V2 has been discussed for some time now. Secretly, Mike and I have been working on it to make it the best FW since, well, ever!
All the hard work has come to fruition and I think this is the time to tell you what the future of er9x holds....
We've had lot's of issues that seem to stem from er9x's not being too user friendly. That's the first area tackled. We've been hard at work simplifyung the interface and making it easier for the average/new user to use and understand. Instead 7 different FW versions, from V2 and on there will only be one FW version.
Also, the large number of screens and options was addressed as we figured that this was one of the reasons for confusion. We have managed to reduce the screen count to 5 (including setup and configuration screens). There might be some options missing but the overall effect is to make the FW much easier to use.
On other changes I have now set the following channel mapping:
CH1 AIL
CH2 ELE
CH3 THR
CH4 RUD
CH5..8 Mixer of your choice.
CH9..CH16 Preset template.
This has allowed me to simplify the mixer menu tremendously and replace all those cryptic lines with nice large icons. I'm sure you'll like it and it will give cre8tiveleo a lot to do as far as designing system menus. The simplification also freed up a lot of program space se now we have room for all those icons as well.
While er9x V1 will still be available from the repositories, eePe is set to automatically update your software. We feel that having differing versions will be detrimental to the community.
Other options that are removed in favor of simplification are:
1) Limits - all limits are set to -125%..125%. This gives the full range of motion. Reduction in movement can be achieved through the Expo/DR menu.
2) The Expo/DR menu was removed as it was not being used.
3) The radio will from now on support only DSM2 since this is the lions share of the use now.
4) The DSM protocol is space and CPU intensive so we will have to reduce the number of mixers to 4. Again, the simplification of the mixer menu makes this possible.
5) Custom/SW switches are no longer needed.
6) The templates menu will be expanded to include a full-house glider with ailerons and flaps.
7) Since the original FW does helis really well, the heli menu is removed. We feel that it's much easier to flash the original FW to use with helis.
8) The haptic options were removed. We like the silence.
9) There are now 2 options for the spash screen, a single image showing the letters "F", "U", "T", "B", and "A". And the other one will have 4 vertical bars.
We've been showing the FW to a couple of the resident users to get their opinions:
cr8tiveleo seems to like the icons. Bertrand would like to point out that open9x will probably follow suit. Skynorth has pointed out that the B1 board can probably now run two instances concurrently and Rob is quoted saying "WTF!, I mean really, WTFF!".
I am sure you will all be thrilled by the capabilities and ease of the new system. The full version will be on the code page tonight.
