Summary of changes to OMAP3 ROM image (5.18 to 5.20)

Enhancements and fixes

The following are the headline changes to modules or components in the OMAP ROM for 5.20.

For brevity only the top 36 changes have been described, the full change logs should be consulted for details of all the 600+ other changes which all contribute to stability and ease of use.

Alarm

Can now plot the analogue clock correctly in EX0 EY0 (180dpi) screen modes.
Around 15kB of redundant code removed to save space in the ROM.

BASIC

Now includes a VFP/NEON assembler for those processors that support it.

The EDIT keyword will now automatically attempt to load the ARM BASIC Editor (ArmBE) from disc.

ERL is now correctly reported after an external abort.

CDFS

The report for *CDDEVICES now lines up properly with disc sizes < 100MB, and ISO format DVDs > 999MB.
The filetype lookup will now use the MimeMap in preference to its own internal filetype table.
Tentative fix for DVDs formatted with directories placed above the 4GB boundary which would mount, but get the directory listing wrong.

DOSFS

Now defaults to run option 2, so that you can now boot from DOS formatted discs.
Fix for inconsistent cluster chain errors when the DOS disc is near one of the thresholds for FAT12/FAT16/FAT32.
Enhanced to support DOS images up to 4GB in size, from the previous limit of 2GB.

DeviceFS

Fixes to special string parsing and buffer sizing, which in turn allow a lot more reliable USB operations to be performed via DeviceFS.

DHCP

When a DHCP address request times out, a default address can now optionally be assigned.

Draw

Fix for a data abort exporting JPEGs from drawings.
Now uses the CTRL-K keypress to delete text, per the RISC OS Style Guide. This frees up the CTRL-X key for future use with the clipboard editing model (‘cut to clipboard’).

EtherUSB

New to ROM.

This module provides the ethernet driver for the onboard ethernet interface or additional ‘dongle’ style ethernet adapters added to the spare USB ports.

Edit

Now uses the CTRL-K keypress to delete text, per the RISC OS Style Guide. This frees up the CTRL-X key for future use with the clipboard editing model (‘cut to clipboard’).

Freeway

When assigning automatic network addresses, Freeway now chooses ones from the 10.x.x.x class, previously it was using a number range that has since been reserved.

Filer

The desktop filer now accepts keyboard shortcuts for a number of common operations

Tab – focus to next window
Shift-Tab – focus to previous window
Backspace – open parent
CTRL-W – Set working directory
CTRL-F – Change display format
CTRL-S – Change sort order
CTRL-F2 – Close current window and move focus
CTRL-A – Select all
CTRL-Z – clear selection
CTRL-K – delete selected object(s)

Font manager

Font blending is now faster on processors which support some of the more recent instruction set enhancements.
Font rendering is now faster when using slow screen memory.

FileSwitch

The memory slot size is now automatically adjusted when running an application (with an AIF header), rather than reporting “No writeable memory at this address”.

A memory leak in name resolution meant that the computer could run out of memory if left unattended for many days.

Files up to 4GB in size can now be used.

Filing systems may now register with up to 4kB buffer sizes, for example if supporting 4k sector sized media.

FileCore

Disc mounting is now considerably faster, making the computer boot faster too.

Files up to 4GB in size can now be used. This includes image filing systems, such as DOSFS, as well as being able to natively store large data files on FileCore formatted discs, such as ADFS.

Current versions of the DiscKnight recovery tool (1.49) do not understand long fragment runs, users should seek guidance on obtaining an upgrade from the author.

International

The international support module now offers a table of ISO3166-1 two letter country suffixes (eg. ‘fr’ for France).

International keyboard

A new ‘wide’ keyboard handler format is supported for keyboards which differ greatly to a normal PC keyboard or that has many more keys than were previously allocated.

Kernel

Added compressed ROM support.

Dynamic area management is now 5 or more times faster on entering the desktop.

There is now an on screen message when the CMOS configuration settings are cleared (DELETE-power-on and R-power-on).

Keyboard number lock can now be controlled with

*CONFIGURE [No]Num

or using the keyboard setup plugin.

A new ‘wide’ keyboard handler format is supported for keyboards which differ greatly to a normal PC keyboard or that has many more keys than were previously allocated.

The values of <Sys$Time> <Sys$Date> <Sys$Year> now account for rollover/under for non UTC timezones at the very end/beginning of a year.

