Phil has been working hard on some firmware updates that improve two particular areas we had requests: support for usb serial on x64 windows platforms and access to the USB filesystem from both the mbed and the PC interchangeably. There were a few other improvements we wrapped up too, so here are the details:

Whilst Linux and Mac support for the USB serial port has been pretty clean for a while, Windows has always been a little more tricky; it required the mbed to be configured with an .ini file, and didn't work on x64 or win 2k machines. We've now given this an overhaul, and the results are much better. Firstly, the new firmware means there is no longer any configuration needed, so the mbed works on Windows, Mac and Linux exactly the same!

As ever, Windows still needs a driver for serial, but now no changes are needed. Plug it in without any driver and you get just the disk drive, so you can work away fine. Run the serial installer and the serial port appears - magic :)

At the same time, we added support for more Windows platforms in to the installer. The list is now Windows 2K, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, including x64 versions. Phew!

The firmware also updates the LocalFileSystem to allow both the PC and the mbed to access the USB Disk files (just not at the same time). Whereas previously, as soon as the mbed opened a file on the local disk, it would "grab" the disk from the PC and not give it back until the program exited, it now releases the disk whenever there are no open filehandles. This should make it much more flexible and usable.

Some final updates for completeness:

• Improved programming and semihosting performance
• Fixed a bootcode problem that was causing a virus false-positives on some systems
• Updated MBED.HTM to a link new format - you can now use it to launch the mbed website whenever you start

Updating your Firmware

To update your firmware, simply go to:

• /handbook/Firmware

Updating the firmware simply involves saving the new firmware on to your mbed, and then power-cycling the board (disconnect and reconnect the USB cable).

For the new serial driver, run the installer found at:

• /handbook/WindowsSerialConfiguration

Hope these updates are useful. Any problems, please tell us in the forums!