New firmware/OS has messed up the video

I have just updated my old Pi1B to the latest OS and firmware.

That is to say, BOOTCODE.BIN, FIXUP.DAT, and START.ELF as available right now (Sun 12th, at 2pm), and RISC OS 5.29 02-Jun-22.

Installation was easy enough, just needed to change !Internet for the new one so it didn’t bomb out failing to load AUNMsgs.

My video panel, as I’m using this outside running from a battery, is a little 1024×600 7" thing.

It is set as follows, here is my entire CONFIG.TXT file:

hdmi_drive=1
hdmi_group=2
hdmi_mode=87
hdmi_cvt 1024 600 60 6 0 0 0
hdmi_ignore_edid_audio=1

fake_vsync_isr=1
disable_overscan=1
framebuffer_swap=0
framebuffer_ignore_alpha=1
framebuffer_align=0x100000
init_emmc_clock=100000000
gpu_mem=32
gpu_mem_256=32
kernel=RISCOS.IMG

There is no CMDLINE.TXT file, as the previous setup (5.23 era!) didn’t require it. I think I’ll add this back in, as I would imagine it will put things back to how they were.

The thing is, going to MODE 28 causes the screen to flash blue for a moment when switching to SVGA, and it does the same when switching back.

If one creates a BASIC program that is simply:

MODE 28

and runs it, maybe, three or four times, the screen will go to blue and nothing will get a picture back. It’s as if the video output has simply thrown in the towel…

The machine itself is still responsive, as this restores sanity, typing blind of course.

[press F12]
BASIC
SYS "OS_Reset"

So the machine is still working, only without any video.

Yup, a CMDLINE.TXT file containing

disable_mode_changes

has restored normality (and instant MODE changing). ;-)

Also had to remember to set up the stand-alone UK territory with CET/CEST (my 5.23 ROM had this built in), so it now says the correct time and not an hour after noon.

Still, I ought to find an old µSD card and recuperate my Pi2B… because this Pi1? It is jarringly slow in comparison. NetSurf takes a mammoth 29.05 seconds to fetch and render https://www.riscosopen.org/forum/posts !