Release 45 ("Nuuk")

Release Notes

Release 45 ("Nuuk")

• META
  • The meaning of the version byte at bank 0 $FF80 has been updated to comport with the original intent of having prereleases as a negative number and releases as a positive number. Release R45 will have 45/$2D in this spot, while later builds should show as -46/$D2 to indicate R46 prerelease. This should make minimum version checking in applications a lot easier for custom builds and for in-between updates.
  • Dependency improvements in the Makefile.
  • lzsa is now a build dependency as it compresses X16-Edit's help text.
  • VERA firmware versions earlier than 0.3.x will display a deprecation warning on the splash screen.
• KERNAL
  • Paired with updates in SMC firmware 45.1.0, Intellimouse support has been added. This allows for reading the scroll wheel and potentially buttons higher than 3, depending on the mouse type.
  • clock_get_date_time and clock_set_date_time can now return and set the RTC's day of week field. [markjreed]
  • New block-wise write call MCIOUT to complement the block-wise read call MACPTR. This seems to accelerate save type calls by about 5x.
  • CINT call now uploads the default X16 palette to the VERA.
  • New I2C batch read and write commands i2c_batch_read and i2c_batch_write.
• DOS/FAT32
  • Fully split DOS and FAT32 into two separate banks, freeing up ample space for fixes and enhancements.
  • MCIOUT call implementation for FAT32
• BASIC
  • new EXEC command plays back scripted input from a RAM location.
  • MENU now produces a menu of built-in applications.
  • Improvements to the layout of the second BASIC bank (annex) allowing for more functions to be moved to this area, making room for new features.
  • new system variable MWHEEL returns the mouse wheel delta since the last call as a signed 8-bit value.
  • new TILE comamnd, making pokes to layer 1 screen memory easier.
  • new EDIT command, invoking the built-in text editor X16-Edit.
  • new sprite-handling commands MOVSPR, SPRITE, and SPRMEM. The first two have parameters which are inspired by the Commodore 128 version of the commands, but their usage is not exactly the same.
  • VPOKE and VPEEK can now be used to reach add-on VERA cards. VRAM banks 2-3 point to a VERA at $9F60 and VRAM banks 4-5 point to a VERA at $9F80.
  • DOS wedge emulation. @, /, and friends can be used in BASIC immediate mode.
  • Chain-LOADing another BASIC program from within a BASIC program was problematic when the second program used variables, as the variable table pointer was not updated after the load. This was a deficiency in BASIC V2, and is now fixed for the Commander X16.
  • A bug has been fixed affecting LINPUT, LINPUT#, and BINPUT#. These statements would spuriously return a STRING TOO LONG error whenever BASIC needed to garbage-collect the string memory before allocating string space to these functions.
  • After a LOAD or BLOAD into banked RAM, the RAM bank that the load ended at is saved as if the user called the BANK command with this value. Prior to this release, the end bank could be immediately read with PEEK(0) after loading, but would be clobbered later on as BASIC would reset the RAM bank to the one set by BANK.
• MONITOR
  • Improvements related to unwinding the stack to make the PC and register values useful and continuation possible. Making the BRK instruction as a breakpoint useful in some situations.
  • The MONITOR now reuses BASIC's zeropage space, no longer clobbering user ZP $22-$2F
  • New J command for JSR into memory, complementing the G command to continue execution.
• UTILITIES
  • The 8-Bit Guy's hex editor has been added to the MENU
  • Stefan B. Jakobsson's X16-Edit has been added to the MENU, and is also callable from BASIC's EDIT command, or via an API call in bank 13, making it useful as an editor spawned by other applications.