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Concerto firmware thread


batari

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1 hour ago, batari said:

Here is the first firmware update, version 0.93.

 

Fixes:

- 2600 support restored!

- Debounced joystick button on initial boot (let me know if this helps with SD card reading!)

 

To install firmware:

NOTE: Firmware versions 0.91 or older cannot update to 0.92 or later through the menu (yet.)

 

From version 0.91 or older: Download the .bin file, and update over USB. To do that, download the Harmony software, and follow the instructions in the Harmony manual for firmware updates. If you don't want to do it this way, in time I will be releasing a transitional firmware that you can update to from the menu, which can then update to 0.92 or later, also from the menu.

@CPUWIZ I think I am confused. I downloaded the Harmony software. I also downloaded the Concerto driver and firmware. The Harmony software is where I read that it can't find a Harmony cart. I assume the software was written before the Concerto, so it referred to the cart as Harmony. Do I have the wrong Harmony software?

 

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36 minutes ago, darryl1970 said:

@CPUWIZ I think I am confused. I downloaded the Harmony software. I also downloaded the Concerto driver and firmware. The Harmony software is where I read that it can't find a Harmony cart. I assume the software was written before the Concerto, so it referred to the cart as Harmony. Do I have the wrong Harmony software?

 

 

No, my bad, Muddy explained it above.

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Current status is that my cartridge does not get past the flashing color screens. Something must have gone wrong.

 

I am heading to bed for the night, but any help is appreciated. My card is unusable right now, but I am an hour past bed. Can't push on any longer tonight.

I will anxiously try whatever in the morning.

 

Is eeloader_ntsc.bin the correct EEPROM file?

image.thumb.png.57f33640e6295e00511ff2e7e5cd81f8.png

 

 

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1 hour ago, x=usr(1536) said:

 

Fred, thank you for the updated firmware.  Unfortunately, I've only had partial success with it.

 

The good: using the .cbi version, Concerto recognised it as a firmware file, and claims to have updated it.

 

The unfortunate: after finishing the update, Concerto hung at this point.  There's no response to either trigger, and note the random character above the letter 'D' in 'Detected' - it's actually not a single character, but rather a series of them being (very) rapidly printed to that location.

 

Appreciate you taking the time to look into all of this!

 

imageproxy.php?img=&key=f4dcc336a70d5c68imageproxy.php?img=&key=f4dcc336a70d5c68imageproxy.php?img=&key=f4dcc336a70d5c68IMG_20201215_181230.thumb.jpg.bcd8a7d1416913de4480c54b4999f61a.jpg

The reboot feature is not working right now, but if you manually reboot the firmware will be updated.

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4 minutes ago, darryl1970 said:

Current status is that my cartridge does not get past the flashing color screens. Something must have gone wrong.

 

I am heading to bed for the night, but any help is appreciated. My card is unusable right now, but I am an hour past bed. Can't push on any longer tonight.

I will anxiously try whatever in the morning.

 

Is eeloader_ntsc.bin the correct EEPROM file?

image.thumb.png.57f33640e6295e00511ff2e7e5cd81f8.png

 

 

Yes, eeloader_ntsc.bin is the file to download to the EEPROM to update Concerto.

 

Your cart was one of the earlier ones in the new batch. After your cart went out, I discovered that the POKEY sometimes interferes with communication. Carts that went out more recently included a fix for this as it's a pain to have to remove the POKEY to update over USB. However, for the small number of carts out there without the fix, there are plans to improve the Harmony programming software to work around the communication issue. For now, though, try removing the POKEY, do the update then reinsert.

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Updated to the 0.93 (from 0.91) using the USB methods - loader and bios worked the number of times I tried (using the NTSC or PAL eeloader).  I'm on PAL with no pokey installed (yet).

 

So far the menu loaded every time, is much more stable (only crashed once selecting a folder - 40-50 runs) and not showing random characters on the file manager. I can move around sub-folders with multiple pages fine. I can also access/exit the settings page ok.

 

Attempted to load a selection (10 or so) PAL retail games from Trebor's ROM pack, occasionally some loaded 1st or 2nd time otherwise no joy.  I haven't tested any 2600 games as yet.

 

 

 

 

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Thanks, Fred.

