2.11.0 release of the Agon Console8 VDP
This is the twenty-first official release of the Agon Console8 variant of the VDP firmware. It is suitable to be installed and run on any and all Agon Console8 and Agon Light machines, and is fully compatible with either versions 1.04 or later of the Agon Quark MOS or version 2.0.0 or later of the Agon Console8 MOS software.
Supporting development
If you would like to support the development of the Agon Console8 and Agon Light firmware, you can sponsor me on GitHub or join my Patreon.
Release notes
This version adds a few new features, fixes some bugs, and lays some groundwork for the forthcoming MOS 3 release.
In summary the new features are as follows:
- Terminal-mode now supports the ability to change fonts
- A new "check key" API has been added, allowing programs to check for a specific key press (used by MOS 3 Alpha 2 to detect left-shift on boot to prevent running the auto exec boot file)
- Full-duplex flow control between the VDP and MOS can now be supported, with a suitable version of MOS (such as MOS 3 Alpha 2)
- Preliminary "Tile engine" from @julianregel has been added (available behind a feature flag)
- Codebase is now unified with the emulator VDP, which should help ensure emulator and hardware are more consistent
Fixes in this release include:
- An issue where the text cursor would be drawn incorrectly after changing the text viewport has been resolved
- Fix for how stopping playback is handled on an audio channel that has a volume envelope set
- Custom terminal-mode keyboard handling has been removed, which should fix instances of missing keypresses whilst terminal mode is active
- Fix for "wait for VSYNC" command so that it will always work correctly even when there is no pending drawing operations
- Fix for text colour changes when in VDU 5 mode
Upgrading from a Console8 2.x version, or Quark 1.4 RC3
If you are already using a Console8 version 2 release of the VDP (including Alpha releases), or Quark 1.4 RC3 or later, then you are strongly recommended to use the agon-flash utility, the latest release of which (v1.6 at the time of writing) can be downloaded here.
Simply download the firmware.bin release file below, place it on your Agon's SD card, and follow the instructions.
Upgrading from earlier VDP versions (or from the 2.8.0 release)
If you are using Quark 1.03 or 1.04 (before 1.4 RC3) or the Agon Console8 2.8.0 VDP then the easiest way to update your VDP is to use the online Agon VDP installer.
Another option is to upgrade by building from source using PlatformIO.
Alternatively instead of building one can use esptool from the command line of a Windows, Linux, or MacOS machine, or the ESP Flash tool on Windows using the bootloader.bin, partitions.bin and firmware.bin files attached to this release. Some advice on how to do that can be found here.
This release was built using PlatformIO.
What's Changed
- Add terminal font change by @sijnstra in #255
- reset clipping rect on viewport reset by @stevesims in #257
- fix for stopping samples with envelopes by @stevesims in #260
- add support for full-duplex comms with MOS by @stevesims in #262
- add a check key command by @stevesims in #266
- Unify emulator and c8 VDP codebases by @tomm in #256
- Remove custom terminal-mode keyboard handling by @tomm in #270
- fix wait for vsync command by @stevesims in #272
- fix text colour changing in VDU 5 mode by @stevesims in #273
- Initial release of Tile Engine by @julianregel in #253
- add feature flag 0x300 for tile engine by @stevesims in #276
- bump version to 2.11.0 by @stevesims in #277
New Contributors
- @sijnstra made their first contribution in #255
- @julianregel made their first contribution in #253
Full Changelog: v2.10.1...v2.11.0
