Hi all. Just thought I'd pop back in from the dead to necro this old thread. I've just had no time for light things I’m afraid. Cool to see that bistro HD/OTSM was useful for it, and good for Lexel for getting that setup! Sorry I couldn’t support questions about this firmware more, although it still works.
For what it's worth. I did not configure a version of bistro-HD specifically for this light, and the manual was a modders manual, not a muggle manual. A modder selling a light might want to deliver a muggle manual. Bistro-HD does have many versions pre-configured but I don’t know if that’s what was used or which one. I wasn’t involved in this light specifically.
Here are a few things that may help with issues I saw come up in this thread, if anyone still cares about this old light and has questions about bistro-HD... I didn’t read this whole thread and much may have been eventually answered, years ago now…
Mode groups...
The default modegroup files for bistro-HD are all here:
https://bazaar.launchpad.net/~toykeeper/flashlight-firmware/trunk/files/249/Flintrock/bistro-hd/modegroups
I don't know which one was selected during compilation for this light, or if one was customized or added. If they are the v1.3+ groups (95% by Texas Ace and those before him) then hodor’s post #1234 on the previous page has things about right.
Other Bistro HD features that MIGHT be included with/helping this light or might not.
Thermal control:
Bistro HD 1.7.1 (which may or may not be the version in this light) has an optional (build option, not UI option) thermal control mode that is different.
It bumps down to a preset level (default build set to level 10) after overheating. A short press bumps it back to turbo (or I think whatever mode you were in) for 10 seconds minimum, or longer if it’s not overheated. It’s not meant to be a thermally regulated output. It’s meant to optimize ability to use turbo reliably to see something when needed, to cool-off to be ready to do it again while still providing useful light in the meantime, and to allow brief override. As a bonus it doesn’t create frequent random brightness shifts. I don’t know if lexel enabled this thermal control method or not, or if he customized the turbo standby level well for this light.
OTSM and standard bistro
I think OTSM timing is understood here. The OTSM CAP, and probable lack of OTC cap, may interfere with mentioned attempts to modify a standard (not bistro-HD) bistro firmware to use OTC or OTC-less (noinit) behavior on this light, but it may be possible (and may be documented in this thread already). It’s probably easier to just tweak HD configuration to taste, and keep OTSM than to do that, but to each as they like of course.
Reverse clicks
Someone mentioned the “medium” presses being a bit too long. This is easily configurable in the main configuration file that one should create a customized version of for each light/driver. For example in 1.7.1 I reduced it for the Q8 driver configuration as I found shorter timing is better on e-switches. Of course I have no idea how lexel configured it for this light. The default in HD isn’t super fast. But anyway, this is an issue for the light seller.
Menus
As I recall I think I made the menu options in HD always included, even for unused features. This means you don’t have to count blinks. The 5th option is always option 5 (I think).
By default they are:
1: muggle mode
2: memory
3: enable moon
4: reverse modes
5: Modegroup-select
6: Enable medium click
7: Temp cal
8: reset
9: never mind about 9
Extended moon mode
If the light components are selected well, and PWM tables set well for the light, depending on the emitter, HD powersaving (if compiled in) allows the lowest moon mode (or firefly really) to last over a month in theory on a single cell (I never tested that long, but I’ve left it many days.)
About the firmware code:
ToyKeeper correctly pointed out that almost every line of code has changed or been reorganized from original bistro. That said, many, or most parts are still quite recognizable as bistro and evolved directly from it. Many of the modifications were optimizations and organization, for saving memory, adding OTSM control, and for allowing more comprehensive compile-time configuration (programming what the program will be really) and easier calibration, all allowing it to build so many different pre-configured drivers from the compilation script (Makefile) alone. Its soul is still very much bistro, and of course to a user it seems pretty much like bistro, but yes, from a sense of things like “is this vetted on some light,” it’s certainly not just a distribution of bistro.
I’ve been using 1.7.1 happily for real world use on a Q8 (e-switch) and a clicky OTSM light, and will use it again on e-switch lights too if I get a chance. I had ambitions to add some new features, but I haven’t touched it at all, but also haven’t needed to.