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Latest Harmony Cart software


batari

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I have a PAL 7800 and tried to install the PAL50 bios and EEloader so that everything would be displayed right, but I can't really know if it actually installed it or not since the only thing you check is witch BIOS version you have. Colors do seem to be displayed correctly now however. Also while I am sure I installed the 106 version it says 105.

For some reason the latest Harmony Encore SD cartridge software is 1.06 and 1.06 is only offered in NTSC, never a PAL60 or PAL50 made for BIOS 1.06. Therefore the latest BIOS for PAL60 and PAL50 is version 1.05. So since the main menu says version 1.05 and since the colors are correct, this means you are using the latest PAL BIOS.

Edited by HDTV1080P
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For some reason the latest Harmony Encore SD cartridge software is 1.06 and 1.06 is only offered in NTSC, never a PAL60 or PAL50 made for BIOS 1.06. Therefore the latest BIOS for PAL60 and PAL50 is version 1.05. So since the main menu says version 1.05 and since the colors are correct, this means you are using the latest PAL BIOS.

 

The first post in this thread does have 106 PAL BIOS:

 

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The first post in this thread does have 106 PAL BIOS:

 

 

I noticed the first post in this thread was also edited on December 24th 2018, is that when the BIOS was posted?

The official Harmony Encore SD software shipped with BIOS 1.06 NTSC only. Is the 1.06 PAL version a third party version instead of an official version? I only see a 1.06 PAL 50 and not a PAL 60 version.

Edited by HDTV1080P
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is there a PAL version of the latest bios, seems to be just NTSC, not greately helpful for me being in the uk :(

Back in September of 2018 1.06 was only available in the NTSC version. However on December 24th 2018 it looks like a third party 1.06 PAL 50 version was created. However the 1.06 PAL 50 version posted might not be a official version.

 

I am also wondering if there is going to be further support for the Harmony Encore SD cartridge in terms of firmware updates and software updates. The last official software update was Harmony Programming Tool version 1.3 back in 2013 and I believe that is when BIOS version 1.06 NTSC came out. So there has not really been any official software updates to the Harmony Encore SD cartridge for 6 years. In addition if the Harmony Encore SD cartridge goes out of production this year it is unlikely we well see anymore software updates. It would have been nice to see a update to the owners manual also.

Edited by HDTV1080P
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  • 1 month later...

What you mean by "weird"? can you post a picture of it?

The NTSC firmware will work just fine in a PAL system+TV (unless your TV doesn't support a 60Hz signal, in which case the screen will roll).
It will just show different colors (blue text instead of green) in the menu. The games are not affected.

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Ok, I think it was my TVs fault. It had a hard time to sync on the 60 Hz. I put my composite->HDMI box in between and now it works fine, colors were still off. But I flashed now with the PAL50 firmware. Now it looks fine. Picture is blurry, but that is probably down to my composite mod having too long leads, and maybe I need to put a ferrite core in there as well.

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  • 7 months later...
34 minutes ago, Randolph Laterca said:

Hi!

 

Any chance to get a new firmware to play pursuit of the pink panther without a modified ROM?

 

Thanks!


I do not know how to link/copy posts from another forum topic, but there was a modified .bin that works perfectly with Harmony (I have played it myself a fair bit with no problems).

I will try to copy the link to the file for you at least: https://atariage.com/forums/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=669907

Edited by Tavi
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On 2/2/2020 at 7:00 PM, Tavi said:


I do not know how to link/copy posts from another forum topic, but there was a modified .bin that works perfectly with Harmony (I have played it myself a fair bit with no problems).

I will try to copy the link to the file for you at least: https://atariage.com/forums/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=669907

Thanks Tavi,! The modified ROM works fine, but  i'd like the Harmony natively support the unmodified ROM.

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It would be nice to see a firmware update for the Harmony Encore so that all cartridge roms are supported natively without a modification needed, however there is a possibility that the Harmony Encore might be toward the end of support and Firmware version 1.06 might be the last official firmware update which came out around 7 years ago. If we did every get a firmware update I would have liked to seen exFAT with SDXC support between 32GB to 2TB. Also in the future the SD card association plans on releasing SDUC cards with a capacity between 2TB to 128TB.

 

10 years from now it might be hard to find a SDHC card between 2GB and 32GB and SDXC might be the norm (SDXC requires exFAT in order to work properly).    

Edited by HDTV1080P
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14 minutes ago, HDTV1080P said:

It would be nice to see a firmware update for the Harmony Encore so that all cartridge roms are supported natively without a modification needed, however there is a possibility that the Harmony Encore might be toward the end of support and Firmware version 1.06 might be the last official firmware update which came out around 7 years ago. If we did every get a firmware update I would have liked to seen exFAT with SDXC support between 32GB to 2TB. Also in the future the SD card association plans on releasing SDUC cards with a capacity between 2TB to 128TB.

 

10 years from now it might be hard to find a SDHC card between 2GB and 32GB and SDXC might be the norm (SDXC requires exFAT in order to work properly).    

We are working on firmware 2.0 that will include many new features, some of them exclusive to Harmony Encore.

 

There has been talk of native ExFat support, but that isn't certain to happen as Harmony will support 64GB and larger SDXC cards if they are reformatted with FAT32. As far as I am aware, this has to be done with a third party utility, but it's not difficult to do. I did it in a few minutes and my own SDXC cards work fine with Harmony and everything else I have tried them on.

