Latest Harmony Cart software

[xefned]

Is it possible to use the Harmony cart with an RBG modded Atari 2600?

 

Or should I buy a separate 2600 unmodded to use the harmony cart? Thanks, Matthew

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Sure, no problem.

[achtbits]

Is it possible to use the Harmony cart with an RBG modded Atari 2600?

 

Or should I buy a separate 2600 unmodded to use the harmony cart? Thanks, Matthew

 

 

It works for my RGB modded Atari 2600. Don't know about RBG

[xefned]

 

 

It works for my RGB modded Atari 2600. Don't know about RBG

 

Oh shoot, you're right. I got my blue and my green switched around. No wonder my picture looks so weird!

[Lillapojkenpåön]

My harmony encore stopped working after a power out while loading a dpc+ game, I tried eeloader_104e_PAL60 and hbios_105_PAL60, but it would no longer load dpc+ games, just spin, tried updating twice and turning off the console, but it would only load regular games?

 

eeloader_104e_NTSC and hbios_106_NTSC works great but i prefer the green letters, should I just have tried a third time?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

So you can update to NTSC BIOS versions but not to any PAL versions? That's weird.

[Lillapojkenpåön]

The update seemed to work fine, but the pal60 bios would not load dpc+ games, but regular games worked.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

IIRC DPC+ support only came with the latest BIOS (which has no PAL version so far).

[Lillapojkenpåön]

Aha, thanks for the instant answers

[iesposta]

I don't know anything about PAL, but 105 should load DPC+ games.

I have an NTSC Heavy Sixer that will not load DPC+ Games that load just fine on other 2600's and 7800's. Something is going bad in that H6er. Now the colors are weird. Just saying maybe it is your particular console.

(Then there is the issue if you are using Harmony Encore.)

[iesposta]

Also sometimes a failed load will kill my entire Harmony and it needs the firmware reflashed.

Edited January 1, 2017 by iesposta

[Level42]

Finally got a (used) Harmony cart, love it !!

 

Works fine ant it shows Firmware 1.05 on the menu.

 

Now...the thing is I live in Europe but I have two NTSC machines, a light 6 switcher Sears and a Sunnyvale 4 switch 2600. Th Sears is out to be composite modded so I only used the Harmony on the 2600 so far. I have a B&O MX4000 television which is thankfully capable of displaying the NTSC signals just fine using the composite input.

 

My Harmony cart comes from the US so I guess it is already fully "NTSC" but can I somehow see which version of the BIOS was used ? Or should I simply reflash it myself to be sure ?

Another question....is there any test cartridge that displays the colors so I can adjust both the 2600 and the TV's tint setting to be correct. Most games look just off in color (yes I use NTSC versions of the games).

Thanks !

[Thomas Jentzsch]

The latest BIOS 1.06 exists in NTSC only. Besides "wrong" colors in the menu, there are no difference

[alex_79]

Another question....is there any test cartridge that displays the colors so I can adjust both the 2600 and the TV's tint setting to be correct. Most games look just off in color (yes I use NTSC versions of the games).

For a NTSC console you can use the "Color Bar Generator"

 

From the manual:

TITLE PAGE - contains the copyright notice "copyright © 1983 Video Soft", indicating that this program is protected under Title 17 United States Code. This screen also contains the color adjustment pattern for the Atari VCS ™ color generation circuits. The VCS generates audio and video signals using digital electronics. The color phase angles are generated by delaying the color signal until the desired phase angle is selected. An adjustment potentiometer is placed on the VCS console circuit board to adjust the 360 degree delay so that it is the same as 0 degrees. Although we do not recommend that you void any warranty on your game console, the potentiometer (the only one) can be adjusted so that the top half of the colored box is as close to the same color as the bottom half. The color generation circuits can then correctly produce colors from 0 to 360 degrees.

[Level42]

Thanks guys ! Successfully updated the cart to 1.06.

 

That color bar test cartridge looked like exactly what I need, but I see this screenshot on the AtariAge page ?

 

 

That looks for from a standard color bar though....:

 

[Level42]

OK at first I overlooked the use (and instructions) on setting the pot using the title screen. Wow that was easy....just turn it until it until both colors look (almost) identical and done !

 

I then switched to checking some games and they look like I remember them (although of course I had PAL set-up back in the early 80's, so there will always be a slight difference).

 

This was a great tip, thanks Alex_79 !!

Edited December 30, 2016 by Level42

[+JAC!]

