v1.7: Minor Updates

Improvements

• New option to limit the "scan line emulation" effect to monochrome modes only.
  

Fixes

• Apple II Videx output wasn't centered in 720x480 DVI mode.
• Menu options for DVI output resolution contained lowercase characters (which don't work for Apple II/II+).

Full Changelog

• See here: v1.6...v1.7

v1.6: 720x480 Video, RAMWorks Support, Reset Detection

Improvements

• Option to select alternative 720x480p60 DVI output, while 640x480p60 remains the default. Active display area is unchanged. 720x480 may slightly change the aspect ratio of the displayed image, specifically when using a 4:3 display. However, that is entirely up to the display. 16:9 screens often show 640x480 in a 4:3 letter box format, and 720x480 in a 16:10 letter box, resulting in the exact same result for the pixel area used by the Apple II image. 720x480 is the original DVD/NTSC resolution, so this resolution may work better with some modern displays, like TVs. It may also have advantages with 16:9 displays, since it keeps those from trying to stretch the 4:3 image horizontally. #4
  
• New keyboard shortcut "CTRL-V" to directly toggle the resolution in the configuration menu. Helps with "blind configuration" when the card outputs a resolution not supported by the current display: just launch the menu and hit "CTRL-V" to toggle the video output.
• RAMWorks memory expansion support. RAMWorks adds a new register altering the memory bank behavior. A2DVI needs to know about this, when a RAMWorks expansion is installed. There is a new menu option to configure RAMWorks support.
• New "NTSC vs PAL" menu option. Selection currently only affects subtle differences, i.e. text flashing frequency, which slightly differed for PAL vs NTSC on the IIe (there was no such difference on Apple II vs Euro-Apple II).
• Menu now has two pages. Provides more space for the new configuration options.
  
• Various performance improvements to support the higher output resolution and to improve the startup time.

Fixes

• Corrected text flashing frequency for Apple II: it was slightly faster than on the //e, however, not by that much. #17
• Corrected reset detection to also work with the very first variant of the Apple II ROM (the "non-AUTOSTART" ROM).
• Improved reset detection to fix issue with splash screen sometimes remaining active for several seconds, when the 6502 reset wasn't detected during initial startup.

Full Changelog

• See here: v1.5...v1.6

v1.5: Improved Colors & Diagnostics

Improvements

• The configuration menu now has an option to pick a RGB color profile. Currently, three profiles are supported. The two new profiles are based on the recently updated RGB color analysis by Linards Ticmanis.
  
  Note that the "original IIe" palette only had 15 different colors, as the original IIe displayed both gray tones with identical color. Many games still use both gray tones. You may be missing details when using the "original IIe" palette (look at the brick wall in the following comparison). Also, original colors were less vibrant, compared to the "improved" profile which Apple used with the IIgs's IIe emulation mode. But, it's a matter of taste, personal preference - and maybe what you grew up with. :) And, you now have the choice...
  
  Color palette currently only affects the 16-color video modes, not the 8-color "hires" mode, which, apparently, used other RGB colors yet again - even if some of those were similar to those of the 16-color modes. Discussions on RGB color values for the various Apple II video modes are another huge rabbit hole - without exact/correct answers...
• Improved startup diagnostics: splash screen with basic 6502 diagnostics data is shown when the Apple II/6502 does not boot properly. This may help analyzing certain types of Apple II mainboard defects.
  
• Menu takes advantage of Video7 color text modes, when enabled.
  
• Completely rewritten apple bus interface, providing much better performance (in preparation of future extensions).

Fixes

• Fixes a minor issue with graphics mode remaining enabled when exiting the menu from the test page.

Full Changelog

• See here: v1.4...v1.5

v1.4: Minor updates

Improvements

• Improved auto-configuration: machine auto-detection now distinguishes Apple IIe and //e enhanced. The character set is now configured automatically (enhanced/unenhanced). The manual configuration switch for "enhanced font"/"unenhanced font" was removed. Overriding is still possible by configuring a fixed machine type ("IIE" vs "IIE ENHANCED").

