flash from? Is it just the (in my case) NTSC option offered by default as part of the Harmony program or is it a special file that goes with the 0.95 update I downloaded in this thread?

 

P.S.: I figured out my com port issue so the software does recognize my cart now, just need direction on how to update from 0.94a to 0.95

 

Again, thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

 

Edited September 28, 2021 by esmith13

[+DrVenkman]

1 hour ago, esmith13 said:

OK, so my cart arrived with 0.94a firmware on it.

It plays 7800 games fine and plays "some" of the 2600 games I tried. (I tried only NTSC games since I have a US/NTSC 7800 and am using roms from RomHunter v16)

I am unable to choose any option in the "wrench" menu - it just dumps me back to t he SD card file manager.

I am unable to scroll past the 1st item under "Settings and Preferences", attempting to push UP anywhere or DOWN after already being on the first settings item dumps me back to the file manager.

 

I would assume I should update to 0.95

I can put the 0.95 update on my SD card using the Harmony program (it renames it to hbios.bin and puts it on root of SD) but since I can't activate the "Update BIOS" option in the wrench menu I dunno what to do.

Also, from what I read in this thread, any FW under 0.95 (which I am under 0.95) I need to flash the cart in the Harmony program, but where do I get the EEPROM flash from? Is it just the (in my case) NTSC option offered by default as part of the Harmony program or is it a special file that goes with the 0.95 update I downloaded in this thread?

 

P.S.: I figured out my com port issue so the software does recognize my cart now, just need direction on how to update from 0.94a to 0.95

 

Again, thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

 

Okay, the firmware version you have is the latest one per Batari's usual practice. That version has a typo in the version number displayed but it's the latest.  The Settings and Preferences menu functionality is not yet complete - there's basically no need to change anything there at this point. It's sort of a placeholder for now.

 

2600 compatibility is also a WIP. Some games will work, some won't depending on the specifics of the bankswitching scheme used by the game, and possibly the 7800 itself. You can read back through the thread for details, but 7800's are notoriously finicky about a lot of stuff, unfortunately. Eventually Fred's goal is get the same 2600 compatibility with Concerto as with a Harmony Cart (which has been universal, in my experience with my own Harmony). But it's not there yet. The development focus has been 7800 roms.

[Goochman]

In my very limited testing Ive had better 2600 compatibility without the Pokey chip installed.  Not sure why that is a problem but Coleco Venture and Donkey Kong dont work for me on a Prod cart.  With the Pokey chip out they both work fine.  The Pokey chip is working as I can run Ballblazer and other 7800 games and get good sound.

 

As for BIOS updating I think we need some good instructions as its not obvious.

 

If the boot loader is not updated then you just need to put the BIOS file in the root of the SD card.

 

If the boot loader needs to be modified (such as the new .94a) you need to connect the cart to your PC with a micro USB cable.

Install the latest EEPROM file you have from the Harmony software on PC(From what I gather this will initiate a boot loader update when you insert the cart next)

Put your new BIOS file on the root of the SD card

Start 7800 with Concerto cart and the BIOS update should proceed - they may be problems where you cant move forward by hitting the firebutton when asked - just restart console

 

Look back a page or 2 and you should find the latest EEPROM file 

[+x=usr(1536)]

Just to be clear: when everyone is saying to use the 0.94a firmware, are they referring to the one in this post, or something else?

[+DrVenkman]

1 hour ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Just to be clear: when everyone is saying to use the 0.94a firmware, are they referring to the one in this post, or something else?

That is correct - it is unfortunately mis-named with an earlier version number than it probably “should” (since it was created AFTER 0.95). 

To my knowledge the only change is to reduce the intensity of the color-cycling/flashing during startup.

[+x=usr(1536)]

35 minutes ago, DrVenkman said:

That is correct - it is unfortunately mis-named with an earlier version number than it probably “should” (since it was created AFTER 0.95). 

To my knowledge the only change is to reduce the intensity of the color-cycling/flashing during startup.

Understood, and thanks.  Thought that was the case, but wanted to be certain.

 

@batari, would it be possible for you to request edit rights on the first post of the thread and consolidate info regarding updating the firmware there?  The thread is getting convoluted in that regard.

 

And, again: thank you for changing the startup colours.  The current firmware is a huge improvement in that regard.

[Goochman]

I think we should get a new sub forum for Concerto and Dragonfly.  A new thread can be easily maintained for each Firmware release along with Rom pack testing.  Just my $0.02

[+Mitch]

I just gave Batari edit rights to the first two posts. A separate subforum would be something that Albert would need to handle.

 

Mitch

[fille1976]

received my concerto,buyed from schnuth here on the forum,its on 94.a,that 0.95 if i'm correct.

also added pokey i had here,so gona test it now.

Edited October 2, 2021 by fille1976

[5200Fanatic]

how tough is it to put in a Pokey chip? 

[+x=usr(1536)]

9 minutes ago, 5200Fanatic said:

how tough is it to put in a Pokey chip? 

It's extremely easy.

 

The Concerto already has a socket in place for the POKEY, so there's no need for soldering.  Make sure that it's oriented correctly and that all of the legs on the chip are are aligned with the corresponding holes in the socket, and press down until it's in.

 

It's pretty much the same thing as inserting a cartridge into a cartridge slot, but with a little more precision involved.