v2.0.0

2.0.0 release of the Agon Console8 VDP

This is the 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 1.4 RC2 or later of the Agon Quark MOS or version 2.0.0 or later of the Agon Console8 MOS software.

This software is fully functionally compatible with Agon Quark VDP main code branch, as of 31st October 2023. It has adopted a different numbering scheme from Agon Quark MOS, hence the numbering change.

The Console8 variant of VDP contains a few small additions, added since the Alpha 1 release. More information on this can be found on earlier release notes.

With thanks to @breakintoprogram for his fantastic work on this project, and all the other contributors to previous versions.

Upgrading from a 2.0.0 alpha version

If you are already using version 2.0.0-alpha.1 or later you are strongly recommended to use the agon-flash utility, the latest release of which (v1.5 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 1.03 or 1.04

Upgrading can be done by building from source. PlatformIO is now the advised platform to use for building your own VDP (updated documentation on this will come to the ReadMe file in due course). Existing advice on building using the Arduino IDE remains valid.

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 since 2.0.0-alpha.2

• Specify espressif32 to v6.4.0 by @astralaster in #78
• Specify board settings for cpu and flash speed. by @astralaster in #79
• version bump for 2.0.0 release by @stevesims in #76

Full Changelog: v2.0.0-alpha.2...v2.0.0

Further information on releases since 1.3

• Agon Console8 VDP v2.0.0-alpha.2
• Agon Console8 VDP v2.0.0-alpha.1
• Agon Quark VDP v1.04 RC2
• Agon Quark VDP v1.04 RC1

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.

Please also consider supporting @breakintoprogram on Ko-Fi

v2.0.0-alpha.2

What's Changed

• Add missing #include for std::find by @tomm in #75
• Accepting segment records (type 02), warnings against overlapping ROM area addresses by @envenomator in #74
• bump to 2.0.0 alpha 2 by @stevesims in #77

New Contributors

• @envenomator made their first contribution in #74

Full Changelog: v2.0.0-alpha.1...v2.0.0-alpha.2

For more information see https://github.com/AgonConsole8/agon-vdp/releases/tag/v2.0.0-alpha.1

v2.0.0-alpha.1

Preliminary 2.0.0 release of the Agon Console8 VDP

This version is fully functionally compatible with Agon Quark main code branch, as of 27th October 2023.

It is suitable to be installed and run on any and all Agon Console8 and Agon Light machines, and is fully compatible with versions 1.4 or later of both the Agon Quark MOS and Agon Console8 MOS software.

Please see the release notes for Agon Quark VDP v1.04 RC2 for information on features included in that release since v1.04 RC1.

Additional features added to both Agon Quark and AgonConsole8 VDP since that release build include:

• Non-blocking reads (#60 / breakintoprogram/agon-vdp#104)
• Buffered command enhancements (#61 / breakintoprogram/agon-vdp#105)
• Pure virtual functions (#62)
• Zero-duration sample playback (#63 / breakintoprogram/agon-vdp#118)
• PS/2 mouse support (#64 / breakintoprogram/agon-vdp#119)
• Updater support, allowing VDP to be updated from MOS (#69, #73, breakintoprogram/agon-vdp#106 breakintoprogram/agon-vdp#126)
• Font latin1 (breakintoprogram/agon-vdp#110)
• Integrated MODE7 teletext mode (breakintoprogram/agon-vdp#114)
• Fix text related compiler warning (breakintoprogram/agon-vdp#124)
• Add PlatformIO support (#72 / breakintoprogram/agon-vdp#122)

Additional features in the Agon Console8 VDP are:

• A new version numbering scheme (#70)
• Time-based flashing cursor (#31)

NB At the time of this release, the time-based flashing cursor is currently the only functional difference between the Agon Quark and Agon Console8 VDP codebases.

Contributions from

@stevesims @tomm @astralaster @envenomator and @breakintoprogram

With thanks to @breakintoprogram for his fantastic work on this project, and all the other contributors to previous versions

Upgrading from 1.03 or 1.04

Upgrading can be done by building from source. PlatformIO is now the advised platform to use for building your own VDP (updated documentation on this will come to the ReadMe file in due course). Existing advice on building using the Arduino IDE remains valid.

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. Please note this release does not include the boot_app0.bin file illustrated on that page - it is not necessary and can be safely omitted.

(Upgrading to future releases will get easier once you have installed this release, thanks to some great work done by @envenomator and @astralaster.)

This release was built using PlatformIO.

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.

Please also consider supporting @breakintoprogram on Ko-Fi