Fixes

• Fixes debouncing/switching behavior when using the extended modes for the ALTCHR switch.
• Fixes a minor issue with the menu appearing stuck when pressing ESC to exit a sub page of the integrated menu.
• Fixes swapped characters shown on the menu's test page.

Full Changelog

• See here: v1.3...v1.4

v1.3: New Video Modes and Switches...

Improvements

• Supports additional "extended Apple IIe color video modes" which were not available on a stock Apple IIe and required an extended video card (Video7, Extended AppleColor Card): 40 column color text, 280x192 with 16 colors, 160x192 with 16 colors, 140x192 with 16 colors mixed with high resolution (560pixel/line) monochrome pixel option (enhanced DHGR):
  
  Thanks to Adrian Black for testing and comparing these with real hardware.

• Quick switching of display modes using an external switch/push button, or through extended behavior of the existing language rocker switch of Euro-Machines connected to the ALTCHR input pin. The switch behavior is configurable in the menu. The language switch can still be used to toggle the character set. Display mode is briefly shown below the screen area when cycling:
  
  

• Videx 80 column support for Apple ][ with 10 character sets/languages. Provides "passive" support: an original Videx card must be plugged in slot 3 (to provide the ROM, RAM and registers to the Apple ][):
  

• Support selection of custom fonts for the alternate character set (usually fixed to US character set on Euro-Machines).

• Support for the ROMX/ROMXe font selection protocol. ROMX font selection is mapped to A2DVI's 16 custom font slots.

Fixes

• n/a

Full Changelog

• See here: v1.2...v1.3

v1.2: DLORES scanline fix

Fixes

• Fixes issue #5 with sporadic black lines in double-LORES video mode, caused by marginal timing of the DLORES rendering loop. This only happened with the combination of:
  • Scan line emulation: DISABLED
  • Analog rendering FX: ENABLED
  • Double LORES video mode active
    
    (Thanks to Chris Torrence, ct6502 for reporting this.)

Improvements

• Adds debug and option for an automatic test to catch scanline errors (like the one above).

Full Changelog

• See here: v1.1...v1.2

v1.1: Improved auto-configuration

Improvements

• When machine type is set to "AUTO DETECT" the font is now also automatically adjusted, when necessary:
  • When an Apple IIe is detected, but an Apple II font is selected, it changes the font to Apple IIe US character set.
  • When an Apple II is detected, but an Apple IIe font is selected, it changes the font to Apple II US character set.
  • When a Pravetz is detected, but an Apple IIe font is selected, it changes the font to the Pravetz character set.
    (Automatic font switching does not happen when a fixed machine type is configured - or a font matching the detected machine type is selected).

Fixes

• Fixes a minor menu display glitch.

Full Changelog

• See here: v1.0...v1.1

v1.0: Improved Graphics & Color Support for Double-LORES

Improvements

• Adds missing color support to Double-LORES video mode.
  

• Introduces "analog effects rendering" for Double-LORES and Double-HIRES graphics modes. The effects are especially important for some games with high resolution graphics (DHIRES), as the following example shows:
  

Fixes

• Consistently supports 16 custom fonts (configuration menu + upload utility).

Full Changelog

• See here: v0.8...v1.0

v0.8: Extended video modes, PICO2 support

Improvements

• Now also supports the brand new Raspberry PICO2 modules (RP2350).
  • Implementation is now based on the new PICO SDK 2.0.
  • PICO (RP2040) and PICO2 (RP2350) currently provide the identical functionality with A2DVI. You can pick either module (based on availability/price).
    
• Changed default settings (settings before the first manual configuration was done).
  • Language switch is now disabled by default (needs to be enabled manually, if you connected the ALTCHR signal for dual-language support).
  • Black&White text is now the default, instead of "green phosphor".
• Adds support for a first "Video 7"-specific video mode: 40 column color text.

Fixes

• Fixes a brief display glitch when activating the debug data view.

Full Changelog

• See here: v0.7...v0.8

v0.7: Initial Firmware Build

• Release ZIP contains current firmware build and matching configuration disks.