Hello,

I had to switch to a Windows 10 machine. When I run HarmonyCart.exe (V1,1) as follows to flash via USB in development mode I get warnings & error messages:

Running 'User Defined Application': C:\jac\system\Atari2600\Tools\CAR\HarmonyCart\HarmonyCart.exe C:\jac\wudsn\Workspace\Atari2600\HelloWorld.bin
Qt: Untested Windows version 6.2 detected!
ERROR: no answer on '?'
Harmony 'LPC2105, 128 kiB ROM / 32 kiB SRAM' @ 'COM11'
Downloading single-load ROM file...
Reading from file: 'C:\jac\wudsn\Workspace\Atari2600\HelloWorld.bin' ... read in 4096 bytes
Bankswitch type: 4K (auto-detected)
Reading from file: '' ... ERROR: file not found
Application returned with exit code 0.

 

C:\jac\system\Atari2600\Tools\CAR\HarmonyCart\HarmonyCart.exe -help does not output anything about the command line either.
Is there a newer version of the software?

[+JAC!]

I found this by opening the .EXE in notepad, but I cannot really gain something from it ...

Harmony Cart not detected Downloading BIOS file... Couldn't find BIOS file ' Couldn't open Harmony Cart Downloading single-load ROM file... Couldn't find ROM file '

-help Harmony Programming Tool version 1.1

Usage: harmonycart [options ...] datafile Run without any options or datafile to use the graphical frontend

Consult the manual for more in-depth information Valid options are:

-bios Treat the specified datafile as an EEPROM loader BIOS image Otherwise, the datafile is treated as a ROM image instead

-bs=[type] Specify the bankswitching scheme for a ROM image (default is 'auto')

-help Displays the message you're now reading

 

Looks to me as if it tries to load the ARM file but does not know from where to load it.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Latest version is 1.2, look here,

[+JAC!]

Well, I came from there - there is no download or similar just a link back to this thread :-(

[Thomas Jentzsch]

My bad. Go here.

[alex_79]

I wasn't aware of the latest release.

Upgraded to 1.3 now.

 

[+JAC!]

The fixes for my isses were solved with V1.2 as indicated by the change log:

 

Version 1.2 (Dec. 20, 2012):
The location for 'ARM' files is now automatically determined based on where you've installed the application; right-clicking on the directory selection button will also set this location.
The Windows release now includes a commandline-based version which shows output on the commandline, and is meant to be run from the commandline only.

The console output now looks must more verbose and explains much better what is going on:

Running 'User Defined Application': C:\jac\system\Atari2600\Tools\CAR\HarmonyCart\HarmonyCart.exe C:\jac\wudsn\Workspace\Atari2600\HelloWorld.bin
ERROR: no answer on '?'
Harmony 'LPC2105, 128 kiB ROM / 32 kiB SRAM' @ 'COM11'
Downloading single-load ROM file...
Reading from file: 'C:\jac\wudsn\Workspace\Atari2600\HelloWorld.bin' ... read in 4096 bytes
Bankswitch type: 4K (auto-detected)
Reading from file: 'C:/jac/system/Atari2600/Tools/CAR/HarmonyCart/arm/2K4K.arm' ... read in 412 bytes
Synchronizing.. OK
Read bootcode version: 55

1

Read part ID: LPC2105, 128 kiB ROM / 32 kiB SRAM (fff0ff22)
Will start programming at Sector 1 if possible, and conclude with Sector 0 to ensure that checksum is written last.
Erasing sector 0 first, to invalidate checksum. OK
Sector 0..........................................................................................................
Now launching the brand new code
Download Finished... taking 3 seconds
Application returned with exit code 0.

 

BUT...

Even though the download for thr 4k only takes 3-4 seconds according to the log, the actual process takes 30-40 seconds.
The progress indicator gets stuck at 86%, then the system becomes unresponsive and after 30 seconds it continues.
Here's a screen cam for that. That is really a pitty because I need fast turnaround times for the presentation of the process.

 

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I have the same delay and freeze problem (Software version 1.3 on Win10, 64Bit).

[+stephena]

BUT...

Even though the download for thr 4k only takes 3-4 seconds according to the log, the actual process takes 30-40 seconds.

The progress indicator gets stuck at 86%, then the system becomes unresponsive and after 30 seconds it continues.

Here's a screen cam for that. That is really a pitty because I need fast turnaround times for the presentation of the process.

I know it's a longshot, but can you provide the ROM you're using, for me to test on my system?

 

I also notice that the chip built into your Harmony cart is quite new compared to what I have. I wonder if that is an issue? (mine is 'LPC2103, 32 kiB ROM / 8 kiB SRAM (4ff11)').