Re: New firmware for PseudoDisk / some problems

["Polymorph" <polymorph69@hotmail.com>]

Alex Freed wrote:
> > > "David Empson" <dempson@actrix.gen.nz> wrote in message
>
> First of all, thank you, David Empson. That was it.
> I replaced the string and char output functions and it works like a charm.
>
> I was holding two payed-for boards in the hope to ship better firmware.
> Now looks ready to go after a few tests.
>
> I understand that booting by typing PR#4 caused an infinite loop. What is
> less clear
> to me is why cold boot failed too. Just curious.
>
> "Polymorph" <polymorph69@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> 1164260874.191334.53120@j44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com">news:1164260874.191334.53120@j44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> > You mention that the SD card is *blank* before
> > creating the partition, but is it possible to create the FAT16
> > partition on a SD card that has previously been used? (ie. overwrite
> > the previous contents)
>
> Yes. You can always format a device. That created a virgin filesystem.
> I don't know if Windows will make a FAT16 on an SD card, but it is
> trivial under Linux. Or OS-X.
>
> > Can you guarantee that the newly created
> > partition will be contiguous on a card that has been pre-used? I have
> > no idea if this is a stupid question, but it just appeared that you
> > were highlighting the fact that the card was blank prior to creating
> > the partition. It would seem that if the SD card *had* to be blank
> > prior to creating the FAT16 partition that this would be a nasty
> > limitation as it wouldn't allow re-use of existing cards.
>
> It is a limitation, but it is very easy to reuse a card. Just like
> formatting a floppy.
> I have some donated FAT implementation. Once it is debugged the limitation
> will be gone. However if no assumptions are made about the files being
> contiguous, it will slow "disk" operations in ProDOS mode.
>
> >
> > How are the sales going? I'm still very close to putting in an order
> > (if I'm not too late)...
>
> Sales are very slow. The first run of 20 boards will probably take a while
> to sell, and I doubt I'll order more PCBs after that.
>
> -ALex.

Good to hear that you've found the firmware bug. :-)

Thanks for dispelling my fear regarding SD card re-use issue.

There are still two things I'd love to see combined with your solution:
1) write functionality in nibble mode
2) the DIP switch (or equivalent switch) being placed at the end of a
ribbon cable for image selection whilst the computer is running (eg.
for anything that requires more than 1 disk). I can't imagine it being
practical having to open up the machine to select a different image.
But having said that, I don't imagine it being a big modification to
your card to attach the DIP switch to a ribbon cable either - or am I
wrong here?

I know you are asking people to assist with the development of the
firmware, and although I'm a software guy, I have zero experience in
this field. Is it something easily learnable?

thanks,
-p