Squeezebox Firmware Selector

mgalusha · « **on:** 11 Mar 2006, 05:38 pm »

I've written a small Windows program that will allow you to easily choose different versions of firmware for your Squeezebox 2 or 3. It's not pretty but it seems to work just fine. I was prompted to do this after walking several folks through changing their firmware. This does not require any restarts of Slimserver, just hit the brightness button on the remote to reload the firmware.

It works by reading in your existing squeezebox2.version file to determine what version you are running and then checks the firmware directory to see which versions you have available. It then simply rewrites the .version file to the version you choose.

It should work on Windows 2000, XP and server 2000/2003 machines but I've only tested it on WinXP. Note this was written using Microsof .NET and thus requires the Microsoft .NET 1.1 framework package to be installed. I suspect that most XP machines will have this already, so it shouldn't be a big deal. If you don't have the .NET framwork, you can download it from Microsoft here. Be sure to use Windows update after installation as Microsoft has released some updates for the framework.

Since this is a freebie, support will be limited to this thread.

If you want to try it out, you can download it here.

Any feedback is appreciated. I have tested this running on the machine running Slimserver and also from my desktop across the network to the Slimserver machine. The program stores the path to the Slimserver firmware directory in the registry, so it will remember the last place you selected. At install it uses the default "c:\program files\Slimdevices\server\firmware" as the path it checks. If you did not install Slimserver to that path you can choose another.

Note that to be able to select different versions of firmeware, you need to have more than one version in your firmware directory. You can grab a copy of V15 here and a copy of V28 here. Just save them to your firmware directory if needed.

Other versions available here.

Again, feedback, good or bad, is appreciated. This is a very simple utility and is not meant to win any awards.

Hope someone finds this useful.

Edit - I found a small bug that would occasionally write the squeezebox2.version file incorrectly and cause the firmware not to switch. This has been fixed and a new version uploaded to the server. The link above now points to the updated version. If you have the first version, please download and install the updated code. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Mike

Tweaker · « **Reply #1 on:** 11 Mar 2006, 05:58 pm »

Just tested your program and it works like a charm. Used it from my office computer to change the firmware to 28 and back to 15 on the networked music server. Great job!

F-100 · « **Reply #2 on:** 11 Mar 2006, 07:12 pm »

Does SB2 and SB3 use the same firmware?

jermmd · « **Reply #3 on:** 11 Mar 2006, 09:46 pm »

Thanks Mgalusha.
Is 15 the recommended "audiophile" version of the firmware?

F-100 · « **Reply #4 on:** 11 Mar 2006, 10:02 pm »

Quote from: F-100

Does SB2 and SB3 use the same firmware?

Yes.

I reflashed to ver 15 firmware and I can notice a big difference in sound. Bass is much tigher and louder.
Thanks Mike, your program works great.

jermmd · « **Reply #5 on:** 11 Mar 2006, 11:17 pm »

I switched back to 15 as well. We'll see if it sounds any better.
Nice program. Easy, intuitive and it works.

tdangelo · « **Reply #6 on:** 11 Mar 2006, 11:28 pm »

Hi Mike, I'm running XP SP2 and installed Netframe 2.0 when your program prompted. After I installed Net 2.0 your program is still looking for version 1.1.4322 - won't it work with 2.0?

Thanks

Tony

jwilson · « **Reply #7 on:** 11 Mar 2006, 11:38 pm »

This is a nice little app, mgalusha. Worked just fine for me.

Thanks,
James

mgalusha · « **Reply #8 on:** 12 Mar 2006, 12:34 am »

Quote from: tdangelo

Hi Mike, I'm running XP SP2 and installed Netframe 2.0 when your program prompted. After I installed Net 2.0 your program is still looking for version 1.1.4322 - won't it work with 2.0?

Hi Tony,

It requires the 1.1 version of the .NET framework. You can have both on your machine at the same time. I choose to build it for the 1.1 version as I figured that many more people would have that and I didn't want anyone to have to download the 2.0 version from Microsoft. You can download the .NET framework 1.1 from Microsoft Here . That should work for you. Once you''ve installed the framework, visit the Windows update site as MS has released some updates for it.

Mike

mgalusha · « **Reply #9 on:** 12 Mar 2006, 12:36 am »

I'm glad to hear that it's working for most folks. The idea was to provide a quick and easy way to try different firmware verions.

Mike

pugs · « **Reply #10 on:** 12 Mar 2006, 01:42 am »

Quote from: F-100

Quote from: F-100
Does SB2 and SB3 use the same firmware?

Yes.

I reflashed to ver 15 firmware and I can notice a big difference in sound. Bass is much tigher and louder.
Thanks Mike, your program works great.

Which firmware were you using before?

mgalusha · « **Reply #11 on:** 12 Mar 2006, 01:54 am »

I just found a small bug in the code that was causing it to write the .version file incorrectly sometimes. This would cause it not to load a new version of the firmware on those occassions. If you have installed this, please download the new version and re-install it. The origianl link is now pointing to the updated version.

Sorry for any trouble.

F-100 · « **Reply #12 on:** 12 Mar 2006, 01:58 am »

Quote from: pugs

Which firmware were you using before?

Ver 28.

tonyptony · « **Reply #13 on:** 12 Mar 2006, 02:16 pm »

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but does anyone know what it is about follow on versions of the FW (beyond 15) that drops it from the "audiophile approved" status? Is it the rounding error? If so that is supposed to now be fixed (v.35), although I'm not sure if that was really a FW or Slimserver problem.

maxwalrath · « **Reply #14 on:** 12 Mar 2006, 07:04 pm »

I downloaded the Net-framework 1.1 and installed the security upgrade, but for some reason when I go to download the version 15 link, I can't get it to save to the firmware directory. It goes to my desktop as a .bin file that I can't open.

In further news, the squeezebox won't recognize my ethernet connection...so even if the 15 was working I'd still be f*cked. Also I think I need to go to radioshack...I only have 1 ethernet connector at the back of my computer, so I can't do any searching for what I'm doing wrong without unhooking the SB. Very, very computer illiterate and frustrated over here.

F-100 · « **Reply #15 on:** 12 Mar 2006, 07:19 pm »

Max,
Don't panic yet !! Take a breath and let us know more detail about your setup.

Are you using wireless connection with your SB3? If so, are you using WEP Encryption with your wireless security?

maxwalrath · « **Reply #16 on:** 12 Mar 2006, 07:39 pm »

Thanks... it gets frustrating

! I plan on using wireless at some point, but I think I need extra stuff for my computer to make that happen. The SB2 came with an antenna which I didn't attach.

Right now I have a long run of cat-5 cable running between the PC and the SB, but the SB says that the ethernet appears disconnected and that I need to check my network connection.

Dr. Krull · « **Reply #17 on:** 12 Mar 2006, 07:57 pm »

You need to use a crossover ethernet cable if you play to connect your squeezebox directly up to your computer. Alternatively, you need to use a hub or switch.

-Krull

maxwalrath · « **Reply #18 on:** 12 Mar 2006, 08:29 pm »

What is the difference between a crossover ethernet cable and the one I have? It was included when I bought it from the previous owner.
Thanks.

jhenderson010759 · « **Reply #19 on:** 12 Mar 2006, 08:42 pm »

I tried to run it, but encountered a runtime exception:

Apparently, I am missing a .version file. Where are these to be found?

TIA,