Это старая версия документа!
Carnivore2 Changelog
15.03.2020
Version 2.30 (Boot Menu and firmware)
Required updates: FPGA firmware, Boot Menu, all utilities, DefConfig entry; the «Power-up fix» must be removed if it was implemented on board!)
The new setup screen was introduced - slot configuration. It can be called with «O» hotkey or with «Enter». The new setup screen allows to run dual-slot configuration with flexible options selection for the master slot (you can choose what Carnivore2 built-in devices to enable). You can select 2 ROMs to run simultaneously. The only restriction for the slave slot is that it can run games with Konami4 and Konami5 mappers as well as small games up to 32kb without mapper. The slave slot becomes available if there's one unused physical slot in
MSX and it is not occupied by another device
The Boot Menu main page's UI was adjusted to have all main hotkeys easily visible. Also the Boot Menu now has the visible selection for master and slave slots called «Dual-Slot». The entry for the master slot can be selected by pressing «1», the entry for the slave slot can be selected by pressing «2». The «D» key clears the selection as well as Autostart entry
The DefConfig's settings were changed and the Boot Menu was adjusted so that when this default configuration is started, the Boot Menu remains in the primary slot, allows the system to start and is always detectable by C2MAN and other utilities. The C2MAN and C2MAN40 utilities now write the adjusted DefConfig entry into the directory when you optimize directory entries from the Service Menu
A new setting has been added into the Configuration screen to set the desired frequency at startup. A user can choose between 50Hz, 60Hz and the default computer's frequency (no forcing, this is marked as «–»). The setting is saved into the configuration
EEPROM. Now the «F» button in the Boot Menu only temporarily switches the frequency between 50Hz and 60Hz
The Configuration screen got yet another new setting - «Dual-reset on cold boot». It makes the computer restart twice after the cold boot. This is necessary to make sure that the cartridge is fully initialized when a computer is just powered on. So it is recommended to enable the dual-reset feature
The C2CFGBCK utility no longer does the
BIOS ROM shadowing and therefore starts faster
The Boot Menu's data section has been heavily optimized to have space for more features. The repeated characters are now output with a macros (this saves space). The data for Boot Menu's screens is now written in the last two 8kb blocks of the first 64kb FlashROM block. This saves a lot of space
The firmware now reports its internal version in the configuration registers (3 bytes) in
ASCII format (only starting from v2.30)
The cartridge now outputs the actual versions of the Boot Menu and the firmware during the cold boot and then either reboots a system again (dual-reset) or continues to the Boot Menu
The cartridge will not work in slot 0 and slot 3, it will output a message and halt a system if it detects that it's used in those slots
The IDE
BIOS has been changed to Nextor 2.1.0 Beta 2. This is a stable version with many bugfixes and new features provided by Konamiman
The Configuration screen got another new setting - «Disable FMPAC stereo». It disables the stereo output of FMPAC from Carnivore2's audio socket
The Boot Menu now detects that it is running on Korean or Arabic MSXs and in case it is not compatible with those systems, it will output a message and will try to boot to
DOS after 10 seconds. In such a case a compatible Boot Menu (BOOTCMFC.BIN) should be installed into the cartridge (see the «Special» subfolder in the repository for the compatible version of the Boot Menu
ROMs can be selected with the «Space» key in the Dual-Slot screen. Pressing space will allow to cycle through compatible ROMs for each slot. After the full cycle there will be an «empty» selection to keep the slot vacant. In addition, the master slot can also use the «Konami SCC+» configuration. So you can run SCC+ games in the slave slot and enjoy SCC+ and a game on a single cartridge. When the master slot's expansion is enabled, any of its devices (
RAM, FMPAC, IDE) can be enabled or disabled with the «Space» key
The autostart countdown can be skipped with «Space» key. The same applies to the message about the incompatible Boot Menu
All screens now support joystick. The joystick's directions are interpreted as cursor keys and the buttons are interpreted as «Space» or «ESC». Please see the readme.txt for more info
In the
PSG/
PPI settings the «Space» key now enables or disables the
PSG and the «Enter» key enables or disables the
PPI clicker. This is done to better support joystick usage in this screen
