Firmware Updates

Which one?

  • Wifi

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Manually

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Either or

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0

Falseblue

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Dec 6, 2007
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15
Which do you want or prefer?

Supposing there will be updates, and such.

Manually downloading from a host site, and installing, or have it the PSP way and be able to download it directly to the Pandora?
 
I would rather update firmware from a SD card. There is nothing like losing a connection and having to re-flash again. If you mean acquire the firmware over wifi, than what is this thread really about?

Considering that the Pandora should have Firefox3 and the ability to download files anyways. Besides most updates will just be packages anyways, why recompile on each Pandora when its the same hardware.
 
Kings said:
I would rather update firmware from a SD card. There is nothing like losing a connection and having to re-flash again. If you mean acquire the firmware over wifi, than what is this thread really about?

Considering that the Pandora should have Firefox3 and the ability to download files anyways. Besides most updates will just be packages anyways, why recompile on each Pandora when its the same hardware.
I don't think he meant compiling it manually, it was more Ubuntu auto-update vs download and install one big file.

It would certainly have checks to prevent you from flashing a half-downloaded file, as well. If your wifi cuts out, just reconnect and resume; it will either be one big file, in which case you can re-download it, or a bunch of smaller files, in which case just re-download the ones you need (as the Ubuntu system updater does).
 
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I believe the question is, would you prefer to have your firmware updates direct over wifi, ala Ubuntu/PSP, or download them to an SD card first (either on the Pandora or a PC) and then install them from the SD card.
 
That one big file would contain the packages that would be downloaded by the package manager otherwise.

It's as versatile as anything you can point a stick at.
 
like my phone :

by radio ( wifi for Pandora , GSM for my phone ;) ) : automatic / manually like ubuntu
by usb ( if problem with reader SD card ) via program on PC : manually
by SDcard : automatic ( if exist file 'update.frm' in root of SDCard for example )
 
Squidge said:
How would you update the kernel using a package manager?
The same way I just updated mine from 2.6.24.17 to 2.6.24.18 :) An apt-get dist-upgrade will update the linux-image package as well.

Any additional setting up or managing config files is done with setup scripts, debs are really good with those. Nowadays, apt can do pretty much anything you might think of, from updating everything to encrypted partitions to offline updates to removable media.
 
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Obviously, manually is a requirement. However, even if I were in a wifi hotspot and my Pandora suddenly said "Hey Firmware X.XX is available! Do you want it now?". I would still hit No and go read the changelog, and probably wait a few days to see if there were any glaring issues with it. But that's just me.

The Wifi option, as convenient as it is, probably shouldn't be viewed as a requirement, and if adding that feature now would delay the Pandora even 1 hour, I don't want it until some later firmware revision. :D
 
mindlord said:
Obviously, manually is a requirement. However, even if I were in a wifi hotspot and my Pandora suddenly said "Hey Firmware X.XX is available! Do you want it now?". I would still hit No and go read the changelog, and probably wait a few days to see if there were any glaring issues with it. But that's just me.
apt-get safe-upgrade normally updates only those packages that are guaranteed by the repository maintainer to not screw up the device. Apt also supports installing the previous version of packages or even locking certain versions.

A nice system could be made, where you get notified about an update, but you can also revert it if you find it inadequate.
 
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sindbad said:
apt-get safe-upgrade normally updates only those packages that are guaranteed by the repository maintainer to not screw up the device. Apt also supports installing the previous version of packages or even locking certain versions.

A nice system could be made, where you get notified about an update, but you can also revert it if you find it inadequate.
So what you suggest is instead of global fireware upgrades that update the kernel and all support packages simultaneously, just going the standard Linux route of update individual packages as they appear. With the occasional "Distribution Upgrade". Like Ubuntu's 6 month upgrade cycle.

This is great for people with Wifi connections, but for people who have to update from SD cards it could be very tedious. Unless the upgrade cycles are very short, which is tedious for the maintainers.
 
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mindlord said:
So what you suggest is instead of global fireware upgrades that update the kernel and all support packages simultaneously, just going the standard Linux route of update individual packages as they appear. With the occasional "Distribution Upgrade". Like Ubuntu's 6 month upgrade cycle.

This is great for people with Wifi connections, but for people who have to update from SD cards it could be very tedious. Unless the upgrade cycles are very short, which is tedious for the maintainers.

Users could just not upgrade until the next release or there could simply be no new packages in the default branch until the new release. Instead of 'firmware' you have 'distribution'.

As for those without wifi, an archive with all the new packages could be downloaded, put on the sd card and installed from there with apt-file.
 
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sindbad said:
Users could just not upgrade until the next release or there could simply be no new packages in the default branch until the new release. Instead of 'firmware' you have 'distribution'.

As for those without wifi, an archive with all the new packages could be downloaded, put on the sd card and installed from there with apt-file.
I agree with you to a point. I just feel it's pretty harsh to make sd-card users wait for updates between distributions, or worse track down and download individual packages. Especially since changes in the distributions could prevent them from having access to some feature or program that's important to them.

I have Wifi, so this is not a big deal to me personally, but it's important to consider the lowest common denominator.

Maybe the Pandora could export a list of installed packages to a text file. Then a PC (or maybe even a web-based) client could read and compare that to the repo, and manufacture an update package. An update package need only consist of a tarball or zip file containing a simple shell script that installs the included updates. That seems to be a reasonable middle ground.
 
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As a non-Linux user, I'm a bit confused. Are we talking about updates to the basic OS, or updates to individual programs, or both?

Maybe I'm just not savvy with how Linux does things, but I would think that OS updates would be few and far between. Would it really be that inconvenient to require users to do OS updates while tethered to a PC over USB? This would significantly reduce the (admittedly small) chance of some mishap while writing to the NAND.

As far as program updates, I already assumed the Pandora would be able to do them in a standalone manner over wifi. Even in a worst-case scenario the only thing that could get messed up is the particular program that you're updating. All you would have to do is remove it and try again. Obviously people should also have the option of installing from an SD card or over USB if they prefer.
 
technically wouldn't both be the same sense WiFi is the only way for the internet to get to it(except maybe USB), and you would have to download it anyway?
I mean sure there could be an app for system upgrades like how other linux stuff goes
 
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