#How to download firmware from FC

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

candid sail
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Is there an easy way to download firmware from FC? And further, is there any way to find out the firmware id from the hex file? Thanks
Momo

frigid gale
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you cannot download the firmware itself (binary), but you can make backups of the settings.

you can do it via the CLI tab or the presets tab.

via CLI tab, type diff all to see just the difference from defaults.
or type dump all to see the entire config.
i personally perform both.
You can save the output to a plain-text file.

On the preset tab, simply click the Save backup button to retrieve and save a diff all.

https://hackmd.io/@nerdCopter/HJqA569dp

candid sail
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There's no rookie here. 🙂 I know how to backup BF settings, but I didn't ask about that.
So there is no way to download the firmware? Not even with development tools from STM?

frigid gale
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okay, sorry did not know you expertise level.
it seems there would be a way but i do not personally know of any.
if i search DFU-UTIL (the legacy tool that falshes) i do see --download option, but never tried.

candid sail
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Cool, no problem ... I haven't tried the download option either, so I'm asking if anyone has.

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I am concerned with the possibility of copying firmware between FCs that use firmware that does not have a hex file backup or that is no longer available from the server.

frigid gale
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nope --download actually means write (flash) :(

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--upload means read. i'm playing now

candid sail
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That's what I thought too, I wasn't too confused about the switch, I hope we understand each other.

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OK, thanks, I am waiting ...

frigid gale
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i'm not succeeding.
i have some download with this, but not a the 1.xMB filesize i would expect.
dfu-util -a 0 --dfuse-address 0x08000000 --upload-size 1048576 --device 0483:df11 --upload FOX_F405HEX.hex

frigid gale
candid sail
candid sail
frigid gale
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i prefer the non-docker because my environment is setup.
or you can use the docker environment for guaranteed setup same as cloud-server

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stark bay
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You can also retrieve the build parameters using the status command

stark bay
candid sail
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I guess we don't understand each other, so I'll try to explain clearly. E.g. i get my hands on an FC with an older version of BF, so I have nothing but the firmware in the FC. If I flash the firmware to a different version, I will never get back to the original. It can be a firmware version for a specific FC that is no longer available, e.g. a development version, it is not possible to get it through the standard configurator interface. The only thing I can think of is getting the firmware from FC.

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And a copy of the firmware is required to be sure that it is really a copy, with a new build it will always be about whether something has been forgotten ... a copy of the current state is definitely needed.

icy shard
candid sail
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And are all development versions on github?

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so can i try to look it up by id?

icy shard
candid sail
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Precisely because new versions are not always stable, sorry ...

icy shard
icy shard
candid sail
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And report back ...

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And back to the beginning, Is there any way to find out the firmware id from the hex file?

stark bay
frigid gale
# candid sail I guess we don't understand each other, so I'll try to explain clearly. E.g. i g...

in CLI type version, git the git commit SHA. this may help find the exact dev version and it is likely it can be re-compiled.

report the results of

version
manufacturer_id
board_name

i will attempt to checkout the SHA and compile. if it is 4.4 or later, i would need to know the cloud-option. if it is prior, likely to need unified-target file. if it is 3.x, likely do not need further info.

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but yes, other guys in here are correct. newer "releases" are better in most cases.
and also "Stable" is a misnomer, it's all "beta"-ware. often some fixes do not get back-ported to older releases.

candid sail
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OK, I am back, I am going to find 4605309d8.

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Betaflight / STM32F7X2 (S7X2) 4.4.0 Apr 19 2023 / 13:01:47 (4605309d8) MSP API: 1.45
HGLR, HGLRCF722E

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AFAIK it is not standard release of 4.4.0.

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4605309 is 4.4.0, the d8 is something like subversion?

icy shard
stark bay
candid sail
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This version was made directly by haslinghuis. And is different from version 4.4.0, that is available. So how do I know exactly what version it is when it normally only searches for the first few characters?

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And that is related to ... And back to the beginning, Is there any way to find out the firmware id from the hex file?

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Other than just uploading it to FC?

stark bay
candid sail
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and all the time he calls it 4.4.2 ....

stark bay
candid sail
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But I feel like we're drifting away from the original questions. So I understand that by default it is not possible to get the firmware from FC and no one here has tried either. And also it is not possible to get the id from the hex file.

stark bay
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If you post the output of status, you can see the defines and the build command used

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What do you mean by "ID from the hex file"?

candid sail
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It's just that if I have a BF firmware hex file, and I don't know anything about it, then without uploading it to FC I have no chance to find out what ID, what version of BF it is... And all this is only on the assumption that I simply overwrite the previous firmware.

stark bay
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Why are you trying to save the hexes though?

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All you need is a diff or dump

candid sail
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Drifting away ... Different BF versions have different setup parameters, diff is useless if I don't know the BF version.

stark bay
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The diff lists the Betaflight version

frigid gale
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$ git checkout 4605309d8
Note: switching to '4605309d8'.
$ git log --date=short --pretty=format:"%h%x09%an%x09%ad%x09%s" | head -n 1
4605309d8    Hans Christian Olaussen    2023-01-29    Increment EEPROM version for 4.4 (#12242)
make STM32F7X2
[...]
Linking STM32F7X2
[...]
Building STM32F7X2 succeeded.

apply your unified-target (and your dump), profit.

But also trust the guys that newer=better.

📎 betaflight_4.4.0_STM32F7X2.hex
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that link shows a bunch of 4.4.2, so such is confusing. newer broken and older fixed? confused. but i digress.

icy shard
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but as I and other guys explined - you don't need to do it, just flash release

urban kettle
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# version
# Betaflight / STM32G47X (SG47) 4.5.0 Mar 12 2024 / 20:57:45 (ecef09fdd) MSP API: 1.46
# config rev: 917c3f5
# board: manufacturer_id: AIRB, board_name: AIRBOTG4AIO

git show ecef09fdd

Take note of the PR and type # in here

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candid sail
candid sail
candid sail
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So I had a bit of trouble with the DFU mode driver, but I'm already inside with the STM32Cube Programmer. I'm going to do some research.

candid sail
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FYI - So it is not a problem to download (upload) and save the firmware from any FC using the STM cube programmer. Just select read all and save as bin or hex. And at the same time I came to my second answer. In any hex browser or editor, the downloaded firmware can be browsed and the build information is stored there in ASCII, so it is easy to find what kind of firmware it is.

icy shard
candid sail
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Of course, it's useless for the average BF user. For anyone who wants to do non-standard things, this is quite essential. I'm thinking of copying debugged and tuned firmware between numbers of quads with the same hardware. It's much faster than using the standard configurator and fiddling with restoring backup settings. There are more possibilities of use.

stark bay
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Why can't you just flash the firmware and a diff?

icy shard