{"id":330,"date":"2024-08-31T21:31:38","date_gmt":"2024-08-31T11:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.amigaretro.com\/projects\/?p=330"},"modified":"2024-09-23T21:19:32","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T11:19:32","slug":"my-trs-80-frehd-update-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.amigaretro.com\/projects\/my-trs-80-frehd-update-story\/","title":{"rendered":"My TRS-80 FreHD Update Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

Happy<\/strong> \u2013<\/em> \u201cSepTandy\u201d! \u2013 My FreHD Update Story <\/strong><\/h1>\n

To quote \u201cHitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy\u201d \u2013 The story so far\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

Opening Comment:<\/em><\/strong> The \u201cFreHD\u201d<\/strong> is an amazing machine! Frederic and all the other contributors have my congratulations and thanks, as does Ian for his excellently built units!<\/p>\n

Part One \u2013 All FreHD Utilities (tools) have been updated and bug fixed (V 2.05)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

My little project started out with a very simple goal! To locate the \u201cFreHD\u201d CP\/M utilities that \u201cI assumed\u201d were just missing from the \u201cstock\u201d CP\/M image that came with my FreHD<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I found that:<\/p>\n

1, There was no way to \u201cimport\u201d to the CP\/M image (no \u2018import2.com\u2019).<\/p>\n

2, The version of \u2018vhdutl.com\u2019 (v2.02) could \u201cdirectory\u201d images on the SD Card (DIR) & \u201clist\u201d the mounted images (MNT) but it was \u201cNOT\u201d able to mount them.<\/p>\n

\"Version<\/p>\n

\"Old<\/p>\n

After this I spent a great deal of time – both directly and indirectly \u2013 working with many members of the \u201cTandy\u201d discord (What a great group of people), with Matt (@maboytim) in particular. With their \u201cgreat\u201d assistance I have \u201ccurated\u201d multiple bugfixes and code corrections into the codebase for the FreHD Utilities for all the stock OS\u2019es. All the bugfixes have been noted \/ commented in the code base and referenced to the contributor.<\/p>\n

In short, these corrected the issues I was having with the CP\/M utilities and many others.<\/p>\n

\"VHDUTL<\/p>\n

VHDUTL.COM \u2013 Mounts drive images correctly now under CP\/M<\/p>\n

A Note on Version Numbers<\/strong> \u2013 (firmware) This is jumping ahead a little, but I thought it best to cover it now \u2013 in brief \u2013 there was in the past a great deal of \u201cgrief\u201d<\/em><\/strong> in relation to version numbers and the confusion that it caused. I do hope I have not added to this, in fact my goal is to help get everyone back on an even keel. A \u201ctiny\u201d summary of the back story \u2013 I don\u2019t know the exact timing here or full details but, suffice it to say \u2013 at some point after firmware 2.13<\/strong> additional hardware support was added and this may have inadvertently caused some issues in its operation on the TRS-80 and \u2013 may have – caused \u201cerrors\u201d in compiling it from source. One of the releases of 2.14<\/em> would appear to have been the culprit here! The successfully compiled version that came after this is 2.15<\/strong> and will be found on \u201cmost\u201d pre-built<\/em> units. General opinion is that 2.13<\/strong> is \u201crock<\/strong>\u201d solid, so if you are not affected by any issues and \u201cdo not\u201d<\/strong> wish or need to compile your \u201cown\u201d<\/strong> firmware \u2013 feel confident in sticking with (v2.13)<\/strong> or (v2.15)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

(Utilities) \u2013 I don\u2019t think I need to go into great detail here (most drive images I was able to locate on the Internet contained v2.00 \u2013 v2.03<\/strong>) – The Utilities<\/strong> (Tools v2.05<\/strong>) have been updated & bug fixed significantly and I would \u201cgenerally\u201d recommend using the later versions – These (v2.05)<\/strong> utilities contain some \u201cmissing\u201d tools, are compliant with and will work with all 2.13<\/strong> firmware and on.<\/p>\n

After finalising and testing \u2013 as best I was able \u2013 the utilities, I spoke with Frederic (@veco) and he was very pleased to pull these into the main repository.<\/p>\n

Frederic\u2019s repository now contains these updates: https:\/\/github.com\/veco\/FreHDv1<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

FreHD Utilities (tools) v2.05 \u2013 <\/strong>Release files<\/em> (if you are not compiling your own) can be found here: https:\/\/github.com\/ontheslab\/FreHDv1CPM\/releases<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Utilities Update Notes<\/strong> are here: https:\/\/github.com\/ontheslab\/FreHDv1CPM\/blob\/main\/notes.alltools<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Available Files:<\/p>\n

cpm_tool205.zip<\/strong> \u2013 CP\/M Only Utilities (tools) – (original project that started it all \ud83d\ude09 )<\/p>\n

all_tool205.zip<\/strong> \u2013 Utilities for all stock OS\u2019es<\/p>\n

TOOLS205.DSK<\/strong> \u2013 Disk Image with the above Utilities<\/p>\n

Part Two (a) \u2013 FreHD firmware has been updated and bug fixed (V 2.16 & V 3.68)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Like the work that has been done on the Utilities, the \u201cfirmware\u201d has also been bug fixed. Given the history of issues, Matt (@maboytim) incorporated these fixes into the development of his \u201cTrsVid\u201d firmware and from this he has patched the stock (2.xx) firmware. The goal here was to make bug fixed firmware that would compile cleanly and was compliant with \u201cfupdate\u201d. Firmware (v2.16)<\/strong> is now the current version for Model I\/III\/4<\/strong> if you are compiling it yourself. Firmware (v3.68)<\/strong> is the current version for the Model II<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This process showed up another small bug in the \u201cfupdate\u201d utility with the final version display missing a digit \u2013 This is now fixed and is already in the \u201cutilities \/ tools\u201d release on the main GitHub.<\/p>\n

** In the following example (v3.14) refers to the \u201cTrsVid\u201d Bootloader Compliant firmware.<\/strong><\/p>\n

** How to use this software updatable firmware will be covered in my next article (Part Two).<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cfupdate\u201d<\/strong> loading of the new (2.16 & 3.14)<\/strong> and old firmware (2.15)<\/strong> is confirmed on the 4p<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Bug (now fixed)<\/strong> in the display after update (dropping a digit (2.6 instead of 2.16) etc.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Programming and Confirming software update to 2.16<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Process confirmed.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Programming and Confirming software update 3.14 \u2013 (with TrsVid support).<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\u201cfupdate\u201d<\/strong> version display bug also confirmed fixed \u2013 version display corrected.<\/p>\n

Part Two (b) \u2013 FreHD rom has been updated and bug fixed (V 1009)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A version display bug that would cause a crash was also identified in \u201cfrehd.rom\u201d<\/strong> this patch is also now incorporated into the main repository and release (binary) files.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

New \u201cfrehd.rom\u201d functional in all \u2013 above<\/strong> – tested firmware versions without crash (details of the bug are not covered here but can be found in the source and on the Tandy discord).<\/p>\n

Available files:<\/p>\n

FreHD_2.16.zip<\/strong> \u2013 FreHD Firmware (v2.16)<\/strong> and frehd.rom (v1009)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Release files are here:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

https:\/\/github.com\/ontheslab\/FreHDv1CPM\/releases\/tag\/v2.16-firmware<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Repository firmware notes:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

https:\/\/github.com\/ontheslab\/FreHDv1CPM\/blob\/main\/notes.firmware<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Frederic\u2019s repository now contains these updates: https:\/\/github.com\/veco\/FreHDv1<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

In Closing! I hope this is of help and use to others! \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

Summary:<\/p>\n