CosmosEx - updates

[Jookie]

Hello all,

I've decided to create a separate thread to list the updates as they come - I've done that to the 'bug reports' thread, but the updates are lost there in the flow of bug reports... Please do not use this thread for reporting issues - even if they are caused by the latest update (the bug reports here will be deleted and possibly re-posted elsewhere), this should be just a publicly visible list of updates...

[Jookie]

OK, first I'll post few older updates...

New version of RPi app and Franz firmware are out (2014-07-27):

- fix for bad behavior of original mouse when forwarded through injector and moving fast - happened on Mega ST, didn't happen on sandwich STFM.

- fix for the network not starting problem - CosmosEx didn't save 'auto eth0' to /etc/network/interfaces, this caused linux not to start eth0 automatically -- big thanks to Mark Fechtner (TinTzi) for finding the issue!, also moved wpa (wifi) configuration to separate config file. The network not starting happens when you save the configuration with the older version of app - that will overwrite the original config file with which it worked...

- added username and password to 'shared drive configuration' - now you can specify the credentials if you don't like public sharing of your data on the network, this should also fix issue with Windows 8 sharing, as it didn't work with empty / wrong username and password (this is not tested, I don't have any Win 8 around).

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Another version of RPi app is out (2014-07-28):

- fix for not mounting USB drives (simple mistake when checking if the translated / raw mode is enabled)

- added 'ce_mounts.prg' tool to config drive - it shows you on what drive letter you have what drive, also pressing letters 'C' to 'P' unmounts the drive - if you use USB removable drive, then you should do this to avoid data loss (this does sync and umount)

- update from USB added to ce_config.prg, the update files will then be on my web-page somewhere (link later)

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there's a new version of Main App (2014-08-10):

- PrgFlags on all apps in config drive are now off - the current versions of these apps don't like TT ram, I'm not sure if DMA transfer can work with TT ram (if I remember correctly, then it doesn't), so that's why

- fix for truncating files when doing Fopen with S_WRITE, which is used for modifying content of file - this caused that when you used some app (e.g. PrgFlags.PRG) which only modified existing file, the file then became empty (this issue appears only on TRANSLATED drives, native drives weren't affected).

- fix for not saving floppy image files with name (or saving them with empty name) on native drives when using ce_fdd.prg - there was an extra backslash added when constructing saving path (e.g. C:\GAMES\\A000.ST) so TOS decided to use empty filename

- fix for not mounting USB key as translated when the key didn't contain any partitions (no /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2) but just the whole key was a single partition (just /dev/sda)

Also note that there was a link added to CosmosEx download page to update file for update from USB key ( http://joo.kie.sk/?page_id=474 ) and also a short manual about that ( http://joo.kie.sk/?page_id=484 ) - that update file will be updated on every new update (herp de derp...)

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another update, this time it's Hans (2014-08-12) and Main App (2014-08-12):

- the update of Hans should solve the cold boot issue of SD card (that you had to do a couple of ST resets to boot from the SD card). The whole issue is related to hot swap feature - the device was reporting to the driver that the media (SD card) was changed on the start up, and that prevented the ST to boot from SD cart until this unit attention state was cleared. The problem is that this reporting of media change is done in a way that the new drivers know (HDDRIVER and ICD Pro) so they handle the situation (so running HDDRIVER / HDDRUTIL / ICD Pro would get the device from 'media changed' state to the normal usable state), but the TOS booting process doesn't know anything about that, it just tries to read the sectors from the SD card and fails (and the 'error' is: dude, the media has changed, ok?). So now when the SD card is inserted when the device is turned on, it won't report the first (initial) media change. Please test this and report if the behavior of SD card got better.

- the update of Main App is just some feature added which will be used later.

[Jookie]

There's a new update for the Main App (2014-08-17) and Franz (2014-08-17):

- a couple of fixes for TT by ggn/KUA to the ce_dd.prg (disk driver) - great thanks for this patch, I couldn't do it at home without TT!

- setting of boot drive to config drive by tIn/absence - this change in ce_dd.prg (and Main App) sets the boot drive on start of the ce_dd driver (e.g. to 'O') when you don't have any other drive letters present, so for a not configured CosmosEx device you should boot from config drive where the DESKTOP.INF is stored and you should see a 'O' - config drive - icon on the desktop. If you will add any other drive letter (e.g. shared drive) this feature turns itself off (or when HDDRIVER starts and adds its partitions / letters to the system).

