MiSTer FPGA Forum

First impression: I do not like it.
I may change my opinion later on but right now a few things bother me.
It looks like the announcement has been rushed: Github is devoid of any information regarding this new updater.
Beside the fact that it seems to be using a different server than Github what does it do?

Is it customizable? It seems so has it looks for a downloader.ini file but without any information it is not really possible.
It also is downloading a lot of s#it which was not downloaded with the previous updater some of it could possibly overwrite customization by the user.
It talks too much: 1804 lines, most of them starting by "No changes:" and makes it difficult to find out what has been changed.

Strange things happening:
Cleaning Bagman_* _Arcade/cores/Bagman_20210902.rbf
Cleaning Bagman_* _Arcade/cores/Bagman_20210903.rbf
Now I have 2 Bagman cores, not only that but the last time I ran the update all scripts was on the 12th so the core should have already been updated.
Cleaning Atari5200_* _Computer/Atari5200_20210228.rbf
No changes: _Console/Atari5200_20210228.rbf
No changes: _Computer/Atari800_20210228.rbf
Cleaning Atari800_* _Console/Atari800_20210228.rbf
I guess at some point there was confusion between console and computer for these 2 cores and the new updater fixed it.

Now, what about all the "junk" downloaded?
For each single core the script downloads the readme.md to the corresponding game subdirectory. I don't need them on MISTer, if I need to have a look I go to the Wiki.

It also downloaded a gazillion of fonts. I have been using my MISTer for almost 3 years without them with no ill effect. And what are all these _Arcade_<core name>.pf fonts?

Now the part which I do not like very much as it has the potential to overwrite files modified by the user.
games/MACPLUS/boot.rom is already present, and is marked to not be overwritten.
Delete the file first if you wish to update it.
games/QL/boot.rom is already present, and is marked to not be overwritten.
Delete the file first if you wish to update it.
games/TRS-80/BOOT.ROM is already present, and is marked to not be overwritten.
Delete the file first if you wish to update it.
games/AO486/bios/boot0.rom
games/AO486/bios/boot1.rom
games/AO486/bios/boot1_opensource.rom
games/AO486/drv/MISTERFB.DRV
games/AO486/drv/MISTERFB.INF
games/AO486/drv/imgset.exe
games/AO486/drv/misterfs.exe
games/AO486/drv/modem9x.inf
games/AO486/drv/mpuctl.exe
games/AO486/drv/sbctl.exe
games/AO486/drv/sysctl.exe
No changes: games/ARCHIE/riscos.rom
No changes: games/Amstrad/amstrad.rom
No changes: games/Amstrad/cpc464nd.eZ0
games/C64/CP-ClockF83_1.3.D64
games/C64/DolphinDOS_2.0.rom
games/C64/Empty.d64
games/C64/Empty.d81
games/C64/Empty.g64
games/C64/SID curve designer.html
games/C64/SpeedDOS_plus_2.7.rom
games/C64/custom.flt
games/Coleco/NVRAM.dat
games/Coleco/README.txt
games/GAMEBOY/Palettes.zip
games/GAMEBOY2P/Palettes.zip
No changes: games/MACPLUS/Disk605.dsk
games/MACPLUS/bin2dsk.sh
games/MACPLUS/empty_hdd.zip
games/Minimig/WheelDriverAkiko.adf
games/NES/Palettes.zip
games/QL/GamesCart.mdv
No changes: games/QL/crazy.mdv
No changes: games/QL/minerva+qlsd_ql.rom
games/Spectrum/boot.rom_rc196
games/Spectrum/dsdd720k.dsk.gz
games/TI-99_4A/NVRAM.dat
games/TI-99_4A/README.txt
No changes: games/TRS-80/env.cas
No changes: games/TRS-80/galaxy.cas
No changes: games/TRS-80/spores.cas
No changes: games/TSConf/SDCard.zip
No changes: games/TSConf/alt_roms.zip
No changes: games/X68000/x68000.rom
games/ZXNext/boot.zip

The script ends up with 2 pages listing all cores and mras currently installed. Is this necessary? Edit: it seems to happen only on the first run of the script.

I also re-ran the script:
This time the log is a lot shorter:
Removing _Computer/Atari5200_20210228.rbf
Removing _Console/Atari800_20210228.rbf
Removing games/ATARI5200/README.md
Removing games/ATARI800/README.md
It looks like the previous run of the script did not do a good cleanup job. It also kind of self-destructed as it also removed the 2 readme installed on the previous run (good riddance!).

games/MACPLUS/boot.rom is already present, and is marked to not be overwritten.
Delete the file first if you wish to update it.
games/QL/boot.rom is already present, and is marked to not be overwritten.
Delete the file first if you wish to update it.
games/TRS-80/BOOT.ROM is already present, and is marked to not be overwritten.
Delete the file first if you wish to update it.
Nothing new to download from given sources.

So will this new updater include Jotego betas or is this only "official" downloads? Update_all.sh works very well for me. I welcome new change and I understand today is the roll out but I'm just interested in the actual differences besides hitting the Github hard.

djsquare wrote: ↑Thu Sep 16, 2021 12:26 am So will this new updater include Jotego betas or is this only "official" downloads? Update_all.sh works very well for me. I welcome new change and I understand today is the roll out but I'm just interested in the actual differences besides hitting the Github hard.

I assume that's the plan. It has the capability to update from multiple repos/urls/sources assuming the source has the database file built and some entries are added to downloader.ini

I already used that functionality to have it automatically download my custom Main_MiSTer. It was certainly a better experience than the patched update.sh I had to use previously.

Can I delete the update all script and original update script ? I’ve got the new downloaded script , thank you

Shuffle7 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 16, 2021 1:11 pm Can I delete the update all script and original update script ? I’ve got the new downloaded script , thank you

I wouldn't delete ether one.
The new downloader script is a replacement/supplement for the original updater where you just need to update cores or files and not the mainframe work or linux side of the MiSTer.

You still need the Update_All for your unofficial cores, Bios and any MAME roms

Actually, my understanding is that this will eventually be a replacement for update, after it finishes the beta period (no specific timeline yet). It’s good that people are trying it out and reviewing results.

I miss the customizability of the "classic" updater. I hope more fine grained options, such as what is downloaded, are added before the main updater is changed to use this.

I think the real beauty of the MiSTer project is you don't need to use any of these scripts at all and you could write your own or handle the updates manually and in your own time.

Not to put too fine a point on this, but reinventing this wheel rather than just biting the bullet and packaging the moving parts in .debs is apparently bad.

An issue with the new script not relying anymore on 'datecodes' to determine when a core needs to be updated, is that those of us running betas, namely Cave and Blackwine's Sega system 1&2, have them being overwritten (or duplicated depending on .ini settings) each time by what's inside the public Distribution_MiSTer repo