[Coco] Superboard discussion: Serial EEPROM

[Bob]

--- Boisy wrote:

> >> Looks good so far, however, can you explain how the 'ask' feature of
> >> the joystick and monitor preferences will work?  Is this really 
> >> needed?
> >>
> >
> > Not so much a feature as a default if no preference is set by the 
> > user. Actual
> > values depend on whether the EEPROM is filled with 0's or 1's 
> > initially (out of the box).
> 
> Perhaps, but I don't believe it is necessary.  The first thing one 
> should do when receiving the SuperBoard is to configure the system 
> using a supplied program whose name is yet to be determined 
> (CONFIG.BAS?)  This will ask the questions needed to set up the Serial 
> EEPROM.  Once that's done, the programs that wish to access the 
> configuration data assume that it is correct.

Sounds reasonable... I've taken the same approch with Color FOG, forcing Setup
to run first after the installer finishes, but am ever mindful of the users who
don't want to "stay between the lines". That's one reason I like POKE&HADEB,57
so the program can control the break key, not the other way 'round. Speed is
the other reason.
 
>
> So the Configuration Byte would be:
>     bit 7    s  = speed        0=low 1=hi
>     bit 6    t  = hires type   0=Tandy 1=CoCoMax3*
>     bit 5    j = joystk pref  1=L 2=R 3=hires*
>     bits 4-3 dd = column pref  0=32 1=40 2=80 (extra possible value here)
>     bit 2 m = monitor      0=cmp 1=rgb
> 
> That leaves bits 1 and 0 for anything else we can think of..

see my ending question...

> 
> > One for you... if we wanted to store an alarm time (based on the 
> > Superboard
> > with RTC), how many bytes would be required?
> >
> I would think 6 bytes (year, month, day, hour, min, second) would be 
> minimum requirements, but I'm not sure if such a thing wouldn't be 
> considered part of a user defined area.

Agreed. 

So, next question, and possibly one for a new sub-topic... how does a 3rd party
program detect the Superboard? and the installed options? Perhaps another byte
in the EEPROM with a bit for each option (would the unused 2 bits be
enough?)... just thinking out loud.

Thanks,
Bob


	
		
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