Hi Guys, just an update on where this is all at.
I spent this weekend re-writing the menu software and adding a new mixed 30k/1k bank switching mode to support it. The new additional bank switching mode seems to work well for a program like the menu software, which needs fast access to 512KB of memory for reading, but still needs a unbanked area bigger than 16k.
This mode is available in addition to all the other modes supported by the cartridge. It is laid out as:
0x8000 .. 0xF7FF - Fixed 30K unbanked area
0xF800 .. 0xFBFF - 1k Banking Window (Mapped to any 1K of the 512KB address space)
0xFC00 .. 0xFDFF - Banking area, select any 1 of 512 1K windows for the banking window
0xFE00 .. 0xFEFF - On-board CPU Communications Window
0xFF00 .. 0xFFFF - Additional unbanked ROM
Since the menu software does not use code banking so space was getting extremely tight, even with me optimizing and re-writing many of the functions in Z80 assembler to save space. The new 30k fixed bank switching method has freed up a lot of space so I hope to make more progress on a few features I want to add before or shortly after release.
The menu software itself has improved greatly since the last video. The onboard CPU now includes a plain text INI file parser with an API on the Colecovision side to read program settings and strings from these normal human readable/editable files. Writing values/strings to INI files is not implemented yet but will be possible for programs that want to store data in a non-binary format.
With the changes to the hardware all the previously implemented modes had to be re-validated and timed. That was done today and everything seems to be working well.
As for the hardware production, all of the hardware for the 100 cartridges is assembled and except for the labels, is essentially complete. The cartridges are all in cases with all the holes in the correct position, just no labels or LED lenses in place yet.
The software, hardware, firmware and menu software has changed quite a bit since they were first programmed, so each cart will have to be updated and tested again before shipping with the latest stuff.
The company that is making the die cut labels for the new carts made an error on the die and all of the labels they sent have the holes in the wrong position. I'm hoping to hear back from them today or tomorrow on an ETA for the fixed labels.
Since things are getting close to the point where I can actually ship these, I will be preparing a pre-order page that includes news of the great suprise thats going to be coming with every cart. This should be done some time this week (time allowing) and pre-ordering will start.
Steve