L4TIMER selects the game clock (L4TIME.CPP): FAST = HMI SOS interrupt
clock at 28 Hz, unset = polled 18.2 Hz BIOS tick. Not a speed switch --
finer time quantum, smoother sim dt and timing cadences.
Per the operator: the flag tracked the deployed fleet's hardware --
original Tesla pods ran Pentium Pro 90s (SLOW), later fleets Pentium
Pro 200s (FAST). The emulated pod has no ISR-headroom constraint, so
FAST is our default from here on.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Console queues a mission -> egg over the wire -> pod loads + runs it -> all
cockpit heads render -> mission ends on the console timer. Four fixes:
1. ne2000.cpp: don't BX_PANIC on the TCR inhibit-CRC / auto-tx-disable bits.
A full production boot runs the packet driver's internal loopback
self-test, which sets those bits; Bochs' NE2000 aborted the whole
emulator. Record them in TCR state instead (harmless for an emulated NIC;
pcap/host does framing+CRC). Also fixes a latent coll_prio bit-4 vs bit-3
round-trip bug. Committed copy in vpx-device/.
2. Confirmed the mission-load page fault (00FF:219D) was RIO-OFF; booting
with the RIO live (net_full.conf) loads and runs the mission cleanly.
3. net_loop.conf + net-boot/loop.bat: GO.BAT-style loop so the pod stays
connected to the console and picks up missions as they're queued (the
real pod relaunches netnub after each mission/idle disconnect).
4. HEADLINE: blank MFD/radar heads were an I/O port collision. The VDB
video splitter is hardwired at 0x300-0x31A (palettes 0x300/0x308/0x310);
the NE2000 at nicbase=300 swallowed the game's VDB palette writes ->
vdb_pal stayed zero -> pal_draw decoded every head to black. Same VDB
spam corrupted NIC RX, dropping the console EndMission (mission overran
its timer). Fix: move the NIC to 0x340 (DOSBox nicbase=340 + DOS NET.CFG
PORT 340; must agree). VDB keeps 0x300. Config-only, no rebuild.
Adds: net_full.conf, net_loop.conf, net-boot/ (ODI drivers, NET.CFG@340,
loop.bat, README), vpx-device/{ne2000,ethernet_pcap}.cpp; updates NET-NOTES.md.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
CydandClaude Fable 5