GR8NET for dummies

Paladin (854)

11-12-2021, 18:39

Hi, everyone.

I'm the happy owner of a GR8NET, and I'd love to be able to use its multimedia capabilities better. However, due to many factors, both under and not under my control, I haven't been able to update its firmware. It's currently at 0.8 (yes, I know, and I'm sincerely sorry about that), and I would like to update it offline if at all possible. I tried reading the corresponding section in the Manual, but I'm afraid my firmware is currently too out of date, and I fear I'll brick my GR8NET if I do something wrong.

Could anyone point me in the right way? Thank you very much in advance.

By Pencioner

Scribe (1612)

11-12-2021, 19:11

Do you have another disk device you can book from and run some programs? If you have one, it should not be a problem (i used this method to unbrick gr8net but it can be used if it is not yet bricked):

Download all files from http://www.gr8bit.ru/software/firmware/GR8NET/bloadable/ to disk (except for update.zip which is just the archive of all the files in the same folder), and run fwupdate.bas - it will do the job

By Parn

Paladin (854)

11-12-2021, 19:21

Thank you so much! That's exactly what I need! I have a MFRSCC+SD and can boot from it.

Just to be clear, shouldn't I just download update.zip and unzip its full content into a folder readable by my MSX? It seems safer than manually downloading each file.

By Pencioner

Scribe (1612)

11-12-2021, 19:33

ofc that should work as well but in my case i downloaded the whole folder with wget and then removed this file

P.S. I had a look at the file dates, i think it was not updated since April 2020 so i'd first contact Eugeny and ask to update files first

By Parn

Paladin (854)

11-12-2021, 19:43

Right, that seems more prudent. I'll do that ASAP. Thanks again!

By SjaaQ

Champion (381)

12-12-2021, 15:33

You can use the bload offline version to get to a more recent engine/firmware. After that, I think it is real safe to use the online upgrade script (refresh.asc). The checksum is checked by GR8NET and it is pretty dummy proof.

By enribar

Paragon (1224)

12-12-2021, 17:00

The live upgrade is a must for this cart, but I have experienced that the only reliable update is via PC, USB Blaster and Quartus.
USB Blaster devices are very cheap, and the procedure is very simple.
If I remember well, if you have a firmware's version < 0.9 , the PC update is the *only* way.

By Pencioner

Scribe (1612)

12-12-2021, 17:37

Not true afaik, there were no updates with the only way with a PC and blaster... the only thing when you should use a PC is when some update was not completed and you had a power off after that (or in the middle of update), so with next boot your cart is fully not operational. While it is operational you can always use that "offline" procedure

By enribar

Paragon (1224)

12-12-2021, 22:25

Pencioner wrote:

Yes true, but there are other cases. For ex. mismatch between fpga and firmware, I experienced impossible updates and Eugeny in person told me to re-flash all via PC (after many tries with other procedures under his supervision).
The USB Blaster is mandatory in certain cases, so why not to use it always? It costs as a pizza.

By Pencioner

Scribe (1612)

12-12-2021, 23:22

Q: "Why not to use it always?" A: "I don't like unscrewing cartridge when i can use ethernet, so why not to use it only when necessary?"

But yes, the mismatch might cause problems too

PS I have the blaster which i also use for Carnivore 2 updates, that device is worth it's money ofc

By Parn

Paladin (854)

13-12-2021, 12:23

SjaaQ wrote:

That seems really simple, but due to how things are organized at home, it would be very complicated for me to get my working MSX anywhere close to an Ethernet port. That's why I'd prefer to do it offline. And if you can go from one version to another offline, why not going all the way to the most recent one? If it's possible, of course.

This conversation is turning out to be really insightful for me. A big thank you to everyone who is talking here. There are still a few things that sound mysterious and scary to me, like this mismatch stuff. How can it happen? Seems like an important thing to keep an eye on.