Commander X16

Release 43 is here!

This release of the Commander X16 ROM, emulator, and SMC includes several BASIC enhancements, a new keyboard encoding scheme for the SMC (which saves space and time), and even some optimizations to the graphics APIs.

Note: for dev board users, you must update the SMC and the ROM together. Otherwise, the keyboard will not work.

For emulator users, the ROM is included in the latest emulator release. So just extract the new emulator to your hard drive and have fun.

Highlights include:

• New screen modes, including several TV modes and a 22x23 "VIC-20" mode. (You can now run VIC-20 BASIC programs and they will properly fill the screen, with some border space.)
• The End key now behaves more like it does on PC: press End by itself to go to the end of the line. Press Shift+End to go to the bottom of the screen.
• PS/2 Delete key now "sucks in" characters from the right, similar to PC.
• Cursor now stays lit when moving quickly; makes it easier to see.
• MENU command for setting default video modes.
• New BASIC stuff: renumber, line input (file and console), block input (file), and variable pointers.

For the full change notes, please check out the release:

For the emulator: https://github.com/X16Community/x16-emu ... es/tag/r43

The system ROM (included in the emulator): https://github.com/X16Community/x16-rom ... es/tag/r43

Documentation: https://github.com/X16Community/x16-doc ... es/tag/r43

And the SMC: https://github.com/X16Community/x16-smc ... ag/r43.0.0

Note that this release requires an update to the SMC; the SMC has gone through several revisions, and you can now install a bootloader that will allow future installations in-place on the Commander X16 motherboard. Please look for a post on this thread detailing how to update the SMC with the bootloader and the new keyboard code.

Again, do not attempt to install this update on a dev board unless you have an EPROM programmer and ISP programmer for the SMC microcontroller.

Enable SMC Self-Programming

Self-programming requires extra steps to set the self-programming enable fuse bit on the ATTINY861. This only ever needs to be done once and hopefully all X16s shipped after today will come with the self-programming bit set and these instructions will not be needed.

Things that you will need:

1. A working copy of avrdude
2. The avrdude config file for ATTiny controllers
3. A programmer such as USBTinyISP or Arduino-as-ISP

1. AVRDUDE

If you have Arduino IDE installed, you probably already have avrdude. In my installation (Windows) it is located at %LOCALAPPDATA%\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17\bin\avrdude.exe.

Arduino IDE requires Java. If installing Java is not an option, the avrdude executable by itself can be downloaded from its GitHub release page: https://github.com/avrdudes/avrdude/releases/tag/v7.1

2. Config File

The avrdude config file for the ATTiny861 can be found bundled with the ATTinyCore plugin for Arduino IDE which similarly can be found on GitHub at https://github.com/SpenceKonde/ATTinyCore/. If using the standalone avrdude, the config file can be cherry-picked from its GitHub project here: https://github.com/SpenceKonde/ATTinyCo ... rdude.conf

3. Programmer

Updating the fuse bits does not seem to work reliably using the TL866II+, a device that seems to reliably update everything else, including the non-fuse bits of the ATTiny. I used a USBTinyISP which costs about US$8 on Amazon or US$5 + US$3 shipping from sellers on eBay. Connect the USBTinyISP to a USB port on a desktop Linux, Mac, or Windows machine then connect the 10-pin IDC cable from the USBTinyISP to the "I2C" header on the X16 dev board.

Programming

You are now ready to run avrdude and set the fuse bits. The exact steps to do this vary depending on your ISP programmer.

In Windows, use this command to program the configuration (you may need to change the path to avrdude.exe and avrdude.conf if you are using a stand-alone avrdude installation):
If you have successfully programmed the ATTiny, and you used the -v option in your command line, you should see this informational output at the end of execution:
If efuse comes back as 1, something went wrong. Try programming the device again. Self-programming is only enabled if efuse reads as 0.

Need help?

If you need help, please post in the X16 Hardware Forum viewforum.php?f=11. Do not reply to this thread.

I don't understand the context of the self programmer and Arduino.