[FRAM71] Pre-Production Batch

[Hans Brueggemann]

FRAM71 is currently shipping with firmware V501, which has the following restriction:
Trying to configure Chip_0 as part of a module that contains multiple Chips may cause data corruption under certain circumstances. Unfortunately, I discovered this bug just yesterday, and i'm still investigating it.
As a workaround, it is sufficient to ensure that Chip_0 is configured as LCIM.
There is no V501 manual available yet, but you may use the V430 manual which covers all features of V501, except this:
V501 allows you to re-define F_addresses of F_Blocks "on-the-fly", i.e., without the need to power-cycle your HP-71B. Thus, you now can backup/restore the contents of all F_Blocks under program control, rather than having to powercycle your HP-71B after each F_Block address change. Note that this leads to sometimes interesting, albeit understandable "side-effects" on how FRAM71's memory is presented in the calculator's address space. ...Let the fun begin!

Future firmware development will allow for TOP/BOTTOM FRAM bank-switching under program control (as opposed to manual bank-switching as we have it in V430). However this implies the use of "Control words" to be recognized by FRAM71. How should these look like? All ideas welcome!
(Keep in mind though, that this not going to happen any time before 2016...)


On a side note to those who have placed a pre-order:
please make sure that you order your module no later than by end of May. All "leftovers" will be distributed among those who are already queuing up to snatch them, first come, first serve.


Best regards,
Hans