- ce_dd.prg now shows IP address of CosmosEx and sets the new date and time on start - the date synchronization with NTP server is in the Main App, there's also a config for that - it's under 'Others' in the ce_config.prg

- fix for Franz for disabling drive, fix for Main App to apply the floppy drive settings - almost all code was present to apply the floppy settings (enabled, ID) but a small part was missing and made it all non-working (sorry, I've missed that). These changes also make the DSKCHG pin on floppy to toggle on floppy image change, this should help the floppy change detection (but not tested, might need something more)


For the TT fix - you should update to this version when you use CosmosEx with TT, but you need to do the following:
- either get new (only PrgFlags changed) ce_conf.prg from here: http://joo.kie.sk/cosmosex/download/ce_conf.zip
...and use it to go to the Update and update the software

- or log in the Raspberry Pi of your CosmosEx device using ssh (user: root, password: ce), and then do the following (each line is followed by Enter key):

Code: Select all

cd /ce
wget http://joo.kie.sk/cosmosex/scripts.zip
unzip scripts.zip
chmod 755 *.sh
./ce_update.sh
(wait until update finishes...)
./ce_start.sh


That should download the update /start / stop scripts, then run the update. After that you should reset your TT and see if it loads the driver and you're able to open drive 'O'.

[Jeff_HxC2001]

- fix for Franz for disabling drive, fix for Main App to apply the floppy drive settings - almost all code was present to apply the floppy settings (enabled, ID) but a small part was missing and made it all non-working (sorry, I've missed that). These changes also make the DSKCHG pin on floppy to toggle on floppy image change, this should help the floppy change detection (but not tested, might need something more)

The disk change detection doesn't rely on the DSKCHG signal on ST... But on the write protect signal state...

[Jookie]

Hello, we've got another update: Main App, Hans and Franz (all are 2014-08-25):

Main App (2014-08-25):
- fix for not responding for a while after ACSI request of odd length (e.g. SCSI INQUIRY with length of 15 bytes)
- a button added in config screen: Others -> Reset all setting -- this will delete all your CosmosEx settings from device and you will end up with default settings
- there's a new CE_CONF.PRG, and together with this version of Main App (and later) it will show you message 'CosmosEx device is updating' instead of 'Communication with CosmosEx failed' when the update is (probably) running - you won't see this new behaviour in this update though, but in the next one
- a new tool has been added - CE_FDD.TTP - the only argument is a path to floppy image, which it will upload to currently selected image slot (or to slot 1 if no slot is selected), after which you need only reset your ST to start the game / demo from that slot (should work with drag and drop on TOS 2.06)

Hans (2014-08-25):
- fix for not handling SCSI WRITE 10 command, which resulted in errors when trying to partition the SD card with capacity above 1 GB (there was a small copy&paste mistake - I had there SCSI_C_WRITE6 twice instead of having SCSI_C_WRITE6 and SCSI_C_WRITE10) - tested with HDDRIVER 9 and ICD Pro, both partitioned a 4 GB card without error now

Franz (2014-08-25):
- now toggling also the WRITE_PROTECT signal when floppy image is changed, but my test utility doesn't show any difference when asking about media change (it doesn't notice the change even with the real floppy), so if anyone can test this (or help me with better test util), then go on. Please notice that due to some protocol stuff it takes around 2 to 3 seconds now to toggle the WRITE_PROTECT signal, so please wait a bit after pressing the image change button when testing this... Other thing is that from documentation it seems that TOS also reads floppy serial number when it isn't sure if the media was changed and checks the previous serial number, and I've noticed that many Automation images have the same serial number (77 B9 90) - I could change the serial numbers to random values on the fly to improve the media change detection, but I'm afraid that this might misbehave in some situations (on some special floppy bootsectors where something other is stored there or when the serial number is checked for some purpose)

[wietze]

I've noticed that many Automation images have the same serial number (77 B9 90) - I could change the serial numbers to random values on the fly to improve the media change detection, but I'm afraid that this might misbehave in some situations (on some special floppy bootsectors where something other is stored there or when the serial number is checked for some purpose)

Hello Jookie,

thanks for clarifying the reason why some diskchanges may not be detected; I was not aware of this. The current automation disks have the same bootsector, since they are all `tampered with' by LGD. I think the proper solution would be to make sure the Automation disks are untampered and thus have the unique serial numbers. I will experiment with different disks that have different serial numbers and see if the disk changes are detected properly. If so, cosmosex is working as intended, and I would suggest nog changing the code at all (or at least make the feature optional).

