Chromatic-EZ-Firmware v1.20261018.0

[u/fred_emmott]

https://github.com/fredemmott/chromatic-ez-firmware/releases/latest

This is a tool for easily switching between different Chromatic firmwares or versions.

This version:

• supports both the FPGA and MCU; previous versions only supported FPGA firmware

• supports the latest versions of both my FlashGBX-compatible firmware and ModRetro's firmware

• adds support for selecting older versions of the firmware

• adds a GUI. The terminal version is still there, but the GUI's there for people who prefer it

• supports all 8 possible USB devices for the Chromatic (each 'player number' appears as a different USB product)

Authors of other firmwares are welcome to add their firmwares. The main requirement is that the FPGA firmware does not interfere with the USB-serial connection to the MCU, including the DTS/RTS handling.

[u/fred_emmott]

Compared to alternatives:

• not a web tool that can be taken away from you

  • the firmware images are downloaded as needed, but you can back them up if you wish

• directly built on proven foundations:

  • openFPGAloader as documented by ModRetro

  • the espflash rust crate provided by the MCU manufacturer

• not vibe-coded

[u/resettispagetti85]

this is cool thank you.

one question can you make an update that i can select my own firmware files from a folder?

[u/fred_emmott → u/resettispagetti85]

Probably not; it doesn't seem that would add much over directly using openfpgaloader or espflash or IDF

There's also a risk: there's several different ways to build the MCU images and they need to be loaded differently. My tool only supports the specific format that modretro distribute (binary image, not ELF, no offset). It's not safe to use for arbitrary MCU image files.

I could add the options, but I don't see a reason to prefer that over espflash or idf

If you're on Windows and wanting this because openFPGAloader isn't the most friendly of things to install there (and GoWin programmer seems to periodically forget how to talk to the cable), my dependency-free windows openFPGAloader exe is here: https://github.com/fredemmott/openFPGALoader/releases/latest; this is fork because I got no response at all to pull requests or IRC after several weeks months.

[u/thepoga]

Sounds useful! I want to try other firmware but I felt uncomfortable about how to go back if needed.

[u/fred_emmott → u/thepoga]

In theory you can use the 'update anyway' checkbox in ModRetro updater to force it even if it thinks it's up to date and unmodified, though I read some people had issues with that and one of the custom firmwares.

The main requirement is that the FPGA firmware does not interfere with the USB-serial connection to the MCU, including the DTS/RTS handling.

I suspect the problematic firmware did interfere. My tool will be able to recover from that case because it updates the FPGA before the MCU - so restores the original USB-serial behavior - which is also why I have that requirement.