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That is cool, so sometime in the future firmware version 2.0 will be coming out for the Harmony Encore. I have heard of some people reformatting SDXC cards between 32GB to 512GB as FAT32 and it working in most devices that accept a SDHC card. However I have also heard that some brands and models of SDXC cards do not work at all or do not work properly when exFAT is not being used. So exFAT being supported natively would in theory offer almost 100% compatibility with SDXC cards between 32GB to 2TB.

Edited by HDTV1080P
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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Sorry if this is a silly question but I have a UK Pal 2600 so I'm going to update my bios and EEPROM accordingly following downloading this software: HarmonyCart-1.3-win32.exe

Am I correct in thinking this is the latest and correct EEPROM: eeloader_104e_PAL50.bin   and this is the correct and latest HBIOS: hbios_106_PAL50.bin

 

Thanks

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23 minutes ago, Bamse said:

Sorry if this is a silly question but I have a UK Pal 2600 so I'm going to update my bios and EEPROM accordingly following downloading this software: HarmonyCart-1.3-win32.exe

Am I correct in thinking this is the latest and correct EEPROM: eeloader_104e_PAL50.bin   and this is the correct and latest HBIOS: hbios_106_PAL50.bin

 

Thanks

Yes, you are correct, but there might be an easier way if you can see display on the screen. Typically, NTSC format will display on a PAL screen, just the colors will be incorrect (or sometimes, black and white.)

 

If you can see the NTSC Harmony menu on your PAL TV, then you can update firmware from the menu. Put the hbios_106_PAL50.bin on the root directory of your SD card, and use the attached bios_updater_NTSC.cu file. Just navigate to the file in the Harmony menu and press the joystick button as if you were starting a game.

 

Although the updater is NTSC, this only refers to the format of the status screen when updating: the PAL50 firmware you put on the SD will ultimately be loaded onto the cart.

bios_updater_NTSC.cu

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 4/1/2020 at 10:38 PM, batari said:

Yes, you are correct, but there might be an easier way if you can see display on the screen. Typically, NTSC format will display on a PAL screen, just the colors will be incorrect (or sometimes, black and white.)

 

If you can see the NTSC Harmony menu on your PAL TV, then you can update firmware from the menu. Put the hbios_106_PAL50.bin on the root directory of your SD card, and use the attached bios_updater_NTSC.cu file. Just navigate to the file in the Harmony menu and press the joystick button as if you were starting a game.

 

Although the updater is NTSC, this only refers to the format of the status screen when updating: the PAL50 firmware you put on the SD will ultimately be loaded onto the cart.

bios_updater_NTSC.cu 32 kB · 9 downloads

Hello again

 

My cart arrived but would go in my 2600 Jr.

I read previous comments from yourself to others with the same problem.

I tried wiggling it around and after a few minutes it went in.

Is the anything I can do to make this process easier please?

 

Also, Iv'e updated the firmware with hbios_106_PAL50.bin using the updated you attached. Should this make sega genesis controllers compatible? The only way I can get it to work is to select the game with the atari controller the swap it fpr the genesis controller once loaded.

Edited by Bamse
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3 hours ago, Bamse said:

Hello again

 

My cart arrived but would go in my 2600 Jr.

I read previous comments from yourself to others with the same problem.

I tried wiggling it around and after a few minutes it went in.

Is the anything I can do to make this process easier please?

 

Also, Iv'e updated the firmware with hbios_106_PAL50.bin using the updated you attached. Should this make sega genesis controllers compatible? The only way I can get it to work is to select the game with the atari controller the swap it fpr the genesis controller once loaded.

Not sure if it is the same issue or not. I have an original released Harmony from when it was released back in 2010. Mine never seats right on its own. I have to use my finger to move the SD card slot up or down as I try to insert it to get it to seat in. Basically there is room for the pcb to move up and down on the back end of the cart and that causes the opposite effect on the PCB end that prevents it from matching up sometimes. No big deal and I've been using mine for 10 years in this manner without any issues from it.

 

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5 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Not sure if it is the same issue or not. I have an original released Harmony from when it was released back in 2010. Mine never seats right on its own. I have to use my finger to move the SD card slot up or down as I try to insert it to get it to seat in. Basically there is room for the pcb to move up and down on the back end of the cart and that causes the opposite effect on the PCB end that prevents it from matching up sometimes. No big deal and I've been using mine for 10 years in this manner without any issues from it.

 

Thanks for the reply.

I mine is an Encore. Don't know if the were made back  as far as 2010 but my issues sounds similar to yours. Can I ask how you move the PCB about by moving the SD card slot? I have a micro sd slot so it's very small.

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Well basically the only thing I have to do is push up on my SD card a tiny bit and that moves the PCB down into position to match up with the cart slot so it pops in. Again, mine is a first release version Harmony not the encore. I got mine when they first went on sale during Classic Gaming Expo 2010 so I'm sure what I'm talking about with mine isn't the norm on later released versions?

 

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9 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Well basically the only thing I have to do is push up on my SD card a tiny bit and that moves the PCB down into position to match up with the cart slot so it pops in. Again, mine is a first release version Harmony not the encore. I got mine when they first went on sale during Classic Gaming Expo 2010 so I'm sure what I'm talking about with mine isn't the norm on later released versions?

 

Thanks. I think my issue is the same and I'm sure I read somewhere else pressing on the sd slot helped. I think I'll give it a try but I don't want to risk taking the cart out again as it took me so long to get it in lol

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