The M4 Board is a 2016 expansion card which enables WIFI access to and from CPC, Romboard and using SD-Card as mass storage.
You can read more about it at http://www.spinpoint.org/cpc/m4info.txt.
M4 Front View
M4 Back View
Firmware
Updating (or downgrading) a firmware is done by unpacking the update zip file to the root directory of the microSD card (from a PC). Then insert to the M4 and powercycle the CPC/M4 board, after about 20 seconds it should be updated. Verify with |version command. Latest firmware version can always be obtained via |upgrade command (no need to use PC, as long as CPC is setup to the internet).
Please notice, on M4 boards shipped after 2016-10-01:
Due to a new flashchip on the wifi-board, do not use firmware versions lower than v1.0.9. If done by accident, use v1.0.9 or higher to restore it.
| Version | Changes | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1.00 | Initial Version | M4FIRM_v100.zip |
| 1.01 | M4 rom defaults to Rom 6, Fix for GA 40007 | M4FIRM_v101.zip |
| 1.02 | |CD command now accepts no paramters and will prompt with cursor, so Basic 1.0 users can use SHIFT+CURSORKEYS+COPY. |
M4FIRM_v102.zip |
| 1.03 | Allow to remap entire romboard for compatiblity with XMEM. Now supporting 32 romslots. | M4FIRM_v103.zip |
| 1.04 | Ability to replace lowerrom. | M4FIRM_v104.zip |
| 1.05 | FTELL, FSIZE commands implemented and new RSX commands |ROMUP, |ROMSET, |ROMUPD |
M4FIRM_v105.zip |
| 1.06 | Fix WEB UI instability issue. Fix romupload for roms with or without AMSDOS header, and related bugs. |
M4FIRM_v106.zip |
| 1.07 | Fixes and buffering for cas_in_char, fix |ROMUP to work from .dsk files, fix cat/dir loop, fix httpget to work with IP addresses aswell as hostnames. |
M4FIRM_v107.zip |
| 1.08 | FIX IP addresses for httpget (again). Fix |dir bug. Fix hardreset. Added C_GETPATH command (requested). Added ability to load your own build of M4ROM from root of microSD, should be named M4ROM.BIN |
M4FIRM_v108.zip |
| 1.09 | Added nonblocking host & client NETAPI. Added ESC check to cat/|dir. M4 board now looks for autoexec.bas at bootup, similar to old dos machines, autoexec.bat. Make your own startup script in basic. Direct SD card sector access. Various minor fixes |
M4FIRM_v109.zip |
| 2.00 | GETPATH, |UDIR, |LONGNAME by SOS Added C_GETNETWORK command. Added status byte after response string to C_NETSTAT Fix |cd,"/" to go to root if inside a DSK image. Fix SD hotswapping. Remove KM_RESET from cat/dir when pressing ESC. Display current path when using cat/dir. Increased AMSDOS readspeed (using bigger buffer). Faster network speed when using netapi. Keep CPC in reset until init. done. (Fixes issue with C4CPC and M4 at the same time). Many amsdos compatiblity fixes. DSK images, handle ASCII art with cat. Fix multiple network connections. Added |LS command for long filenames (15 mode 0, 35 mode 1, 75 mode 2). |cd can use long names too. autoexec.bas method changed, should no longer give problems with certain basic games. Remote run - run remote files from WEB interface (control) |TAPE support, use |SD to switch back to M4 |DISC supported if AMSDOS present, use |SD to switch back to M4 Fix |era long filenames. |ren fix for long filenames Added support for ROMDOS dsk images (D1/D2/D10/D20/D40) and PARADOS 80. |
|
| 2.01 | More fixes to |era & |ren Added |FCP command to copy between floppies and microSD. |
M4FIRM_v201.zip |
| 2.02 | Fix carry flag of CAS OUT CHAR Added tiny |M4HELP Fixes for |FCP when using wildcard on Drive B, system protected files, excessive 1 byte on <2KB files, display of filename while copying & basic protected files. Fix C_WRITESECTOR for DSK images Fix DSK images not having entries ordered Added support for cpr dsk images Added |SNA command to load snapshots from microSD card. |
M4FIRM_v202.zip |
Various files
Modified lower rom for CPC6128 users, who cannot override amsdos (rom 7) with M4 rom, using this patched lower rom, M4 rom must be in rom slot 6. It will be initialized instead of rom 7 and provide better compatiblity with games and higher himem. It's recommended to upload the original AMSDOS (or Parados) rom to rom slot 6, then it will be available when typing |M4ROMOFF.
English version: 6128 lower rom English
Spanish version: 6128 lower rom Spanish
French version by dxs : 6128 lower rom French
Danish version: 6128 lower rom Danish
Example config 6128
CPC M4 xfer tool : Command-line tool that allow to send files and receive from an M4 Board. Possibility to add an AMSDOS header too.
M4 Board relay rom : When moving M4rom out of position 1-7 / 1-16 it will no longer be initialized, therefore this rom should be placed at rom7 or lower. This is if you want to use 32 roms of XMEM and map M4 romboard after it. You should program the XMEM or other romboard with M4 bootrom in pos 1-7, it will look for M4 rom from 1-127 and initialize it + pass commands through to it. NOTE THIS IS OUTDATED, only use for early versions of the M4 firmware (v1.0.1)
Technical information
Structure for romslots.bin & romconfig.bin under m4 directory are:
romslots.bin
Contains 32x raw rom data (no headers). To locate a rom in the file, use:
offset = slot * &4000
romconfig.bin
Header:
int totalRoms; // 32 (early versions of the firmware had only 16)
int m4RomNum; // M4 rom to map rom number 0-255
int m4RomEnable; // M4 rom enabled
int romRangeStart; // start mapping roms from
int lowerEnable; // lower rom replacement enabled
int lowerSlot; // which slot maps lowerrom (0-31)
unsigned int reserved[2]; // set to zero for now
Then for each rom (repeated 32 times):
char updateflag; // 0 = no rom present (or disabled), 1 = rom present (enabled), 2 = New rom will be flashed into M4 internal flash, 3 = remove rom
char name[32]; // name of rom to be displayed in webinterface
Links
Make your own M4 ROM or add additions to the existing, source code can be found here:
https://github.com/M4Duke/m4rom
It's compiled (assembled) with sdasz80 (part of SDCC package).
Various source code examples for M4 board
https://github.com/M4Duke/M4examples
CPC xfer, pc commandline tool to transfer files back and forth to M4 board:
Source code here: https://github.com/M4Duke/cpcxfer
More info here: http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/CPC_M4_xfer_tool
Command documention and other infos:
http://www.spinpoint.org/cpc/m4info.txt
Disk menu by Joe Halstead, modified by Takis Kalatzis for M4:
http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/amstrad-cpc-hardware/amstrad-cpc-wifi/msg134659/#msg134659
YANCC - Norton Commander Clone by SOS, compatible with M4:
http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/applications/yet-another-norton-commander-clone
File Launcher by SOS, compatible with M4:
http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/applications/filelauncher-(acmedosm4dos)