********************************************************************* * Release notes for Quantum TMCE Firmware Version 1.28.05 * * May 15th, 2003: Released by Mike Bogelund * ********************************************************************* ===================================================================== Quantum Firmware 1.28.05 ======================== For all TMCE based Lotem Quantum and Lotem 800 Type II devices, the following firmware versions are recommended: File Name Version Information ============== ==================================== mcelca0165.bin MCE Xilinx Version 1.65 (or higher) mceboot109.bin MCE Boot Code version 1.09 (or higher) mcepost105.bin MCE Post Code version 1.05 (or higher) mcerec100.bin MCE Recovery Code 1.00 (or higher) The recommended thermal head version for this firmware release is 1.02 Pre 5 or higher. The latest RCON-CTP interface document which describes the changes made for this release is version 0.36 (\\cscfile1\ProductDevel\Quantum800\MCE-Firmware\Documents\RCON-CTP_IF-036.pdf) The recommended QuantumSeries script to be used is 0.22 Bug Fixes: * Internal Plots 117 and 127 have been fixed. In 1.28.04 these two patterns would fail to image due due a "pattern write error". This was a programming bug that was missed in testing and it is now corrected with this version. ********************************************************************* * Release notes for Quantum TMCE Firmware Version 1.28.04 * * April 11th, 2003: Released by Mike Bogelund * ********************************************************************* ===================================================================== Quantum Firmware 1.28.04 ======================== !!! Note: from 1.26.03 we jumped to 1.28.00 because we re-synchronized with the firmware baseline. Since then there have been a few internally tested versions from 1.28.00 to 1.28.03 - the changes for each of these is included below to capture the total changes from 1.26.03 to this release which is 1.28.04. !!! For all TMCE based Lotem Quantum and Lotem 800 Type II devices, the following firmware versions are recommended: File Name Version Information ============== ==================================== mcelca0165.bin MCE Xilinx Version 1.65 (or higher) mceboot109.bin MCE Boot Code version 1.09 (or higher) mcepost105.bin MCE Post Code version 1.05 (or higher) mcerec100.bin MCE Recovery Code 1.00 (or higher) The recommended thermal head version for this firmware release is 1.02 Pre 5 or higher. The latest RCON-CTP interface document which describes the changes made for this release is version 0.36 (\\cscfile1\ProductDevel\Quantum800\MCE-Firmware\Documents\RCON-CTP_IF-036.pdf) The recommended QuantumSeries script to be used is 0.22 Bug Fixes: 1.28.04 * The size of proof plots was incorrect and a fix for this is now in place. Before the carrier thickness was being applied incorrectly. Now, the carrier thickness needs to be setup in the proof data being used (it is the only parameter in the proof NVS that is used at this point). The workstation and the "proof load" command need to only specify the receiver thickness. For non-proof plots the carrier thickness parameter will not be used and for proof plots on DOnor media the carrier thickness will be used. * The firmware will properly update the gc sshift parameter when upgrading from an older version of firmware. An older version is deemed to be of the 1.20.xx group. After upgrading the firmware and resetting the device a plot must be done for the parameter to be updated. After the first plot (and for the first plot) the parameter will be set to the new valid value. 1.28.03 * The "Edge detect only if required" argument is now properly and fully supported. 1.28.02 * Fix for the SCSI interrupts problem correctly included this time. Oops. 1.28.01 * This build includes a fix for edge detection. This fix is to increase our compliance with poor media types in mind. In particular this edge detection change will solve the problem we have with Spectratech plates which have very poor edges and tend to cause errors during edge detection. The focus laser is now overdriven by a factor of 4 compared to the previous overdrive of 1.2. This will in the near future be remedied by a new version of head firmware which will allow turning the overdrive on and off as well as adjusting it; this compared to the always on and constant fix that is in this firmware. * RCON interface now supports a "Edge detect only if required" argument for edge detection. This is to aid in the implementation of multi-pass imaging for Stacatto plots from Brisque where the second edge detect was causing a shift in the placement of the second image. * The minimum on-plate distance has increased to 2.5mm from 1.0mm at the direction of Doug Smythies * A fix in the disabling of interrupts has been included which eliminates the unexpected SCSI interrupts that are usually reported at the end of a plot. This also clears up the problem with Prinergy jobs occaisionaly getting "stuck" in the middle of an image. 