Release Notes

NORTHSTARSHOW SYSTEMS

Release Notes

Northstar Show Systems platform 1.0

Platform 1.0 — Initial Release

First public release of the Northstar Show Systems platform.

Components Included

• Compose 1.0 — offline show designer (Windows / macOS)
• HelmOS 1.0 — venue runtime (Windows)
• Cuemaster 1.0 — browser operator dashboard
• Polaris firmware family — GPIO / Video / Audio / Bridge variants
• HelmOS Show Loader — standalone HTML upload tool

Feature Highlights

• Block-based show programming with hat / stack / control / reporter / boolean categories
• Distributed runtime over TrueNorth Wi-Fi
• USB-first firmware bootstrap followed by Wi-Fi OTA for the lifetime of the install
• Cuemaster Maintenance HMI with Interlocks, Zone Diagnostics, Actuator Test, I/O Status, and Firmware tabs
• Physical Bridge key-switch authority for Maintenance Mode entry/exit
• Per-device licensing — perpetual Ed25519-signed tokens bound to machine fingerprint
• Bundled arduino-cli + arduino:renesas_uno toolchain in both installers

Known Limitations

• Path-with-spaces breaks firmware compilation. Install Compose and HelmOS to paths without spaces.
• No code signing on Windows installers yet. SmartScreen warning appears on first run.
• License revocation is offline-only (let token expire). No online blocklist.
• No automatic update mechanism. Customers download new installers for upgrades.

Supported Platforms

• Windows 10 (build 19044+) and Windows 11
• macOS 13+ (Compose only)
• Browsers: Chrome 120+, Firefox 121+, Edge 120+, Safari 17+
• Arduino UNO R4 WiFi for every Polaris variant

Future Roadmap (subject to change)

• Authenticode code signing on Windows installers
• Automatic in-product update prompts
• Server-side firmware compilation (HelmOS uses its bundled arduino-cli to compile project .ino files on demand)
• Encrypted transport between HelmOS and Cuemaster for cross-LAN deployments
• License revocation list distributed via signed updates
• Polaris node firmware on 5 GHz Wi-Fi (currently the embedded ESP32-S3 operates on 2.4 GHz)

Related Documents

• NSSS-DOC-0001Quick Start Guide
• NSSS-DOC-0002Platform Overview

Revision History