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RefindPlus 0.14.2 AC Full - Mouse support on old firmware

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@aterro aterro released this 16 Jun 14:51
· 57 commits to Full since this release

This special release of RefindPlus 0.14.2 AC was made with old computer firmwares in mind and includes many visual enhancements which makes the user experience much more enjoyable.

Changes related to old firmware fixes include:

New RefindPlus main menu screen drawing logic that frees the CPU from WaitForInput restrictions related to mouse polling, now the drawing system works with continuous mouse cursor movement tracking with a fixed delay or "Stall" that ensures the old firmwares have time to settle and respond to state updates. Many old firmwares especially with EFI Revisions 2.40 or less benefit from this new method. This release was tested on old Intel, Foxconn, Lenovo, Gigabyte and Dell motherboards and worked as expected.
The new Stall makes the loader run at a constant 60 FPS meaning the pointer motion is very smooth.
The second change which was addressed is the timer logic, due to difference in CPU speeds and generations, the timer had to rely on a fixed time function provided by the firmware which made it run correctly on all CPU types.
The third thing to be fixed was a flickering pointer on new hardware.
Now both old and new units run perfectly with this new logic.
Fixing system reset when it gets "Aborted" on some hardware
No x64 efi drivers are needed for the usb mouse to work, but they can still be used in special situations in case needed (for instance AptioInputFix-64 can smoothen pointer motion on touch screens)

Visual and cosmetic fixes include:

Hiding the pointer during the timer and during keyboard use
Removing "Manual Stanza" beneath the OS icons now it shows "Load Windows from EFISP" just like the good old Refind
Also fixed the text under the tools
Direct execution of EFI Shell tool bypassing the confirmation screen
Direct reboot and shutdown without the "System Shutdown" and "System Restart" on screen display text
The About info now shows "0.14.2.AC MouseFix Mod"

To use this release, simply copy the compiled binary file "BOOTX64-REL.efi" to your existing RefindPlus setup, replacing the old binary file (typically refind.efi, RefindPlus.efi, bootx64.efi or Grubx64.efi on your EFI System Partition.

Full Changelog: https://github.com/aterro/RefindPlus/commits/0.14.2-AC-MouseFix-Mod