FutureOS corner

[dodogildo]

Now I'm trying FutureOS with RSF3. Installed all four ROMS and FutureOS is working but not seeing RSF3's mass storage (USB stick). Any idea?
EDIT: I forgot to mention RSF3 is on M4 mode. (Rom6:M4, Rom10-13:FutureOS)

[dodogildo]

Oops my bad. I didn't realize there was a special FutureOS rombank distribution for RSF3 sorry. Now it's all working fine. 

[GUNHED]

Now I'm trying FutureOS with RSF3. Installed all four ROMS and FutureOS is working but not seeing RSF3's mass storage (USB stick). Any idea?
EDIT: I forgot to mention RSF3 is on M4 mode. (Rom6:M4, Rom10-13:FutureOS)

Well, sadly the SF3 doesn't quite emulate the M4 SD-card file support that will.
It fails at:
- Read directory entry
- Calculate file size
- few others...

But the creators of the SF3 work on that, as at on many other topics.

Just hope to see it working sometime this year. 


@Everybody: Please update FutureTex, important bug fixes and more.

[dodogildo]

@GUNHED would you consider adding a "MOVE" function to the file manager? 

[GUNHED]

@GUNHED would you consider adding a "MOVE" function to the file manager? 

Yes, I can do that of course. Will put in on the 2 DO list. But can take a while. Actually it's planned to overwork the ROM M in some months anyway. Stuff like adding hot-keys etc...

Meanwhile you can do it this way:
- Tag all the files you want to move (no other files please)
- Use the copy function to "move" them to the target
- Press ESC to come to the Desktop, then press "a" for "again". Now all used files will be tagged again
- Eventually press "h" to be back in the file-manager 

[GUNHED]

BTW: Here is a picture of the M4 Shell, just to see what we're talking about... 

[GUNHED]

Enhanced RAM Banking... 

To be able to support up to 4-8 MB of RAM (4 MB is what you can buy today!) the OS has been slightly adapted...

This will be part of the next release and makes things more save when working with extension RAM banks like &78xx, &79xx, &7Axx and &7Bxx. 

The old way of (f.e.): LD BC,&79C6:OUT (C),C

Will be replaced by: LD BC,&79FF:LD A,&C6:OUT (C),A

This is important for future hardware expansions and also for not-fully-decoding extensions of he current days.

FutureOS 2025 will come ... 


And to tell it in the words of another German OS developer: "It seems, that this is the first OS for real machines with all these features?" 

[GUNHED]

Please update your ROManager 2.5.0!

Recent important bug-fix in the ROM version and 1/7 faster decrunching now 

Support for ALL ROM devices for the CPC, now including also ROM-RAM-Box and RAMcard.

Enjoy!!! 

[dodogildo]

@GUNHED would you consider adding a "MOVE" function to the file manager? 

Hello again, any improvement on this? 

[dodogildo]

My problem is that I'm having screen garbage with long file names. I don't know if it's a known bug/limitation or it's based on my setup. Can you please refer to the picture attached and advise? Thanks in advance!

And this? 

[GUNHED]

The update of of the FutureOS ROM M for M4 management is the now upcoming next big project for me. 

Please be patient 

[GUNHED]

Important Update!

There's now an important update for the FutureOS ROM M (previously known as the M4 XROM).

Hotkeys have been added. The same ones also work on the FutureOS desktop. 

But the most important thing is that it now always works with every card and every directory. There have been rare problems with some M4 cards so far. The M4 has a bug: You can't switch ROMs during data transfer. Who would have thought that? But the M4 is a "black box" for us programmers. Banking works most of the time, but in 1% of cases, it doesn't.
The new ROM works around this and is even faster!

Enclosed is the disc. Please write the new M4 ROM over the old one using ROManager 2.50. And everything will be fine! 

[Prodatron]

You can't switch ROMs during data transfer.

Are you speaking about sending data packages to the M4Board via OUT?
As for reading you are using the ROM as a memory mapped input buffer, so you can't switch this away anyway during one transfer.

After having a quick look at the M4Info.txt I don't find the information, that the ROM has to be visible during data write as well. Hm, but it seems, that Duke mentioned it in the past (nearly 10 years ago?), at least my drivers are activating the M4 ROM even when sending data to the M4 via I/O.

[GUNHED]

What's new?

- File names are now only displayed up to 27 characters long; the remaining characters are hidden because otherwise they would overflow (see Dodogildos post before). I wasn't expecting such long (DSK) names at first.

- Hotkeys are implemented in all three windows. They are the same as in the OS, except for I and O. They are displayed at the bottom of the screen. There are also U for Untag, which untags all file names, and A for retagging ALL previously used files. See: https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/programming/futureos-corner/msg250713/#msg250713

- Information help-text at the lower part of the screen.

PDT: The problem is more complex and shows only up when reading a DIR entry name. It's solved, so everything is fine. But thanks for caring. 

[Prodatron]

But the M4 is a "black box" for us programmers.

Seems, that it should still stay a blackbox when reading this answer.

The problem is more complex and shows only up when reading a DIR entry name. It's solved, so everything is fine.

The

C_READDIR         

command has to have the ROM visible as well. What is "complex" about this?
I am not using the highlevel features, where the Z80 is not used for filesystem handling at all, but everything is handled by the external ARM M4Board CPU, moving all the intelligence from the CPC to the M4Board. But...
It would be still interesting, what bug you mentioned here, as you are talking about reading, not writing:

The M4 has a bug: You can't switch ROMs during data transfer 

Did you inform Duke about the bug (whatever it should be?) and will he update the m4info.txt?

[GUNHED]

Well, thanks for caring again. But you completely miss the point here. You are welcome to PM me, then I can explain you the solved problem step by step in easy words. But that is not the topic here, and probably not at all of common interest. If you ever write software which does access the M4 ROM from another ROM then let me know and I can help you doing that in a 100% working way. 

The status quo right now is that the FutureOS ROM M (mass storage on SD cards) works well now. 
The suggested MOVE option is not implemented by now, but it's on the 2DO list. Any other suggestion have been taken into account of course. 

Let me (you all!) know if you have any other suggestions or error reports please.
FutureSoft is there for you to provide the best experience you can have.