Prometheus upgrade delayed

[mboehmer_e3b]

The long awaited Prometheus firmware upgrade (full DMA support, and other improvements) will be delayed...

The new CPLD programs have been reworked completely, due to the necessary changes in the driver software (which is not done by E3B, and which we can only influence to a small degree regarding the time schedule) we are not able to deliver the upgrade yet.

E3B apologizes for the delay. We still are working on this project, which will offer some small surprises for Prometheus users. You won't be disappointed :-)

[mboehmer_e3b]

Boards will have to be sent in. The firmware resides directly inside the CPLDs, which can only be reprogrammed by special hardware.

In principile a parallel port widget would be possible, but this requires a) special software to be written for AmigaOS, b) a parallel port widget and c) would mean to lose control over the firmware, as everyone out there could decode and reverse engineer it (there might be some persons around interested in :-)

Moreover, reprogramming the CPLD also involves soldering, as two connectors are missing; this is not a thing to be done by everyone. By accidentially swapping the download files between the two CPLDs you might even cause damages to your hardware.

Details on this will be available when the upgrade is available.

Michael

[mboehmer_e3b]

Maybe CPLDs are easier than FPGAs,...

They are ways easier. For CPLDs there is often a list of fuses given by the vendor, so one can (for example) program a GAL22V10 by a simple text editor changing the fuses map.

FPGAs are harder to decode, and for today's FPGAs (like Xilinx Spartan or Virtex) devices it is almost impossible. Especially if they feature AES encryption for their data stream :-)

Don't forget that inside these CPLD designs is quite some knowledge and experience, so I don't want this to be spread. It's not being paranoid...