My suggested solution would be to `untamper' the current images, such that the diskchange mechanism is honoured.

[Jookie]

MainApp - 2014-09-12:
- new feature by tIn/absence. - web server added to the main app, so the device web is accessible through the device IP address - using some browser (Chrome recommended)

- new feature by tIn/absence. - with this is related remote control web - handling keyboard, mouse and ST screen display in Chrome. The screen showing is now bit slow, but can be configured (CE_CONF -> Other -> Screencast frameskip
To have the screen forwarding from ST to remote control web, you have to start CE_CAST.PRG (located in Config drive), but you have to start it from non-translated drive (e.g. from SD card or floppy) - due to some issues when combined with translated driver (has to be fixed). Please also consider this as experimental feature - if you do some data transfers (copying data here and there, saving some data from app), do not use screencast - please prefer safety before features.

- joysticks have been swapped - now the 1st attached joystick appears as JOY 1, and 2nd attached joystick appears as JOY0 - this is probably the order which games expect. The behaviour can be reverted using CE_CONFIG.PRG -> Other -> Attach 1st joy as JOY0 (checkbox)

- when you change the timesync options (CE_CONFIG.PRG -> Other -> Update time from internet), this should now force time synchronisation from internet again

- added equal signs ('=') when saving wpa_supplicant.conf - the format was bad for wlan (wifi) configuration, but not all issues with wifi are solved yet

- resursive delete on non-empty directories added to translated disk - before this fix you couldn't delete a non-empty directory from TOS


CE_DD - 2014-09-12 (this translated driver is included in the MainApp):
- fix for bad Fread() - when doing Fread() on specific number of bytes and when stored to odd address in ST RAM there was some data missing (data corruption). This should be now OK

[Jookie]

MainApp - 2014-09-16:
- support for nested Fsfirst() / Fsnext() calls - this fixes issue with missing files when copying from translated to native drive in TOS (copying from native to translated drive was working OK even before, copying using Kobold worked even before in both directions) - I've spent almost a week with this (no good documentation on the nesting of Fsfirst() / Fsnext() )

- saving of DNS moved to CosmosEx settings, so now it should keep the DNS settings (when using static network settings) even after the device power off and on cycle


CE_DD - 2014-09-16:
- support for nested Fsfirst() / Fsnext() calls -- works with the laters MainApp. If you're running CE_DD from floppy or native drive, be sure to update it with the newest version from your config drive.

[Gryzor]

Web control and web mirroring? Whoa man, that sounds seriously cool! Are there any screenshots?

[itaboy]

Great job, as usual!

[Jookie]

Web control and web mirroring? Whoa man, that sounds seriously cool! Are there any screenshots?

Not yet, maybe later

[Gryzor]

Web control and web mirroring? Whoa man, that sounds seriously cool! Are there any screenshots?

Not yet, maybe later

Ah, cool; I've withdrawn my 520ST+ to replace with my STe but I'm waiting for some cables and so can't check it myself...

[DrCoolZic]

CE_DD - 2014-09-16:
- support for nested Fsfirst() / Fsnext() calls -- works with the laters MainApp. If you're running CE_DD from floppy or native drive, be sure to update it with the newest version from your config drive.

Thanks to mention. I have updated to latest version and when reboot no more O drive no more N drive
Removed my SD card boot with your driver and copy to diskette, put back the SD card reboot and copy new DD_CE in AUTO folder and now everything works back

One minor problem. Once CE_CAST program is loaded the ACSI LED blink continuously ????

[DrCoolZic]

MainApp - 2014-09-16:
- support for nested Fsfirst() / Fsnext() calls - this fixes issue with missing files when copying from translated to native drive in TOS (copying from native to translated drive was working OK even before, copying using Kobold worked even before in both directions) - I've spent almost a week with this (no good documentation on the nesting of Fsfirst() / Fsnext() )

Thanks was a pain.

Othr minor problem: although the time is correctly set and displayed during CE_DD boot. The time reported in the debug tab of CE remote web?

cosmosex-web-debug.PNG

[DrCoolZic]

Web control and web mirroring? Whoa man, that sounds seriously cool! Are there any screenshots?

