What should I update?

Owned by Gurce Isikyildiz
Last updated: Feb 26, 2024 by Robert Steffens
5 min read

You may occasionally run into issues with your MEGA65 and get advised by other users to ‘update’ your system in some way. They may mention terms like cores, bitstreams, roms, .M65 files, and it can get quite overwhelming and confusing for new users.

You may be left wondering, “Which updates do I need?!”, or “Which updates do I want?!”.

Hopefully, this article will provide some insight and clarity.

Do I really want to update my system?

Be mindful that when you update your system:

  • yes, your new version will contain improvements and bug fixes

  • …but there’s always the possibility of newer versions introducing other bugs too.

This is the inevitable nature of software development: a few steps forward, a few steps back

 

Given that, there are two potential pathways for a user to choose between:

“Stable”: I am a user that just wants a stable experience

If you are a user that:

  • doesn’t want to deal with too many surprises

  • isn’t in a rush to get any issues you’re facing resolved

…then look out for any updates that make use of terms like “master”, “stable” or “release”. Updates that are labeled in this manner have undergone a greater amount of testing, and should provide you with a reasonably stable experience.

Even if you choose this pathway, still feel free to reach out to us on either discord chat or via GitHub tickets if you do encounter issues.

“Development”: I am a user that wants the cutting-edge, warts-and-all

If you are a user that is:

  • willing to ride that roller coaster of ups-and-downs of the software development journey

  • provide feedback to the team via discord chat to follow up on your issues/experiences

  • willing to raise GitHub tickets on issues and report back to us when we attempt to add fixes

  • maybe even willing to debug source-code directly and attempt your own fixes

…then look out for any updates that make use of terms like “development” and “beta”.

What kind of updates exist?

I'll try provide an overview here on the state of play with these various files:

Core files

Contains the vhdl hardware descriptions of the machine. Sometimes the devs improve this (e.g. improve SID performance, add extra hardware capabilities, etc) and they make new releases of .cor files which get mentioned in the #experimental-releases channel (on Discord).

SD Card Essentials / .M65 files

  • The SD Card Essentials come with the Core files! (inside the *.7z artifact file, in the sdcard-files folder)

  • contains various helper files and extras (most ending with the *.M65 file extension)

MEGA65 ROM

  • Filehost links: (available to licensed MEGA65 owners only)

  • these are updates made to the MEGA's kernal and BASIC 65, you'll tend to see Bit Shifter/Dddaaannn posting info about new improvements in latest versions in the #closed-roms channel

When should I update such files?

Over time, you may build your own preferences for when you decide to update. My own personal strategy (as a developer) is as follows:

  • I follow conversation in discord chat regularly. Did they make any exciting additions recently or fix any hardware or hypervisor bug that affects me? Then ok, I'll give their new “development” core file a try (within the .7z artifact file).

  • Did their fix/change alter the .M65 helper files (hopefully they'll mention this in the discord chat too).

  • If so, within the .7z artifact file, in its sdcard-files folder, I will copy all the *.M65 files within there onto my sd-card (I use the mega65_ftp tool to accomplish this)

  • I follow the chat in #closed-roms. Did Bit Shifter/Dddaaannn mention a release with a fix or feature that interests me? Then ok, I'll try out the new mega65-rom file on my sdcard

  • Did hernandp make any nice updates to the freezer's sprite editor? Or did gardners make any improvements to the freezer menu? If so, I'll grab the .7z artifact file and drop all the .M65 files onto my sd-card too.

How do I update such files?

 

What is the ‘MEGA65 Release SD Card - Intro Disk #1’?

The filehost contains a file entry with the name ‘MEGA65 Release SD Card - Intro Disk #1’:

 

Some folks have confused it with a similarly named ‘MEGA65 SD card essentials’ file on the filehost:

 

What is the difference between these two?

  • The ‘MEGA65 Release SD Card - Intro Disk #1’ file is an image file containing a raw dump of the 16GB SD-card that was provided with your MEGA65.

    • It could prove useful on occasions when you trash your SD-card and want to revert its contents to as they were when you received it

    • Note that if you want to start anew with your sd-card, there are other approaches you could take instead (such as doing an ALT-powerup and using the fdisk tool to format your sdcard)

 

  • The ‘MEGA65 SD card essentials’ file, as mentioned earlier, contains various helper files and extras (most ending with the *.M65 file extension).

    • The are bundled with a core release, it is best to use the files matching your go-to core.

    • So if your goal is to get the latest versions of these .M65 files, use those that come with the latest core you have installed.

    • FDISK tool (hold ALT on powerup) allows you to install the files from an installed core file.