1.28.00 * Carriage mspeed paramter has it's default changed from 25 to 32. * Drum tsettle nvs parameter default changed from 0.5s to 2.0s Known issues: * None. ********************************************************************* * Release notes for Quantum TMCE Firmware Version 1.26.03 * * January 13th, 2003: Released by Mike Bogelund * ********************************************************************* ===================================================================== Quantum Firmware 1.26.03 ======================== For all TMCE based Lotem Quantum and Lotem 800 Type II devices, the following firmware versions are recommended: File Name Version Information ============== ==================================== mcelca0150.bin MCE Xilinx Version 1.50 (or higher) mceboot109.bin MCE Boot Code version 1.09 (or higher) mcepost105.bin MCE Post Code version 1.05 (or higher) mcerec100.bin MCE Recovery Code 1.00 (or higher) The recommended thermal head version for this firmware release is 1.02 Pre 4 or higher. The latest RCON-CTP interface document which describes the changes made for this release is version 0.36 (\\cscfile1\ProductDevel\Quantum800\MCE-Firmware\Documents\RCON-CTP_IF-036.pdf) The recommended QuantumSeries script to be used is 0.22 New features: * The QuantumSeries script 0.22 now uses the mode parameter entered in the gui window for the duration of the series plot. Bug Fixes: * The "GetProperty" RCON command used to return non-valid information on the first usage after a reset. This has been fixed so that the GetProperty command can be used immediately. * Range checking has been added to the clamp shadow values. The clamp shadow values are not allowed to negative and they are checked to make sure they are no larger than the image (as a max) in the main scan direction. This is to trap the fact that the "plot moffset" command cannot feasibly range check the entries given to it (since it involves more information than that command knows of). * The "media x" command used to cause invalid media data to be selected if an error occurred during the commands execution. The error could be that the head fails to match/find the matching media name & colour or it could be that the media index entered as x is too large or negative. The command now properly handles negative indexes, too-large indexes and head errors properly by ensuring that the current media selection remains known and the data does not get corrupted. Note that in the case of a head error, the media info is briefly changed to that of the entered index but if the head has an error then the data is restored. It is conceivable that if the media info was queried over RCON while a "media x" command was in progress that incorrect info could be obtained ... this is a small window of time and may/may not be addressable. * The drum tsettler parameter now has a default of 2.0 seconds to help solve a problem with "drum not settling" errors. Known issues: * This firmware does not include a fix for the occaisional output of "command failed" or similar text when redirection is enabled. This problem is actually believed to be in the head but until it is resolved, the issue will remain here so it doesn't get dropped. * The issue of incorrect plot startup timing has not been resolved - further data is being collected. ********************************************************************* * Release notes for Quantum TMCE Firmware Version 1.26.02 * * January 7th, 2003: Released by Mike Bogelund * ********************************************************************* ===================================================================== Quantum Firmware 1.26.02 ======================== For all TMCE based Lotem Quantum and Lotem 800 Type II devices, the following firmware versions are recommended: File Name Version Information ============== ==================================== mcelca0150.bin MCE Xilinx Version 1.50 (or higher) mceboot109.bin MCE Boot Code version 1.09 (or higher) mcepost105.bin MCE Post Code version 1.05 (or higher) mcerec100.bin MCE Recovery Code 1.00 (or higher) The recommended thermal head version for this firmware release is 1.02 Pre 4 or higher. The latest RCON-CTP interface document which describes the changes made for this release is version 0.36 (\\cscfile1\ProductDevel\Quantum800\MCE-Firmware\Documents\RCON-CTP_IF-036.pdf) The recommended QuantumSeries script to be used is 0.21 New features: * Added new commands to control the Hotlink BIST functionality. "hotlink enable" puts the hotlink into self-test mode and notifies the head to do the same. "hotlink status" will display the current status of the test. NOTE: "hotlink status" is only a valid command while the self test is running. "hotlink disable" will end the test. While the test is running, you can reset the counters which track errors using the "hotlink reset" command. Bug Fixes: * Previously there was a timing condition that would lead to monitor commands being jumbled when in redirection mode. This had been fixed in this release. * Two instances of the MCE simply no longer responding are known to have occurred with 1.26.01. In the process of fixing the monitor jumbling the cause for this is also believed to be fixed. Since the original problem only happened twice and wasn't easily repeatable only time will tell. * The carriage mspeed parameter now has a default of 35mm/s to increase throughput. * The drum tsettler parameter now has a default of 2.0 seconds to help solve a problem with "drum not settling" errors. Known issues: * This firmware does not include a fix for the occaisional output of "command failed" or similar text when redirection is enabled. * The issue of incorrect plot startup timing has not been