SymbOS CPC updates and infos

[Prodatron]

Here is a new package of SymbOS CPC (release candidate 1) with working widget support and increased booting speed.

http://www.symbos.org/download/preview-cpc161114.zip

The changes are described in the #readme.txt, which I am pasting here as well:


SYMBOS 3.0 CPC - RC1 16/11/14
===============================================================================
This package contains
- SymbOS 3.0 release candidate 1 - CPC edition
- a pre-installation for the M4Board and SYMBiFACE II compatible IDE interfaces

Changes since the last update (see section below):
- fixed bug in the widget management of the extended desktop; the widget
  feature can now fully used as well
- no FDC access during the startup phase; increased booting speed

The package is arranged like the previous ones (see last section in this file).

Some details about the changes:
- WIDGET SUPPORT (EXTENDED DESKTOP)
  This feature of the extended desktop finally has been debug and can be fully
  used now. Widgets are little apps, which can be placed directly inside the
  desktop area beside the icons and the background graphic. Like widgets for
  modern smartphones the may show the actual time and date, the actual weather
  conditions or whatever. They are not realized as forms (windows) but as
  elements of the desktop itself. They can be resized and freely placed
  anywhere on the screen. Currently there is a clock and a cpu meter available
  as desktop widget (see \SYMBOS\WIDGETS\*.WDG) and a preview of a weather
  widget for machines with network connection. To add a new widget you have to
  right-click the desktop, choose "New" -> "Widget" and select a widget file
  and a size.
- INCREASED BOOTING SPEED
  During the device initialisation SymbOS won't access mass storage devices
  anymore, which are "removeable". This is increasing the booting speed, as
  there is no delay anymore caused by the floppy drives.


The clock and cpu meter widget running on the real machine:
[attach=2]
Resizing a widget:
[attach=3]

[Jungsi]

Thats a great new release! I like it. It's starting much faster and the widgets are really cool :-)


With the MX4 Board (and X-MEM) the CPC RTC is working for me with SYMBOS (CPCRTC set to INT)


X-MASS
Like you said I've set the CPC RTC to "Int".


With the X-MASS this is not working in my setup (X-MASS, CPCRTC, XMEM)
CPCRTC Manual:
In parallel with a MegaFlash or X-Mem on a MX4: set the 3 jumpers to "Ext"
For a correct working X-Mass you need the rom slot for ACMEDOS and the CPCRTC.


Strange ;-) I don't know how the others have done it :-)

[dragon]

One think i don't try it. (i waiting for x-mem and x4). But is necesary the  rtc motherboard clone to view the hour and date obligatory?.

Symbos can't access to  a ntp server with m4?

[Prodatron]

@Jungsi , thanks for trying the new version! TBH I have no idea why the RTC is working or not working with a different hardware setup :/ SymbOS is just searching for the RTC ROM, and if it could be found it is using the clock. My RTC seems to have an empty batterie. If it is switched off for a longer periode, it forgets the last time/date and has to be reconfigured, but that problem isn't SymbOS related.

@dragon: Yes, I am planning to provide an NTP client for SymbOS. Another idea is to use the time/date of the M4Board itself, as it is doing NTP anyway. This would be a quick solution, but as SymbOS needs a general NTP client anyway (due to the other platforms) I guess I will implement such a client directly.

[HAL6128]

Would it be possible to set time via internet instead of the rtc?

[Prodatron]

Yes, with an NTP client!
That's on my Todo list after the 3.0 release...

[remax]

If i remember well i have to remove the rtc rom in order to have correct time and no crash when trying to access time settings

Envoyé de mon Nexus 5 en utilisant Tapatalk

[HAL6128]

Just a short testing feedback: Yesterday I tried the new preview. I put the SD out of the M4 and into the PC. I copied the files over the old files existing on the SD Card and put it back into the M4. After booting SymbOS the CPC crashed. After resetting the SD wasn't accessible anymore. So I put it out again into the PC. Windows offered me formatting the card. I took a deeper dive with Winhex and have seen that the MBR was vanished and overwritten by SymbOS. It seemed that symbos.ini was directly stored in sector 0. I was able to restore most files and data into the PC.

I have no clue about the root cause, maybe I did something wrong?

So I formatted the SD and copied the preview again onto the card. Booting works fine now, but the IRC client freezes the whole CPC if I want to start connection.

[Edoz(MSX)]

Was the network daemon started and active before you started SyMIRC?
Was it hanging after starting or after you pressed the connect button?

[Takis Kalatzis]

Just a short testing feedback: Yesterday I tried the new preview. I put the SD out of the M4 and into the PC. I copied the files over the old files existing on the SD Card and put it back into the M4. After booting SymbOS the CPC crashed. After resetting the SD wasn't accessible anymore. So I put it out again into the PC. Windows offered me formatting the card. I took a deeper dive with Winhex and have seen that the MBR was vanished and overwritten by SymbOS. It seemed that symbos.ini was directly stored in sector 0. I was able to restore most files and data into the PC.

I have no clue about the root cause, maybe I did something wrong?

So I formatted the SD and copied the preview again onto the card. Booting works fine now, but the IRC client freezes the whole CPC if I want to start connection.

Similar thing happened to me with the previous 128k preview version. Actually SymbOS did not crash but my M4 SD card was not accessible. When I rebooted, SD card was completely unaccessible.  I had to format the SD and re-configure M4 from the beginning. Conclusion : always keep a backup of the M4 SD card before playing around with SymbOS.
Did not try yet the alternative MBR solution, though.

[HAL6128]

Was the network daemon started and active before you started SyMIRC?
Was it hanging after starting or after you pressed the connect button?

