MFA2WorkShop Apple II Hardware Development

wDrive firmware v1.0b5 Beta

Posted on September 17, 2020 kboo 0

wDrive new firmware version 1.0b5 Beta.

 

Firmware version 1.0b5 mainly fixes smartport images that cannot be booted under the wDrive’s boot menu!

wDrive (connect as drive A) has limitations with how it works with the Apple IIc when booting smartport images. When hdv/2mg files are selected in the boot menu, they cannot be booted in drive A until the selection on the adaptor switch is changed to to drive B(SMARTPORT). Under this circumstance, wDrive will use its builtin softSP to boot the disk image.

Many memory hungry programs like Total Replay, Ultima also cannot be used as there is a memory overlap problem.

In order to overcome this limitation, we have prepared a patch for the Apple IIc ROM4x. After installing the new Apple IIc ROM and upgrading  wDrive’s firmware to 1.0b5, hdv/2mg images can be used via the boot menu selection.

The Apple IIc patch can be download wdmod4x.zip After downloading the patch, extract the files to the rom4x directory and compile as usual.

 

To Download the latest version of the Firmware, go to the following location:  wDrive Firmware v1.0b5 Beta

 

To Install the Firmware Update:

1. Prepare an SD card loaded with the firmware file (wdrive.bin & wdmain.dat) in the root directory of the card.

2. Press and hold both the left and the select key, then reset the wDrive by pushing the reset button.

3. After resetting the wDrive, the wDrive’s display screen should show the message: “Release key….”.

4. Release the keys and the wDrive will start to update the firmware and finally reboot upon completion.