The upgrade process was really painless ?
This is a massive improvement. I have loaded 2600 games, no menu freezes and I can now scroll through 30 odd pages of games even using my tac-2 joystick that would freeze up the menu previously.

Current SD card is SanDisk Ultra 32GB, 120 MB/s

7800 French RGB (ish) console

 

I have tried a samsung micro SD Evo 16GB in a SD adaptor which did not work at all and a really old PNY 2GB SD card which either so dodgy or is so old it doesn't have a speed class printed on it, this card would randomly freeze when scrolling through games lists. 
Have a 16GB Kingston card arriving today so my try that later 

Edited by mimo
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2 hours ago, mksmith said:

Updated to the 0.93 (from 0.91) using the USB methods - loader and bios worked the number of times I tried (using the NTSC or PAL eeloader).  I'm on PAL with no pokey installed (yet).

 

So far the menu loaded every time, is much more stable (only crashed once selecting a folder - 40-50 runs) and not showing random characters on the file manager. I can move around sub-folders with multiple pages fine. I can also access/exit the settings page ok.

 

Attempted to load a selection (10 or so) PAL retail games from Trebor's ROM pack, occasionally some loaded 1st or 2nd time otherwise no joy.  I haven't tested any 2600 games as yet.

 

 

 

 

what SD card are you using?  Do you have another to try? I have had no issues loading games from Trebor's ROM pack
Do you have an example of a problem game so that I can test?

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2 hours ago, mimo said:

what SD card are you using?  Do you have another to try? I have had no issues loading games from Trebor's ROM pack
Do you have an example of a problem game so that I can test?

Thanks for your help Mimo! These are the two I've tried so far:

 cards.thumb.jpg.afd45b868af50873f56702987e60976b.jpg

 

I tested the following 3-4 times (Pal and NTSC, both cards):

  • Centipede
  • Choplifter
  • Commando
  • Dig Dug
  • Galaga
  • Impossible Mission

The symptoms sound similar to the early development in that they sometimes not load, sometimes start and crash, sometimes graphically corrupt or otherwise occasionally load.  2600 games had more luck, but within some sub-folders games wouldn't load at all but other folders load everytime.

 

Fred mentioned in the initial post about the Operating System and Game Loader not having been updated as yet - the splash screen, bootloader and menu all work very well so that's a good sign. I received one of the very early dev carts so once Fred releases new builds I'll do some further testing ? Oh I also have another machine so will get that out over the next few days.

 

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8 hours ago, batari said:

Yes, eeloader_ntsc.bin is the file to download to the EEPROM to update Concerto.

 

Your cart was one of the earlier ones in the new batch. After your cart went out, I discovered that the POKEY sometimes interferes with communication. Carts that went out more recently included a fix for this as it's a pain to have to remove the POKEY to update over USB. However, for the small number of carts out there without the fix, there are plans to improve the Harmony programming software to work around the communication issue. For now, though, try removing the POKEY, do the update then reinsert.

Removing Pokey worked to update the bios. After I rebooted, I was able to start a game.

 

I replaced the Pokey chip, and the cart will not get past the color cycles. It doesn't freeze, but it never makes it to the menu.

 

--Darryl

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1 hour ago, darryl1970 said:

Removing Pokey worked to update the bios. After I rebooted, I was able to start a game.

 

I replaced the Pokey chip, and the cart will not get past the color cycles. It doesn't freeze, but it never makes it to the menu.

 

--Darryl

Removing Pokey worked to update the bios. After I rebooted, I was able to start a game.

 

I replaced the Pokey chip, and the cart will not get past the color cycles. It doesn't freeze, but it never makes it to the menu.

 

UPDATE: Somewhat good news is that I found out it's only an issue on one of my 7800 models. This unit has been finicky with the Concerto since the beginning, but it's a different kind of failure to boot behavior than the previous firmware. It used to just freeze on the Concerto title (sometimes with garbage). Now it stays in the color loop indefinitely. If I leave the system off for about 10 minutes, I am usually able to successfully boot into the Concerto menu.

 

@batari , do you want me to test and report with on this unit?  It seems to be less finicky without the Pokey onboard, if that's a clue. The system doesn't have any issues with other cartridge games, even with Pokey onboard. I have a sacrificed Ballblazer, which I use for 32K Pokey games on EPROM; It fires up every time. My copy of Pokey Kong fires up consistently. Is this a case where there may be other systems that behave like this, thus valuable for testing; or does it seem like this may just be an anomaly? I will report whatever you feel is valuable.

