Amstrad CPC WiFi

[Duke]

To use tape or real disc, type |m4romoff, no need to remove the unit.

Yes you can replace Basic. Be aware that replacing basic involves replacing both lowerrom and upper rom 0.
Also you should be on at least firmware v.1.0.4.
I have put a change log in the documentation:
http://www.spinpoint.org/cpc/m4info.txt (press ctrl+r to make sure you are seeing latest version).
And yep I should add the links to each firmware version in the doc, will do it in next revision, or maybe a helpful soul would create a page on the wiki with all the right stuff

Lastly |upgrade most certainly works (I use it on every board I ship), if it doesn't work either your wifi setup is wrong or your dns servers aren't setup properly, I suggest to use google dns (or opendns).
For google dns, set "dns1=8.8.8.8, dns2=8.8.4.4"
For opendns, set "dns1=208.67.222.222, dns2=208.67.220.220"
To use your ISP's dns, point the dns1 to your router IP, ie.
"dns1=192.168.1.1"

Here is the list of firmwares for download (unpack to root of microSD card and reboot CPC with M4):

http://www.spinpoint.org/cpc/M4FIRM_v101.zip
http://www.spinpoint.org/cpc/M4FIRM_v102.zip
http://www.spinpoint.org/cpc/M4FIRM_v103.zip
http://www.spinpoint.org/cpc/M4FIRM_v104.zip
http://www.spinpoint.org/cpc/M4FIRM_v105.zip
http://www.spinpoint.org/cpc/M4FIRM_v106.zip
http://www.spinpoint.org/cpc/M4FIRM_v107.zip
http://www.spinpoint.org/cpc/M4FIRM_v108b.zip

Hello again i tried this board on a 464 finally. It works well. But i cannot use the tape have build in. The |tape dont work the |disc have the same result. If i remove the board the  tape work ok.
Another question i think is general can i replace the basic rom with this board?
Also i believe that you sould have all the updates in one page with the link on the documentation
P.s. |uprade dont work
The board have 1.0.3

[remax]

I may create a very crude Wiki page with all the files this evening...

[remax]

Here it is : M4 Board - CPCWiki

[Duke]

Here it is : M4 Board - CPCWiki

Perfect!  Thanks a lot @remax, much appreciated!

[madram]

Cards well received! These are neat little things.
Almost worked out of the box, except:

   
• connection was lost ~1min after |netset (with |netstat hanging). No idea why.
• hard reset do not reset anywore!

Are romconfig.bin / romslots.bin described somewhere? I'd like to shift ROMs from my CPC.

Also, |B works, but AMSDOS commands afterward still access the SD-CARD. How is that?
BTW, is M4ROM vs Parados conflict resolved (each in its own ROM, M4ROM falling back to Parados for floppy access)?
If not, how are we meant to copy from floppy/HxC to M4's SD-Card ?

Thanks a lot, keep up the great work!

[Duke]

Don't know why you would loose connection after 1 min, maybe a weak wifi signal where CPC is located?  - I haven't experinced it atleast.
Hard reset as the switch on the board, does not reset ?
You can upload roms, enable/disable them from cpc via the |romup, |romset & |romupd, documented here: http://www.spinpoint.org/cpc/m4info.txt

For structure of romslots.bin and romconfig.bin, see this post Amstrad CPC WiFi

Currently M4 does not support real discs, if you want to use real discs (amsdos or parados), type |m4romoff.
Something is in the works for reading&writing real discs to/from microSD via M4 rom.
It's also possible to map M4 rom after AMSDOS / Parados and write a program to do, this way M4 rom wont hook the cas_ functions, but rom functions would still be available.

Cards well received! These are neat little things.
Almost worked out of the box, except:

   
• connection was lost ~1min after |netset (with |netstat hanging). No idea why.
• hard reset do not reset anywore!

Are romconfig.bin / romslots.bin described somewhere? I'd like to shift ROMs from my CPC.

Also, |B works, but AMSDOS commands afterward still access the SD-CARD. How is that?
BTW, is M4ROM vs Parados conflict resolved (each in its own ROM, M4ROM falling back to Parados for floppy access)?
If not, how are we meant to copy from floppy/HxC to M4's SD-Card ?

Thanks a lot, keep up the great work!

[SOS]

   
• hard reset do not reset anywore!

Same here on a CPC6128, but sometimes(!) when i press the reset-button for a longer time, the CPC was reset.

[Duke]

v1.0.8 (not beta anymore)

Download from here:
M4 Board - CPCWiki   (if my wiki upload failed, then you can also get it from here: http://spinpoint.org/cpc/M4FIRM_v108.zip) or use |upgrade

* Fix IP addresses for httpget (again).
* Fix |dir bug.
* Fix hardreset.
* Added C_GETPATH command (requested).
* Added ability to load your own build of M4ROM from root of microSD, should be named M4ROM.BIN

I will make the source code for M4ROM available shortly, so if anyone wants to help fix bugs, add improvements, or simply make their own version this is now possible.
Using cpcxfer program you can test a build of the M4ROM in seconds, by issuing simple commands:
xfer -u <cpcip> M4ROM.BIN / 0
xfer -r <cpcip>

When M4ROM.BIN is present in root of microSD this version will be active instead of the built-in M4ROM that I supply with each upgrade.

Rom is compiled using the assembler from sdcc (sdasz80), so cross compiling is needed unless source is converted to another format.