resolved, but to date it has only happened once. * The "plot moffset" commands do not provide range checking on the values entered. While they will not do so in the future, a check will likely be implemented on the clamp shadow values which will catch moffset values that are problematic * The "GetProperty" RCON command occaisionaly returns 0 for drum speed. This has not yet been solved in the firmware. ********************************************************************* * Release notes for Quantum TMCE Firmware Version 1.26.01 * * December 6th, 2002: Released by Guy Sirton for Mike Bogelund * ********************************************************************* ===================================================================== Quantum Firmware 1.26.01 ======================== For all TMCE based Lotem Quantum and Lotem 800 Type II devices, the following firmware versions are recommended: File Name Version Information ============== ==================================== mcelca0150.bin MCE Xilinx Version 1.50 (or higher) mceboot109.bin MCE Boot Code version 1.09 (or higher) mcepost105.bin MCE Post Code version 1.05 (or higher) mcerec100.bin MCE Recovery Code 1.00 (or higher) The recommended thermal head version for this firmware release is 1.02 Pre 4 or higher. The latest RCON-CTP interface document which describes the changes made for this release is version 0.36 (\\cscfile1\ProductDevel\Quantum800\MCE-Firmware\Documents\RCON-CTP_IF-036.pdf) The recommended QuantumSeries script to be used is 0.21 New features: * Added a new command "proof load" which should be used for telling the firmware that the 3 proof media are on the drum, before doing an internal proof plot. This command replaces the need to do 3 separate "load" commands. Syntax example for the new command: QUANTUM>> proof load 762 1016 350 3 762 is the mainscan size (in mm) of the receiver 1016 is the subscan size (in mm) of the receiver 350 is the thickness (in microns) of the carrier + receiver 3 is the media index for the donor. Type "help proof load" for details Bug Fixes: * The gc parameters MshiftSmall and RotationSmall are now used only for plotting plates. Previously, if the media on drum size was smaller then gc MaxSmall, these parameters were used also when plotting other media like proof. * The PLL is now turned off before the focus laser during plot shutdown. This should prevent the head warnings at the end of the plot complaining about focus samples mismatch, which also caused the QuantumSeries script to fail when plotting several calibration strips. Known issues: * This firmware does not include a fix for the command line breaks problem that may occur intermittently between the MCE firmware and the head. The problem is rooted in deep levels of interrupt handling and the solution is pending. * The default value for the drum "tsettle" parameter is still 0.5. There was an issue raised whether several "drum not settling" errors which occurred are related to this parameter. We still wait for feedback from Israel regarding this issue. ********************************************************************* * Release notes for Quantum TMCE Firmware Version 1.26 * * November 8th, 2002: Released by Guy Sirton * ********************************************************************* ===================================================================== Quantum Firmware 1.26 ===================== For all TMCE based Lotem Quantum and Lotem 800 II devices, the following firmware versions are recommended: File Name Version Information ============== ==================================== mcelca0150.bin MCE Xilinx Version 1.50 (or higher) mceboot109.bin MCE Boot Code version 1.09 (or higher) mcepost105.bin MCE Post Code version 1.03 (or higher) mcerec100.bin MCE Recovery Code 1.00 (or higher) The recommended thermal head version for this firmware release is 1.02 or higher. The latest RCON-CTP interface document which describes the changes made for this release is version 0.??. This is a new release of Quantum Firmware which contains the following new features: * You no longer need a dongle with your MCE board. * Support for Lotem 800 II machines. You now have to configure a model after upgrading the firmware. Use: <> and then <> to set-up a Quantum machine. <> to set-up an 800 II machine. * Minimum and maximum plate sizes are now licenseable features. To modify them onsite use the feature command. <> prints a list of configurable featues. <> where FEATURENUMBER is the feature number from the list above and value is the requested value will re-configure the machine. * The thermal head parameters are now accessed solely through monitor redirection. Old commands will print out text to help users switch to the new command syntax. Bug Fixes: * GC sub-scan shift should be entered correctly on new machines (~2mm). On older machines the value will be automatically re-adjusted upon installation. Known issues: * You can't upload the thermal head binary using the Win95 service shell. You need to use the command line utility TEHLOAD for this. * When running against older thermal head firmware in ap0 you may get a "head wenable" value of 65535 and the plot will abort. Enter "set head wenable 1" to rectify the situtation. * This firmware does not have model based drum speed restrictions!!! If used with old Lotem Control software the drum speed limits will not be enforced!