 

--Darryl

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4 hours ago, mksmith said:

 

 

I tested the following 3-4 times (Pal and NTSC, both cards):

  • Centipede
  • Choplifter
  • Commando
  • Dig Dug
  • Galaga
  • Impossible Mission

The symptoms sound similar to the early development in that they sometimes not load, sometimes start and crash, sometimes graphically corrupt or otherwise occasionally load.  2600 games had more luck, but within some sub-folders games wouldn't load at all but other folders load everytime.

 

Fred mentioned in the initial post about the Operating System and Game Loader not having been updated as yet - the splash screen, bootloader and menu all work very well so that's a good sign. I received one of the very early dev carts so once Fred releases new builds I'll do some further testing ? Oh I also have another machine so will get that out over the next few days.

 

Hi, I have tested all the games you listed half a dozen times each on PAL and NTSC and not one failure. I tried them on my 2gb PNY card too, again no failures but I did get menu freeze several times. Maybe there is a timing issue with old slower cards? I see that your Verbatim card is 80mb/s compared with my stable SanDisk 120mb/s card 

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5 minutes ago, mimo said:

Hi, I have tested all the games you listed half a dozen times each on PAL and NTSC and not one failure. I tried them on my 2gb PNY card too, again no failures but I did get menu freeze several times. Maybe there is a timing issue with old slower cards? I see that your Verbatim card is 80mb/s compared with my stable SanDisk 120mb/s card 

 

Interesting.  The micro SD cards I'm using are 100MB/sec (Class 10, A1) and I am getting menu freeze.  SDHC maxes out at 32GB, IIRC, and SDXC cards aren't supported.  I'll see if I can't snag one at Wal-Mart later on today and give it a shot.

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8 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

 

Interesting.  The micro SD cards I'm using are 100MB/sec (Class 10, A1) and I am getting menu freeze.  SDHC maxes out at 32GB, IIRC, and SDXC cards aren't supported.  I'll see if I can't snag one at Wal-Mart later on today and give it a shot.

I'm not saying that the card is the answer, but I will report if I get any freezes 

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45 minutes ago, mimo said:

I'm not saying that the card is the answer, but I will report if I get any freezes 

 

Well, there might be something to the card being part of it.  Not saying it's 100% the answer, but it does seem to play into things.

 

I found a 64GB Sandisk Ultra SD card (SDXC, Class 10, A1, 80MB/sec) laying around that I had forgotten about.  This is a full-sized SD card, not a micro SD in an adapter (though that shouldn't make any difference).

 

It worked - mostly.  Booted, played 2600 Berzerk.  Rebooted, played 7800 Galaga.  Rebooted, got the no-files menu screen.  Rebooted, everything was back to normal.

 

I need to test more extensively when I have time later today, but so far I haven't seen a freeze.  Haven't looked at the settings menu yet, so can't say how that's working ATM.

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Question: is it normal for the Concerto to display files and directories in the order they were written to the SD card, not alphabetical order?

 

Settings menu: selecting 'Discard changes and exit' does exactly that, but without pressing the fire button.  Moving any direction that might be considered off-menu (e.g., left, right, up at the very top of the menu) exits settings and returns to the default file selection screen.

 

Cannot change any of the settings at the bottom of the settings menu since I can't scroll to them.

 

More later; going to have to test in fits & starts today.  Things got busy on my end.

Edited by x=usr(1536)
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4 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Question: is it normal for the Concerto to display files and directories in the order they were written to the SD card, not alphabetical order?

At the moment, yes. Pretty sure I saw Fred mention that he was planning to add alphabetising at some point 

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1 hour ago, x=usr(1536) said:

 

 

Cannot change any of the settings at the bottom of the settings menu since I can't scroll to them.

 

More later; going to have to test in fits & starts today.  Things got busy on my end.

There seems to be a bug in the menu.  I noticed that if you add more files to the root directory, you will be able to scroll farther down the settings menu.  I originally had two files in the root and could only scroll two line down the settings screen.  I noticed this last night and sent a PM to Fred about it.

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