Rapid 5 is out and so here is the extended version, with images, links and more info that can fit onto the sheet.
Platforms
MacFuji Board and Bring up
Chris Tersteeg has done the board layout, Ben Krein did the PCB order and build of the very first boards. They work and boot the classic Mac’s (pre plus) fine for DCD and MOOF images. CONFIG application will come soon.
I have a short video up showing a boot of a MOOF image: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWsi3-bFHqU
FujiNet Mac Rev 0
a2pico device reboot
Oliver Schmidt has rebooted his Apple2 hardware project A2retroNet into a more basic board he’s called a2Pico.
In his words:
In the meantime I’ve rearranged quite some things. Back then, ‘A2retroNET’ was the name for both the Pico-based hardware and the Pico firmware. But now, ‘A2retroNET’ is only the name for the Pico firmware that at some point will implement the SP-over-SLIP protocol using USB. The hardware is now named ‘A2Pico’. Why that? Primarily because even before I started with the SP-over-SLIP approach, I already had several other Pico firmware projects for that hardware. So using the name ‘A2retroNET’ for both (the multi-scenario hardware and the firmware of just one of those scenarios) was about to cause perfect confusion.
Additionally it became cumbersome to replicate the common core of the Pico firmware into the individual firmware projects. So based on experience I gained, I defined an API for the individual firmware projects to use. There’s now a reusable library that implements that API. This library is too called ‘A2Pico’. So any firmware project is just “based on A2Pico”. And this implies both that it uses the A2Pico library and runs on the A2Pico hardware.
’A2Pico’ is the name of: a) the hardware which is available as both SMD and DIY friendly b) a reusable library to build many different firmwares with Currently, there is firmware for:
* softSP
* classic ProDOS HDD emulation (via microSD)
* Apple II Pi (via USB)
* Apple2-IO-RPi (via USB)Soon there will be additionally firmwares for:
* Appli-Card
* Mouse card (via USB)‘A2retroNET’ is yet another firmware for ‘A2Pico’. However I hope that it will be the “killer firmware”. It’s the firmware that complements FujiApple. Compared to todays FujIApple it will bring (beside higher speed) FujiApple modem and printer access to all Apple II programs. However, it will drop FujiApple Disk II access. As A2retroNET want’s to communicate with FujiApple via USB (using that SP-over-SLIP), FujiApple needs to run on “something” that has USB:
* PC with FN-PC
* RPi Zero 2 W with FN-PC
* ESP32-S3 with FN (which needs to have ESP32-S3 support added)
Atari 2600
Jeff P is going for the FN on the 2600.
Software
Firmware Quicker Boot Enhancements
Faster FujiNet booting helps all the platforms that expect to find a floppy drive available quickly. Apple IIe was especially troublesome and with Mozzwald’s changes its working.
Git Repo Cleanup and Better Code
Cleaner, leaner code makes everyone working on this happier.
NOS (Network OperatingSystem) Updates
Wondering what NOS is? Here is an excellent video that breaks it all down:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52PopzZsKUM
Michael Sternberg: Some updates to NOS:
* Added binary SAVE
* Added a way to re-enable BASIC in ROM so removed NOBASIC command and replaced it with BASIC
* Border color changes to gray when you’re in NOS and BASIC (or something else) is in ROM. (This was always biting me).
The binary SAVE added a lot of code due to the parsing. I may be able to get it all back with simpler a binary loader using burst mode. So I tried working on it the past couple of days and, as before, had some success (maybe more this time) but was finding a lot of programs that failed to load correctly.
How does the xep command work ?
Yeah this is pretty cool, so I’ll try to be a little detailed here in case others want to try.
* In Altirra, add the XEP80 device to your configuration. Click on System –> Configure System –> Devices –> Add –> XEP80 –> OK –> Port 2 –> OK
* In NOS, load the XEP handler LOAD XEP80HAN.COM, and, unless you’re holding the shift key or something like that as the handler is loaded, the handler will automatically take you into the 80 column screen. In Altirra, the screen will go black because ANTIC is disabled.
* In Altirra, click on View –>Video Outputs–>XEP80
* If you want to return to the ANTIC display, from NOS, run XEP 40 and in Altirra, click on View–>Video Outputs–> Computer Display
* To switch back to the 80 column display, from NOS, run XEP 80 and again, in Altirra, change the Video Output.
Extras
Live video coding
Watch a live code session: https://www.youtube.com/live/s73iH5DmZQ4
Mark Fisher (@fenrock) does Fujinet Dev with AppleWin
Live coding for AppleWin FujiNet connective via SLIP
Mark Fisher aka @fenrock at a recent retro repair day in Maryland, USA
FujiNet at VCF Southern California Show
Saturday, February 17, 2024 at 3:00:00 PM EST
Joe and Thom will talk about the Atari Operating system, highlighting its innovative features and architectural design. They will explore how FujiNet, a modern networking device for vintage computers, utilizes the Atari OS to enable network capabilities and internet connectivity for Atari computers – bridging the gap between classic computing and contemporary networking technologies.
That is all for this month.
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