[Duke]

Source code for M4ROM uploaded here:
GitHub - M4Duke/m4rom: M4 Board, z80 rom part

If anyone wants write permission, send me a pm.

EDIT: I changed the boot message in uploaded source to "M4 Board V2.1" it should be "2.0" of course, but if you assemble it and upload you can see if it works or not.
Toolchain can be obtained here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/sdcc/files/
Let me know if any issues compiling it. The makefile assumes hex2bin to be in same directory.

[MiguelSky]

I've just made a CPCLoader collection with all the games of NVG extracted to folders similar to the one I made to use with BonnyDOS.


http://www.amstrad.es/cpcgamescd/NVG_CPCLoader_Games_Collection.zip


Patching for not working games is welcome

[SOS]

I've just made a CPCLoader collection with all the games of NVG extracted to folders similar to the one I made to use with BonnyDOS.

You created the file with "CPC Loader 3" can i download this version?
From the homepage CPC Loader i can only download old versions.

[Laurence Morgan]

This project looks amazing. Very tempting to buy one, but what I'm really after is some way to connect to a Raspberry Pi. Sorry to hijack your thread, but how easy would it be for me to take your hardware (or any schematics if you're happen to release them and build my own expansion board) and write my own libraries for connecting to a telnet server?

I've got some basic soldering skills (entirely self taught at EE though) and pretty good at programming, so it is something I could do on my own, but my biggest problem is I'm not really sure how to go about starting a project like this. 

edit: Or if you're accepting feature requests (and I'm sure you're probably sick of hearing questions like this! lol) would you be willing to expose BASIC commands for forming TCP/IP connections and sending packets down them? Then it would be trivial for me to write a telnet client in Locomotive BASIC.

[Duke]

There's a another one here working on connecting a pi to the cpc (link: CPC / Raspberry Pi Bridge Card ).
As for reprogramming M4 board to do other things sure it shouldn't be too hard, it's all bare metal that I am using, but there is other stuff out there such as rtos for cortex m4.
Every I/O pin on the M4 board to the cpc is labelled and a jtag or st-link can be connected to the top header and there's even serial connections for both cortex and xtensa, for easy debug printf.
You will also have to do some work on the ESP8266 to use the wifi and send data back and forth it's connected to the M4 via SPI1 / HSPI.

Feature requests are fine, but I am not promising anything

TCP/UDP packets via IPC commands are planned, but I need some renewed energy before I start on this.

This project looks amazing. Very tempting to buy one, but what I'm really after is some way to connect to a Raspberry Pi. Sorry to hijack your thread, but how easy would it be for me to take your hardware (or any schematics if you're happen to release them and build my own expansion board) and write my own libraries for connecting to a telnet server?

I've got some basic soldering skills (entirely self taught at EE though) and pretty good at programming, so it is something I could do on my own, but my biggest problem is I'm not really sure how to go about starting a project like this. 

edit: Or if you're accepting feature requests (and I'm sure you're probably sick of hearing questions like this! lol) would you be willing to expose BASIC commands for forming TCP/IP connections and sending packets down them? Then it would be trivial for me to write a telnet client in Locomotive BASIC.

[MiguelSky]

You created the file with "CPC Loader 3" can i download this version?
From the homepage CPC Loader i can only download old versions.

Hahaha, sorry. It's not available yet. That's the frontend in really near new CPCGamesCD release!!

[radu14m]

my card arrive today, cant wait to test it!


Thanks Duke !!!

[Takis Kalatzis]

Hello,

Card received, hoping to test it next weekend!

Thanks, Duke!

[DaDMaN]

Hi! How (or where) can I order this board?


Thanks,


DaD.

[Duke]

Hi! How (or where) can I order this board?


Thanks,


DaD.

Just send me a private message  with your email address and let me know what connector you want (edge or MX4).

[DaDMaN]

Just send me a private message  with your email address and let me know what connector you want (edge or MX4).

DONE 

[SOS]

When i have a good-filled SD-Card, and make a |CD,"M5" the system means that the path doesnt exist (it's ok).
When i make "cat"the cat is corrupted (length = ERR) and the path is set to "m".

[Duke]

When i have a good-filled SD-Card, and make a |CD,"M5" the system means that the path doesnt exist (it's ok).
When i make "cat"the cat is corrupted (length = ERR) and the path is set to "m".

Ok thanks, will see if I can recreate it.


@DaDMaN , not received your pm. Don't use the email option, it doesn't work at the moment.

[SOS]

Hi Duke (it's not possible to write a PM with an attached image?!),

i can't reproduce it (i mean, it occurs after a reset), but can you please check your code?

Thanks & Bye

SOS

[Duke]

Hi Duke (it's not possible to write a PM with an attached image?!),

i can't reproduce it (i mean, it occurs after a reset), but can you please check your code?

Thanks & Bye

SOS

Yep I'll check, it looks odd.
Btw. regarding reset.
When using hard reset aka pulling low bus reset (as MX4 does) this will not reset current path, this is of course useful so you don't have to re-navigate.
However using the M4 reset button, it will reset the board completely, thus resetting the path to root.

[DaDMaN]

Just send me a private message  with your email address and let me know what connector you want (edge or MX4).

Done! (again) 

Please @Duke confirm that my message arrived.


DaD.

[jomicamp]

Hi Duke! I received the board a couple of weeks ago upon an ultra fast shipping. Everything works well... I only had trouble on installing certain roms properly due to the Chrome bug which I only noticed after reading the thread...

Now it is time for developers explore all its possibilities...