Updating Firmware

[matalog]

I recently got a harmony cart from the maker, sent to Ireland.

It was sent with NTSC firmware installed, and upon plugging it into my PC (I have tried 2 PCs, one with Windows 8.1 and one with Windows 7) I found that it was not recognised. I tried 4 different cables and eventually one of the cables let one of the PCs recognise the device and install it.

I had also installed the recommended drivers.

This is the info showing what USBDeview can see, and that at the same time the cart is seen in it, it is not seen by the Harmony cart software.

I then noticed that the latest NTSC firmware could be loaded from SD and that ability arrived quite a few years ago, which made me wonder if the same facility existed for PAL?

I can currently see the menu, but it is in greyscale and not great to load from, as it causes the TV to flicker for 2 seconds everytime it changes mode from NTSC in the menu to PAL in the games.

Any ideas on what I might do to change the firmware?

Edited November 26, 2018 by matalog

[Thomas Jentzsch]

AFAIK there is no official PAL latest firmware existing. And the latest official NTSC firmware (1.07) is already some years old.

[iesposta]

AFAIK there is no official PAL latest firmware existing. And the latest official NTSC firmware (1.07) is already some years old.

 

Where is this official NTSC firmware (1.07)?

 

I looked in this forum’s pinned official firmware thread, github, Internet.

I found your modded version called “hbios_107_NTSC (unofficial).bin” for adding menu selection with joystick in Player 2 for when the Trak-Ball is in Player 1.

 

Thank you for all you do for Atari 2600 and AtariAge.

 

 

P.S. On my 2012 iMac, my Harmony and now also Harmony Encore only work when I uninstalled the recommended FTDI drivers I downloaded and installed. The iMac already has FTDI drivers built in, and installing downloaded drivers causes failure.

 

Also as mentioned, I found that most USB to Harmony cables do not work. The reason being they are charging cables (2 wire) and not data cables (4 wires). More often than not the cheap ones are data, and the nice sturdy ones are only charging.

Edited December 8, 2018 by iesposta

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Sorry, my bad. 1.06 was the last official firmware.

[cleoo]

So, was the question regarding the trak-ball answered? 1.07 supposedly had the trak-ball in Joystick 1 and a Joystick in #2 would control the menu. 1.06 does not have that function since I tried it. How about loosening up the trak-ball range of motion only when scrolling with it during the menu. Loosely up would be any degree of motion upward and right or left would be generally the same, and also with the downward motion. Instead of precisely up, left, right, or down...allow for a sloppy movement, if that makes any sense.