During the autostart countdown joystick buttons allow to either skip the countdown and start an entry or to cancel the countdown and go to the main menu. Please see the readme.txt for more info
The Boot Menu detects Russian network modules and halts a system to prevent conflicts
31.03.2019
Added UI settings screen that can be called with «S» button into the Boot Menu. A user can now enable sorting of the menu entries, enable/disable fade in/out effects, set the speed of the keyboard/joystick and customize the font and the background colors of all Boot Menu's screens (on MSX2 and later computers). A user can also restore the default settings with just one button. The UI settings are stored in the configuration
EEPROM
The F3 key loads the UI defaults on startup, but it doesn't clear the settings in the
EEPROM. This function may be used to bypass bad configuration settings
The C2MAN, C2MAN40, C2RAMLDR, C2SRAM and C2BACKUP utilities now assume the default extension for their data files and
ROM images if a user doesn't input the extension himself
The C2MAN, C2MAN40 and C2RAMLDR utilities got a bugfix to better identify the free directory entries in order to re-use them. The directory optimization now works better
The C2MAN and C2MAN40 utilities were optimized in size to better fit into
RAM under
MSX-DOS2
The new utility C2CFGBCK allows to backup and restore the data in the configuration
EEPROM
The C2BACKUP utility asks a user whether he wants to preserve the existing Boot Menu on the cartridge and in case of a positive answer it doesn't overwrite the existing Boot Menu with the one stored in the backup file
Added C2IDETST utility to test IDE controller's functionality. The utility performs 16384 read/write operations and shows the status for each of them. In the end the utility shows the total/success/failed counters
30.09.2018
The Casio's built-in trigger buttons can now interrupt the autostart
22.09.2018
The Boot Menu now supports joypads and joysticks connected to any of the 2 joystick ports. They allow to control the cursor in the main menu, start the games and configuration entries and also to stop the autostart of the selected entry
Added the second help screen with the description of joystick's actions into the Boot Menu. The autostart message now mentions joystick's action as well
14.06.2018
Firmware update is required.
The
PSG emulation was re-worked, not it sounds very close to the original chip's output
All tools now work correctly under
MSX-
DOS version 1.xx; The C2MAN_40.COM utility has been renamed to C2MAN40.COM for compatibility with older
DOS versions
The code of C2MAN and C2MAN40 utilities was merged and can be now compiled from one file, the
VDP and
MSX generation detection allows to set correct mode depending on the platform; the user interface has been improved, the code was optimized
In the \Util\special subfolder there are special versions of the C2MAN and C2MAN40 utilities, whose directory editor works correctly on Korean and Arabic
MSX computers
The C2BACKUP tool is now writing to FlashROM 35% faster, the counter bug is fixed
The SCC and
PSG filters were optimized in the firmware, the sound quality is much improved
The Altera's firmware now has the hardware-based interceptor for starting
ROM images, but this feature is not yet used in the Boot Menu
The /r restart option is now supported by C2BACKUP and C2SRAM utilities
10.05.2018
The tools and the Boot Menu now work on Daewoo and Arabic
MSX computers
The new tool is available - C2BACKUP: it allows to read and write the contents of the entire FlashROM chip
06.05.2018
Fixed a bug with help output in all utilities
Added reboot functionality into C2MAN and C2MAN_40 utilities
29.04.2018
Firmware update is highly recommended.
Added Z80/R800 mode toggle for Turbo-R machines with 'T' button
Added Turbo mode toggle for Panasonic MSX2+ machines with 'T' button
Added indication of Z80/Turbo/R800 mode to the status screen
The CF card's clock speed is now independent from the
CPU's clock speed. So the IDE will work correctly even if the
CPU speed is above normal. Also a few minor errors in the firmware were fixed
The selected
VDP frequency and/or Turbo/R800 mode is preserved for ROMs after system restart
Corrections were made into the documentation regarding the PosSiz register and the Turbo/R800 modes
When an RCP file with the same name as
ROM file is found, the C2MAN, C2MAN40 and C2RAMLDR utilities are asking whether to load the RCP data. In autoloading mode the RCP data is loaded automatically
The C2RAMLDR utility can now reset the computer on-demand or automatically after loading the
ROM file if the /r command line option is used; the restart option has been added into the menu
After writing IDE or FMPAC
BIOS into the cartridge there's no longer a problem with directory editing. In the past the directory was shown as corrupted because of incorrect configuration after
BIOS flashing.
