Found a firmware bug: limited reflector choice

[jue...@e-basteln.de]

It had to happen sooner or later -- I found a minor bug in the released firmware 4.0.3:

When setting up the daily rotor complement, the "Rotor" setup mode will only allow a maximum of two choices for the reflector (UKW), even for machines which historically offered more variants. This affects the Enigma I, where only reflectors A and B can be chosen (C and D are inaccessible), and the M3, where reflectors B and C can be selected but D cannot. 

Fortunately, choosing the most common reflector B is possible for both, the Enigma I and M3. The M4 is not affected, since I use dedicated UI code for its combination of reflectors B, C, D and greek rotors beta and gamma. 

I have already fixed the bug in my development version of the firmware. Users can easily update to new firmware using the regular USB cable and a free programming software on the PC -- see section 5 of the user manual. Since a new feature release of the firmware is well underway, I am planning to wait for that release (i.e. not provide an interim bugfix release). I should have a beta version ready within the next couple of weeks.

If you urgently want to use reflector C on the Enigma I in the meantime, you can use the M3 instead -- rotor wirings are identical between the two machines, the only difference is that the rotor rings are labelled alphabetically vs. numerically. Likewise, if you need reflector D on the Enigma I or M3, you can use the M4 instead. With the thicker reflector D , the M4 does not have the fourth rotor populated -- i.e. it essentially becomes an M3. 

So, hopefully the bug does not cause any major nuisance. But anyway, apologies for the glitch!

Best regards,

Jürgen