PETdisk on Retrocomputing Roundtable! and firmware upgrade..
PETdisk on Retrocomputing Roundtable! and firmware upgrade..
Hello again,
Wanted to share some news with everyone,
The PETdisk got a mention in the latest installment (show 16) of the
Retrocomputing Roundtable podcast! David Greelish had a PETdisk with him at last weekend's ECCC Commodore expo in Chicago, and he talked a bit about the PETdisk as well as giving one away as a prize at the show. I am a fan of this podcast so it was a thrill to hear them mention it!
And about the upcoming PETdisk firmware upgrade:
I've sent messages to current PETdisk owners about the firmware upgrade, which includes:
- SD card bootloader
- Wildcard support
- DLOAD command
- bug fixes
If anyone did not receive a message (either email or PM) then I apologize, please send me a message and I will get you the upgrade information.
Last night I ironed out the last few bits with the bootloader - want to be extra careful on that part, since it will be a part of the code which cannot be modified easily. A little bit of a squeeze getting the SD card routines, plus just enough FAT support to find and read the firmware file into a 2k bootloader, but it does just fit. There will be 14k of program memory on the rest of the chip to support the full PETdisk firmware, which should be enough space to comfortably fit the current feature set and future expansions.
I'm planning to send these out free of charge to everyone, the chips are not very expensive and postage will be at the normal letter rate (cheap). I just want to make sure everyone gets the latest stuff. Some people have offered to kick in for postage/chip cost, which I certainly welcome but which is definitely not required. Your bug reports, encouragement, and appreciation are more than enough.
And of course all PETdisks sent out from now on will have the update.
I will continue to nail down the firmware coding, and will try to wrap up tonight or tomorrow. Aiming to send out the chips Friday or Saturday. Thanks again for your patience and happy PETdisk'ing.