Honestly I don't know. There was the network symbol in the task bar, but I didn't check explicit about connectivity.
I tried SyMIRC two times:
The first time it crashed directly after pressing button "connect".
The second time SyMIRC changed (after pressing button "connect") to the status register / window where the information will be shown about fetching "data status", but freezed after 2 seconds...

[Prodatron]

Did you enter a nickname before pressing "connect". Not sure if this could cause a crash. I didn't test it with the newest M4 firmware, I will have to update my M4 this evening and will test it again. Yesterday syMIRC was working fine with the actual SymbOS package.

Regarding the destroyed boot sector: Oops! I never had such a problem since weeks, when the SD part was fully debugged. SymbOS shouldn't write to the SD card directly after booting. Did it happen after you shut down SymbOS? (the pre-installation has config autosave activated, so SymbOS will save the current config, when you shut down the system)

[HAL6128]

Hmm, I was booting SymbOS and if I remember right then SymbOS was started without background screen (orange screen, black border), no widgets.
But in that moment I haven't thought about a problem, so I started the SymIRC and crashed the CPC. No shutdown process took place...
I have done a screenshot of the first sector (sector 0). I will add it later.

After formatting the SD and copying all the stuff, I booted SymbOS without problems (default screen background with the "dragon"), and widgets (clock, system performance) etc.
I entered my nickname within SymIRC, yes.
I tested it with the newest M4 firmware (V1.1.0 - Beta 7). I'm going to switch back to M4 firmware (V1.1.0 - Beta 5) today evening, because I realized some issues with newest firmware regarding loading the game "defence" (CAS_IN_CHAR).

At the moment I have the Firmware 3.15 and 3.15 Exp in the ROM slots (lower rom) and 1. Will do further test

[Prodatron]

I updated the M4 right now to the newest firmware.
WGET is running fine, and currently I am online at #CPC, and syMIRC is running fine as well.
Please note that there is a still an issue with the M4 Network api. It would be possible to load data from the network in a faster way, but this may cause a crash of the M4Board. That's one of the two last issues I have to fix together with Duke (beside having multiple connections).

[00WReX]

Just a short testing feedback: Yesterday I tried the new preview. I put the SD out of the M4 and into the PC. I copied the files over the old files existing on the SD Card and put it back into the M4. After booting SymbOS the CPC crashed. After resetting the SD wasn't accessible anymore. So I put it out again into the PC. Windows offered me formatting the card. I took a deeper dive with Winhex and have seen that the MBR was vanished and overwritten by SymbOS. It seemed that symbos.ini was directly stored in sector 0. I was able to restore most files and data into the PC.

I have no clue about the root cause, maybe I did something wrong?

So I formatted the SD and copied the preview again onto the card. Booting works fine now, but the IRC client freezes the whole CPC if I want to start connection.

I just had what appears to be the same thing happen.

I had an SD card with the previous SymbOS release, so I copied the files from the new release straight over the top (selecting replace all).
SymbOS loaded but without a background picture or any programs available.
When I put the SD card into my PC it said the card needed to be formatted.
I formatted the card and placed SymbOS on it again...same thing.

Then I remembered about copying symbos1.ini onto the card, renamed as symbos.ini
I had forgotten about that 

That worked 

Cheers,
Shane

[Prodatron]

Thanks for this hint! Maybe it was the same issue with HAL6128 und Takis SD card problem.
I will modify the partition management in the way, that partition 1 is always the first partition, no matter if the medium has an MBR or not. In this case there is no need anymore to have different INI files for Sd cards with and without an MBR.

[HAL6128]

Interesting. I assumed that symbos.ini is the right one that is customized for the M4 (FAT32 SD with MBR). With the wrong harddrive configuration initialized (X-Mass config for exampel without a MBR) things will obviously go wrong.
Thanks for helping.

[protek]

Hmm, should give this version and the latest AcmeDos a try to see if I can get the X-Mass finally working.

[remax]

If only someone could write a SymbOS HXC configurator it would be wonderful !

[Prodatron]

Have you ever seen CPC Starkos sound modules played on an Enterprise 64/128 computer?



Geco from the Enterprise scene is currently updating SymAmp for playing Soundtrakker 128, Starkos and PT3 modules on this cool Z80 machine.
The Enterprise doesn't have an AY-3-8912 (PSG) like the CPC or MSX but a chip called "Dave" which is responsible for the sound as well, but not compatible to the AY. So it's quite impressive that it's still possible to emulate the PSG on this machine in a good way.
Btw Geco is the one who coded the software Amstrad CPC emulator for the Enterprise (+ ZX Spectrum emulator for the EP, ZX81 emulator for the EP, VIC-20 emulator for the EP, ... )

[TotO]

Have you ever seen CPC Starkos sound modules played on an Enterprise 64/128 computer?

Why not using the GA interrupt to rasterise the SymbOS CPC taskbar? 

[Prodatron]

Not a bad idea, but there are some issues.
The last GA interrupts occurs about 9,5 pixellines before the end of the 320x200 screen. The taskbar has a height of 14 pixels, so I would have to move the whole screen downwards and waste some time when waiting for the correct line.
Another problem of course are locked interrupts during mass storage access (FDC and M4 SD card).
It's not impossible, but would require some work.

The video chip of the Enterprise ("Nick") is using a table in memory, where you can set screen resolution and the first 8 colours for each single pixel line. That made it so easy to have a taskbar with its own 4 colours.

[TotO]

Yes, it's true. That will require more work than result. 
May be that should be more easy for PlayCity users...

[PulkoMandy]

... or Albireo with the CURSOR interrupt. Or Amstrad Plus. But I see it as a waste of precious CPU time

[TotO]

... or Albireo with the CURSOR interrupt.

Sure, may be using CURSOR too. But, this signal is fine for a hardware pointer.