The kernel can now speed grade memory to always choose the fastest memory registered with it.

Many updated and improved internal changes, programmers should consult the full change log for details.

LanManFS

Untyped files are now displayed properly in the filer window.

Large file creation is now 40 or more times faster, by avoiding sending packets over the network.

Files up to 4GB in size can now be used.

OMAP3 HAL

Audio devices now express the full range of volumes supported, which is particularly useful on hardware where sound is quite low level.

Add compressed ROM support, allowing the size of the ROM image to be larger than the flash memory chip on the motherboard.

Added a ‘Smart reflex’ driver which adaptively controls the processor clock and power supply allowing it to run at 1GHz.

Fix HAL_UARTModemControl, used for serial port control over the handshaking lines.

Can now detect TV video output on Beagleboard-xM models.

OMAP Video

Now supports driving digital TVs as well as computer monitors.

Fix for wrong mouse colours in 16bpp graphics modes.

Paint

Improvements to the filer-like selection of sprites in the main sprite window, with either select/menu/adjust mouse buttons.

Pinboard

Will now tile the backdrop sprite (or JPEG) correctly in on EX1/EY1 (90dpi) screen modes.

ShellCLI

On entering the command line with F12, a reminder message is output as a hint on how to get back to the desktop. The text of the reminder message can be overridden by setting the system variable

CLI$Greeting

to complement the other variable

CLI$Prompt

to set the text for the command prompt.

Sound Control

Allows mixer devices to indicate the range of supported gain values, so that systems with quieter sound output can be controlled more accurately. Requires the corresponding Sound setup plugin in !Configure.

Sound DMA

A lower processor load through use of alternative conversion and fill routines utilising some of the more recent instruction set enhancements.

Task manager

The main task manager menu has been simplified and retitled “RISC OS”. The former, larger, menu contents can now be accessed from the task manager’s main task display window.

Flag bits 5 and 6 for TaskManager_Shotdown are now supported to allow programmers to control the reboot and/or power control after shutdown completes.

The task manager will now also look for and run any obey scripts in the

!Boot.Choices.PostDesk

directory to allow operations to be scripted on desktop exit (for example, deleting some temporary files).

SDFS and SDIODriver

New to ROM.

SDFS, written by Piccolo Systems, is a native FileCore filing system for SD memory cards and similar devices attached via an SDIO interface. The boot (micro) SD card will now appear as a normal drive icon in the desktop, though be careful not to delete the operating system ROM which also resides on the card.

Serial support

A new reason code, 10, to OS_SerialOp allows programmers to get the device name (registered with DeviceFS).

Sound scheduler

The sound scheduler now accepts a new option to allow it to auto tune the sampling rate to the right pitch for the currently selected sampling rate. The syntax

*TUNING Auto <on | off>

with the default value being ‘on’.

Shared C Library

Added locale support for selecting timezones from C.

Better error reporting for applications that have failed.

Stricter ISO compliance of some of the library functions.

Sprite extend

Sprite append operations work as documented.

Colour conversion of JPEGs are now faster on processors which support some of the more recent instruction set enhancements.

Screen modes

Mode names in the display manager can now be longer than 19 characters.

The internal command VIDCBandwidthLimit has been removed.

Territory manager

The territory manager can now automatically adjust the clock for daylight savings times in territories where it knows the changeover rules. This is set with

*CONFIGURE AutoDST

or using the time and date setup plugin.

A single territory may now span more than one timezone, for example the USA.

Toolbox gadgets

The ScrollList gadget now handles ‘select only one’ or ‘multiple selections forbidden’ as expected when adjust clicking on a scroll list item.

USB driver

Now knows about an enlarged the list of USB devices.
Improvements to interface/alternate matching from partially specified special strings, and a series of other incremental fixes to bugs in the USB to improve the stability when operating with a wider variety of USB peripherals.

Window manager

The window manager now defaults the desktop theme at startup where not set, though this can be overridden later by the user in the !Boot sequence if an alternate desktop theme is preferred.

A request to load icons (*ICONSPRITES) for icons that cannot be located will now report an error stating which were missing.

The desktop window furniture (scroll bars, title bar, etc…) have had a number of restrictions on colours and colouring rules removed, so theme designers have many more design possibilities.

The desktop can now operate in an outline font, while still correctly rendering the window furniture in RISC OS 2 (non graphical) style.