Not yet, maybe later

[Gryzor]

Thanks man! Any chance for the other tabs?

[DrCoolZic]

Manual send you to send you to this page
and Remote complain because I have not yet installed the IKBD injectors

not terribly useful at this point but a great opportunity to display lots of useful information and may be ssh like capability ?

[Gryzor]

Ah, it needs the injectors... ok then. One more reason for me to install it! Probably not very useful, but very, very cool!

[tin]

One minor problem. Once CE_CAST program is loaded the ACSI LED blink continuously ????

That's expected behaviour - the ST sends the screen buffer via ACSI every N frames.

Othr minor problem: although the time is correctly set and displayed during CE_DD boot. The time reported in the debug tab of CE remote web?

Yeah - that's a bit misleading - the debug information contains the internal CE/Pi time without timezone correction. The UTC should probably be displayed separately to avoid confusion.

[DrCoolZic]

One minor problem. Once CE_CAST program is loaded the ACSI LED blink continuously ????

That's expected behaviour - the ST sends the screen buffer via ACSI every N frames.

Othr minor problem: although the time is correctly set and displayed during CE_DD boot. The time reported in the debug tab of CE remote web?

Yeah - that's a bit misleading - the debug information contains the internal CE/Pi time without timezone correction. The UTC should probably be displayed separately to avoid confusion.

Thanks for the info.

I now understand that blinking is the expected behavior but it would be nice if it could be removed
is there a way to "kill" CE_CAST other than reboot?

[tin]

I now understand that blinking is the expected behavior but it would be nice if it could be removed

It's probably a good idea to have ACSI transfers that don't trigger the activity light; not only regarding the screencast driver, but also for e.g. network drivers.
I'll check this with jookie.

is there a way to "kill" CE_CAST other than reboot?

Not currently. A deinstall could be added to the driver (e.g. on second start), but that will leak some memory. TSR memory can't be handed back to GEMDOS AFAIR.
I'll add that to the list.

[Kirkman]

MainApp - 2014-09-12:
- new feature by tIn/absence. - with this is related remote control web - handling keyboard, mouse and ST screen display in Chrome. The screen showing is now bit slow, but can be configured (CE_CONF -> Other -> Screencast frameskip

- joysticks have been swapped - now the 1st attached joystick appears as JOY 1, and 2nd attached joystick appears as JOY0 - this is probably the order which games expect. The behaviour can be reverted using CE_CONFIG.PRG -> Other -> Attach 1st joy as JOY0 (checkbox)

- support for nested Fsfirst() / Fsnext() calls - this fixes issue with missing files when copying from translated to native drive in TOS (copying from native to translated drive was working OK even before, copying using Kobold worked even before in both directions) - I've spent almost a week with this (no good documentation on the nesting of Fsfirst() / Fsnext() )

Jookie, the screencast is really awesome. It's like a VNC client for my Atari. Too bad it doesn't work with games, but it's still amazing that I can control my Mega STe from inside a web browser on my Mac!

Also, thanks for the fixes for the USB gamepads and for the net drive copying. Both big fixes I had been hoping for. Sorry they caused so much trouble.

--Josh

[Jookie]

Jookie, the screencast is really awesome.

All the credit goes to tIn/absence He's still working on other features related to the web services.

Also, thanks for the fixes for the USB gamepads and for the net drive copying. Both big fixes I had been hoping for. Sorry they caused so much trouble.

Don't be sorry for my bugs and my time fixing them - they are my problem, and also my commitment to all CosmosEx users. More will be fixed later, it just takes some time.

[itaboy]

Well Jookie, I am frankly amazed at your commitment and I am really happy with my CosmosEx. You did a great job and it's perfectly normal that minor problems get ironed out only after real users start putting the device thorough its paces in production environments. Still your assistence and your constant job is to be highly commended! Thumbs up!

[DrCoolZic]

Jookie, the screencast is really awesome.

All the credit goes to tIn/absence He's still working on other features related to the web services.

Yes this is really a fantastic idea. Thanks to tin/absense

Don't be sorry for my bugs and my time fixing them - they are my problem, and also my commitment to all CosmosEx users. More will be fixed later, it just takes some time

Thanks you have always been very responsive and very fast to implement bug fixes and whishes. Fanatastic work