Firmware 0.9.9 Candidate Release :-) !!!
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Julian Skidmore
Mar 12, 2014, 12:13:22 PM3/12/14
to FIGnition
Hi folks,
At long last - Here's a the Candidate 0.9.9 release! There are a
surprisingly great number of fantastic changes and improvements in the
new firmware of which a summary is given below :-) . More complete
documentation is attached in the release notes!
* The editor can now edit as much text as there is RAM available.
* load will now load text in contiguous blocks until there's a block
<512 characters long.
* The Flash Disk driver has been re-written in Forth. It's now about
half the length, but crucially makes Flash access in Forth much more
convenient. The blk> and >blk commands no longer need the user to
provide a physical block address (which will reduce programming
errors).
* Stack underflow and overflow checking are now implemented with zero
performance overhead!
* Break key checking (FIGgypad only) and Multiple, re-entrant,
User-interrupts are supported with zero performance overhead.
* Memory management has been improved. FIGnition now checks the RAM
size on startup and serial ram can be allocated from the top down
(which means it's finally possible to use the Flash disk without it
colliding with the video memory). The number of free bytes is now
displayed on power-up.
* A no-video mode (which speeds FIGnition up by about 1.9 x).
* The ability to use the Software Serial Out routine.
* The ~ , _ keys are available from the keypad (and from FIGkeys).
* A few bugs have been corrected in the block editor, the blitter and
the quit, u/ and locs commands.
* A number of commands have been added to the system to support the above.
* With the exception of the Flash Driver, the system is now 10% to 20%
faster than before according to the PCW Benchmarks.
This is a Candidate release. If issues are found with it in the next
few day's I'll update the firmware and post the updates here. In the
meantime I hope you enjoy your new FIGnition firmware :-)
-cheers from Julz
--
The DIY 8-bit computer from nichemachines(tm)
At long last - Here's a the Candidate 0.9.9 release! There are a
surprisingly great number of fantastic changes and improvements in the
new firmware of which a summary is given below :-) . More complete
documentation is attached in the release notes!
* The editor can now edit as much text as there is RAM available.
* load will now load text in contiguous blocks until there's a block
<512 characters long.
* The Flash Disk driver has been re-written in Forth. It's now about
half the length, but crucially makes Flash access in Forth much more
convenient. The blk> and >blk commands no longer need the user to
provide a physical block address (which will reduce programming
errors).
* Stack underflow and overflow checking are now implemented with zero
performance overhead!
* Break key checking (FIGgypad only) and Multiple, re-entrant,
User-interrupts are supported with zero performance overhead.
* Memory management has been improved. FIGnition now checks the RAM
size on startup and serial ram can be allocated from the top down
(which means it's finally possible to use the Flash disk without it
colliding with the video memory). The number of free bytes is now
displayed on power-up.
* A no-video mode (which speeds FIGnition up by about 1.9 x).
* The ability to use the Software Serial Out routine.
* The ~ , _ keys are available from the keypad (and from FIGkeys).
* A few bugs have been corrected in the block editor, the blitter and
the quit, u/ and locs commands.
* A number of commands have been added to the system to support the above.
* With the exception of the Flash Driver, the system is now 10% to 20%
faster than before according to the PCW Benchmarks.
This is a Candidate release. If issues are found with it in the next
few day's I'll update the firmware and post the updates here. In the
meantime I hope you enjoy your new FIGnition firmware :-)
-cheers from Julz
--
The DIY 8-bit computer from nichemachines(tm)
Rob Fielding
Mar 12, 2014, 1:36:50 PM3/12/14
to fign...@googlegroups.com, FIGnition
Nice job Jules. As usual a high quality product.
Sent from my iPhone
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> <Firmware0_9_9ReleaseNotes.pdf>
> <Candidate0.9.9Distro.zip>
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> <Firmware0_9_9ReleaseNotes.pdf>
> <Candidate0.9.9Distro.zip>
Stuart Taylor
Mar 12, 2014, 1:47:52 PM3/12/14
to fign...@googlegroups.com
That's possibly the most comprehensive release note I've ever read.
Stuart
Si Brindley
Mar 12, 2014, 4:03:39 PM3/12/14
to fign...@googlegroups.com
Thanks Julz. Do you think it’s worth me having another go at remapping FIGkeys for Dvorak? :)
Julian Skidmore
Mar 13, 2014, 4:00:42 AM3/13/14
to fign...@googlegroups.com
Hi Simon,
> Do you think it's worth me having another go at remapping FIGkeys for Dvorak? :)
I haven't actually updated the firmware for FIGkeys, it always
generated the FIGgypad codes for ~ and _, but before FIGnition
firmware 0.9.9 they hadn't been added properly to FIGnition's FIGgypad
table. It involved changing line 90 of FigKeyDrv.c from:
{ '\0', '|', '@', '#', '\0', '4', '5', '-' }, // LEFT+
to
{ '\0', '|', '@', '#', '\0', '4', '_', '~' }, // LEFT+
Also, I haven't yet reached the point of being able to put the FIGkeys
code on GitHub (it will need to be tidied up first).
So, I think the Dvorak layout is still in the future for the moment!
-cheers from Julz
> Do you think it's worth me having another go at remapping FIGkeys for Dvorak? :)
generated the FIGgypad codes for ~ and _, but before FIGnition
firmware 0.9.9 they hadn't been added properly to FIGnition's FIGgypad
table. It involved changing line 90 of FigKeyDrv.c from:
{ '\0', '|', '@', '#', '\0', '4', '5', '-' }, // LEFT+
to
{ '\0', '|', '@', '#', '\0', '4', '_', '~' }, // LEFT+
Also, I haven't yet reached the point of being able to put the FIGkeys
code on GitHub (it will need to be tidied up first).
So, I think the Dvorak layout is still in the future for the moment!
-cheers from Julz
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