A few RCP files have been added
03.02.2018
Fixed an error in the directory record deletion dialog in the C2MAN and C2MAN_40 utilities
A few RCP files have been added
03.01.2018
Fixed the incorrect value for Konami 4 mapper configuration
30.12.2017
Modified C2MAN, C2MAN_40, C2RAMLDR and C2SRAM utilities for case-insensitive input
26.12.2017
Slightly improved font and volume indicators in the Boot Menu
Improved presets DSK2ROM and LIFEMARS
16.12.2017
Fixed a bug in C2MAN, C2MAN_40 and C2RAMLDR utilities - when the reset was selected for a
ROM, the second reset flag was not set in configuration registers, that led to a conflict
Improved font for Boot Menu, changed a few symbols, added horizontal lines after screen titles
05.12.2017
Firmware update is required.
Fixed the attribute correction bug in C2MAN, C2MAN_40 and C2RAMLDR utilities. Now files with all attributes are read correctly
The firmware now supports enabling or disabling the internal
PSG and
PPI Clicker devices and setting the volumes for both of them
The Boot Menu was updated to support
PSG and
PPI enabling/disabling as well as setting the volumes for both devices
The Boot Menu is now also available in red color scheme
16.11.2017
When autostart is set on any entry, after reboot there will be a note shown and there will be a 3 second delay before this entry is activated. During these 3 seconds a user can abort autostart
Now the entry can be started with default settings by using Enter key in addition to Space
You no longer need to press Shift in Boot Menu to do some action. Both upper and lower case characters are accepted and action is taken regardles of the case
The help screen was updated with the changes (keys assignments) and it now shows the Boot Menu's version number. Thanks to 8bits4ever for the idea!
Fixed a bug: now the configuration entries can't be started with G/g key
Fixed a bug: the C2RAMLDR utility was showing incorrect error message when copying a file to cartridge's
RAM was failing
The C2RAMLDR utility no longer puts «R» into the mapper field for the «
RAM: name» entries, now the detected or manually selected mapper type is put there
The C2RAMLDR utility can be instructed to skip the creation of a directory entry with /D option or during the user interaction
The C2SRAM utility has been created for saving and loading the contents of the emulated
SRAM area for the FMPAC device
04.11.2017
The cursor is completely removed (thanks to Grauw and Nyyrikki), mapper symbols have been changed and improved, help and volume control screens were slightly changed (a line was added to the bottom)
The C2MAN_40 utility now sets the 40 symbol screen width when started. The C2MAN utility has been updated to detect the
VDP and show a note if it's started in screen mode with less than 80 symbols witdth. This note is skipped when the command line is not empty to allow automatic flashing mode to work without user interaction
03.11.2017
The font has been updated so that the status line is not touching the border. A few new symbols were added: copyright sign, 'V' and 'H' key symbols. The selection marker has been changed to a better one
The colors and palette for the main, help and volume screens have been moved to variables. Now you can easily compile yourself a custom color scheme Boot Menu without much hassle
An attempt was made to remove the cursor. Also the key click sound was disabled
The main, help and volume screens on MSX1 now look similar to those on MSX2, the colors have been changed to match those on MSX2
22.10.2017
The schematics has been changed. The part numbers of T3-T6 transistors were incorrect there. This doesn't affect the device, it's just a cosmetic bug
02.10.2017
Now the
VDP frequency can be changed between 50 and 60 Herz with the «F» key in the main menu. The setting is saved into an additional configuration
EEPROM
The status line has been added to the bottom of the main screen. It shows the current
VDP frequency, FMPAC and SCC volume as well as the current directory page vs. total number of pages
13.09.2017
Firmware update is required.
The volume of FMPAC and SCC can be now saved into the additional configuration
EEPROM on board. The change requires updating the firmware and Boot Menu
02.09.2017
Firmware update is required.
The DAC output has been drastically improved. The sound of FMPAC is way better now. The change requires updating the firmware and Boot Menu
The volume of SCC and FMPAC can now be controlled from the Boot Menu
SCC+ support has been added
Fixed a bug with video effects on MSX1. The palette effects on VDPs earlier than v9938 have been disabled
10.02.2017
Firmware update is required.
The function of the register configuration for slot expansion has been improved. Also a check was added to prevent illegal values to be saved into this register
All configuration registers are now visible at addresses 4F80h-4FA1h. This is done for easier debugging. These registers can be changed on-the-fly and the changes will be immediately taken into action
03.02.2017
Firmware update is required.
The expanded slot functionality has been added. Please refer to the cartridge's documentation for more info