Chapter 90. SnakeSys Firmware Release Notes (B4, R4, T2)

MagicQ "Core Mode" support to unlock MagicQ versions 1.9.5.3 and above.

Fixes an issue where ArtPollReply packet contained incorrect port information when in ChamNet mode, which meant using V4 Unicast in MagicQ would not work.

Fix for DMX input where it sometimes stopped working after a while.

Fix for DMX Buffer mode.

Fix to a occasional problem when used for DMX output, whereby DMX would drop for a few seconds.

Updated the DMX output firmware with the same DMX firmware correction to match R4.

Added the ability to clear unit settings on unit boot up by the user first setting all DIP switches to OFF position and also setting both address switches to F then powering up the unit. Unit will toggle both the NET and MQ LED’s if the settings were not already set as default and the default settings were restored. Unit will flash both the NET and MQ LED’s together if the settings are already set as default and flash erase is not required. In any-case the unit will have default settings after the operation, this firmware change invalidates the usage of ChamNet address FF and users should not use the address from now on.

The main purpose of this firmware change is to allow the Subnet Mask and IP Address to be restored to factory values, although in this case the port configuration set in the NetManager is also cleared.

No changes in this version.

The output and input standard LED timeout has been increased to 5 seconds. When a DMX output LED has turned from ON to OFF to indicate that network data is not anymore being received the unit will now continue to repeat the last received DMX packet on the respective output regardless of the network DMX protocol used, whereas the original policy was to only hold if Art-Net was used.

Reduced the required time that the user needed to wait for units to save their Net-Manager DMX port settings to flash memory from 30 seconds to 15 seconds.

Network IP and Subnet-Mask settings that are adjusted from the Net-Manager are now saved to flash memory immediately.

Synchronisation settings were not previously saved, they are now saved immediately to flash after adjustment via the Net-Manager.

Fixed a bug which caused a longer delay than expected before settings were written to flash memory.

Fixed issue when using Art-Net and ACN subnets 3-0 and above which would cause the DMX packet to be reduced to less than the full 512 values. This potentially affects all versions V200 to V211 but was most noticeable in V210 and V211.

The above issue would also cause the DMX framing timings to be erroneously adjusted from the defaults when using Art-Net and ACN start universe above universe 0-0 up to universe 2-15. The DMX output was within spec but could be slower than expected. In Art-Net and ACN mode the subnet and universe selection were incorrectly being used to used to apply the timing settings from the buffer mode (as per the rear panel legend).

Fixed break interrupt issue with DMX input which was introduced in V211.

Changed operation of DMX in LED to work like the other products.

Added support for T2 Version 2 with DMX input option.

Added PCB version dependent menu items.

Increased timeout value for DMX input LED display.

Added optional software based break detect and also added DMX special mode to allow software based break detect:

R4 now has the ability to switch between hardware break detect or software break detect, so users who experience the CPLD.v1 break detect issue can still get the unit to receive DMX correctly: This is done by holding the DMX button on the front-panel for 5 seconds until it starts flashing. Once the button is flashing pressing the NET1 button will toggle between both break detect types:

NET1 Illuminated: Software break detect NET1 Off Hardware break detect

Pressing again the DMX button will exit back to standard front-panel operation, and the state will be saved.

Fixed a timing issue with DMX receive where the output packet update did not take place until the next packet’s break was received. This could cause latency problems on systems with slow DMX refresh.

Applied the Art-Net output hold fix to DMX to always hold the DMX output after valid Art-Net has been received and output as DMX.

Support for SnakeSys T2 added.

Added support for storing of ChamNet settings.

Fixed a bug where when the units settings were reset from the front-panel the POE ports were disabled. Since there is still no way to re-enable the ports in MagicQ this could be a serious issue for some end users.

Fixed a bug where the PoE ports were not turned off when the unit was placed in standby mode.

Changed operation of RDM filter button to match that of ART/ACN and IN / OUT with respect to ChamNet mode

Enabled break detect on DMX input

Modified DMX input so that it can be enabled when outputs 1-4 are active

In ChamNet mode the IN/OUT and ART/ACN LEDs now reflect the current ChamNet settings, and will toggle if combined protocol or input / outputs are used.

Added notifications so MagicQ can detect when port settings are changed.

Changed the operation the following buttons so that ChamNet does not get disabled when they are pressed:

DMX IN/OUT ART/ACN RDM FILTER

Fixed an issue with the thermal management regarding the fan, which now has a programmed minimum fan speed of 1500RPM, and starts instantly on power up, and also improved the fan control system and sample rate.

ART: Updated the Art-Poll Reply packet to correctly report the products short and long names.

ACN: Minor change to the header to reflect a tiny version of the product name.