New software and gateware is available for your Milkymist One.
One of the most exciting new features is that USB MIDI controllers are
now starting to work - so this means you can connect devices such as the
Faderfox LV3 directly to a USB port of your M1, and use it to control
the visuals.
But keep in mind that as of now, USB-MIDI is an experimental feature.
There are some crippling intermittent bugs that can cause USB to
completely stop working when a MIDI device is connected until the next
reboot, so do not be surprised if this happens to you. Also, problems
seem more common if the MIDI device is present during boot. We will
eventually sort this out later with another upgrade, but still wanted to
give a preview of this feature.
The whole MIDI system has also been reworked and is a lot more powerful
and flexible. Here are some resources to help you with this and give you
an idea of what can be done:
http://en.qi-hardware.com/w/images/3/3a/Werner_M1_MIDI.ogv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrCbg6HNb5A
http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/m1/tmp/midi-draft-20120215.pdf
Another very interesting feature is the possibility to embed small
animations in the form of image sequences. Here is an example "tutorial"
patch:
https://github.com/milkymist/flickernoise/blob/master/patches/demo/wheel/wheel.fnp
and the result:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrCbg6HNb5A
Finally, the last major feature is a new patch compiler with a much
cleaned up patch syntax. Here is a taste of it:
https://github.com/milkymist/flickernoise/blob/master/patches/demo/raindance/raindance.fnp
https://github.com/milkymist/flickernoise/blob/master/patches/Lekernel%20-%20Eerie%20Beri.fnp
https://github.com/milkymist/flickernoise/blob/master/patches/Lekernel%20-%20Musique%20de%20telephone.fnp
The legacy MilkDrop syntax is still supported, but not recommended.
There is also a bunch of small improvements and bugfixes. We are for
example trying new video timings that hopefully will address the
compatibility problems with some screens. If you have a display or
projector that did not work with the M1, install this release and let us
know if it goes better (or not).
HOW TO UPGRADE
Just connect the M1 to the Internet (booting it with the Ethernet cable
connected to a network with DHCP should do, or use the system settings
to configure the network) and then press the first push button (labeled
L) for a few seconds. After it tells you the upgrade is complete, power
it off and on again.
KNOWN PROBLEMS
* Installing the upgrade fails with a message "Failed to download bitstream"
There is an issue in FN 1.1 that will prevent this upgrade from being
downloaded correctly. To work around it, there are two options:
A) you can boot an older version using rescue mode. To enable rescue
mode, with the M1 off:
- hold the right button
- press the middle (power) button
- release the right button
Then, run the web update normally from rescue mode.
B) download soc.fpg, flickernoise.fbi and bios.bin from
http://milkymist.org/updates/current/, transfer them to the M1 using
FTP, and click "Update from files" in the update window.
This bug is fixed for good in this release.
* Some patches that worked before stopped working.
This has to do with the new compiler, that is no longer tolerant of
syntax errors that may be present in some patches.
A) If the non-working patch is one of the shipped defaults, delete it
using the file manager, and run the web update again to automatically
download a new, fixed version.
B) If you wrote that patch yourself, open it in the editor and fix it.
The new patch compiler also comes with better error reporting, so this
task should be easier.
* Connecting a USB-MIDI device does not work, and the other USB port
stops working when a USB-MIDI device is connected.
We told you it was experimental. Reboot and try again - like all
horrible bugs this one is intermittent. We hope to have it properly
fixed in the next release. Send your frustrated messages to the USB
Implementers Forum (www.usb.org) and tell them not to design a Rube
Goldberg machine if they really want "Instant, No Hassle Connections".
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank everyone who contributed to this release, and in
particular Werner Almesberger who has done most of this awesome work. In
fact, I have had a relatively minor role in this release, and focused
mostly on longer term gateware developments such as the Migen logic
design tool and the next 10Gbps system memory architecture.
Enjoy, and please send us pictures and videos of your M1 performances.
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