skyBlip Go
New firmware and settings, from this page, over Bluetooth.
Nothing to install and nothing to pair. The page sends the image, and the device asks you once, on its own glass and naming the version, before it takes it. A phone cannot update it on its own.
The page also reads the settings the device holds, shows which differ from the ones it ships on, and changes them, each change asked on the glass. Nothing is asked while the device is not on the ground.
This browser has no Web Bluetooth, so this page cannot reach the device. Use Chrome or Edge, on a computer or on Android. Safari, Firefox, and every browser on an iPhone or an iPad lack it.
Your browser lists the devices in range: pick skyBlip Go followed by its address.
- Device
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- Running
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- Track
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- Battery
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- Flight
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- File to send
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- Chosen image
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- Allow the update: the glass says FIRMWARE and the version, press twice.
- The image travels and the glass says RECEIVING. Keep this page open and the device close.
- The device installs and restarts, about thirty seconds, and the link drops. Connect again to see the result.
If the firmware will not take: the USB drive
The glass says RECOVERY, REBOOT INTO THE USB BOOTLOADER: press twice.
The glass now says USB BOOTLOADER. If it reads PRESS THE BUTTON TO START IT, press the button once. On a computer the device is then a USB drive named TECHOBOOT: drop the .uf2 file on it for new firmware, or press RST to go back to skyBlip. Nothing transmits meanwhile.
Before you start
- Chrome or Edge, on a computer or on Android
- The device on the ground, with a GPS fix
- A battery above the warning, or charging
- An image from the list, or a file ending in .signed.bin, the one this page names
- No other app holding the device’s settings
- Ten minutes, with the device close to you
A release has two of them, both named after its version: the slim one ends in .signed.bin, the full one in .full.signed.bin. Send the slim one unless the page asks for the full one, which also carries the firmware of the sensor hub: a board needs it when its hub has none yet, when a new hub is fitted, or when a release changes it.
What happens
One question on the glass, then it installs itself.
Install asks the device to take the image you chose. The glass says FIRMWARE, then INSTALL and the version, for example INSTALL 0.2.0+15 FROM THE PHONE: press twice. That opens a window of ten minutes, and only while the device knows it is on the ground.
The image travels next. The glass says RECEIVING and the page shows how much of the image has arrived. One press on the device stops it. The window also closes at ten minutes, at a take-off, or when the link drops. Install again and the upload picks up where it stopped, as long as the device has not restarted in between.
Once the last byte is in, the device checks that it holds the version it asked you about, that it is still on the ground and that the battery can finish the job, then installs without asking again. It paints INSTALLING and restarts into the new firmware, which takes about thirty seconds, and the link drops.
Connect again. The new firmware starts on probation: it has to bring its radio up, hear its GPS receiver and draw its screen before it keeps itself. If it does not, the device goes back to the firmware it had, and this page says so rather than leave you looking at an old version number.
Settings
What it holds, beside what it ships on.
Once connected, the page reads the aircraft type, the callsign, the units and the alarm from the device, and asks the firmware for the values a new unit ships on. A setting that differs from those says so under its field.
Save sends only what you changed. Back to defaults sends the firmware’s own values for what differs. Either way the glass says SETTINGS and lists each change in the words of its own menu, such as CALLSIGN F-JXYZ, up to four rows: press twice, and the page reads the settings back from the device.
The radar’s range and plot are set on the device’s own menu, and the page leaves them as they are.
| The page says | What it means |
|---|---|
| Saved | The device stored the settings, and the form shows them as the device read them back. |
What it tells you about itself
| The device reports | What it means |
|---|---|
| probation | The new firmware is proving itself: radio up, receiver talking, screen drawn. This resolves on its own within seconds, there is nothing to do. |
| reverted | The last update started but did not prove itself, so the device went back to the firmware it had. Nothing is broken: the version number is the old one on purpose. Try again, and if it happens twice, tell us which version you tried. |
| refused | The bootloader would not start the last update, and the device kept the firmware it had: the image did not pass its signature check. Download it again, and if it happens twice, tell us which file you used. |
| settings: prior | Your settings are the ones from before that update: what you changed while the newer firmware ran stayed with it. |
| settings: defaults | The stored settings could not be read, so the device runs on its defaults. Check the callsign and the aircraft type before you fly. |
| swap_powered: false | The battery is critical, too low to install. Charge it first. |
| imu: writing | The device is writing the sensor hub’s firmware to its memory, for up to a minute. Leave it on: the page asks again until it is done. |
| no key | This firmware is too old to name the key it trusts, so the list of published images stays empty. Install one by hand once, the .full.signed.bin from its release page with the file picker, or its .uf2 on the USB drive: from then on the list offers the rest. |
| went_dark_flat | The last time it switched off, it was for a flat battery. Charge it before you update. |
When it says no
Every refusal comes with a reason, and the page puts it in the words below.
| The device answers | What it means, and what to do |
|---|---|
| in_flight | It has not proven it is on the ground: it is flying, or has had no GPS fix since it was switched on. Take it where it sees the sky, wait for the fix, then try again. |
| low_power | The battery is critical. Installing is 15 to 25 seconds of flash erases, and the device does not start one on a cell that might not finish it. Charge it, then try again. |
| expired | Nobody answered the question on the glass within thirty seconds, which counts as a refusal. Try again, and press twice when the glass asks. |
| cancelled | The device said no: one press refuses the question, and one press on RECEIVING stops the upload. |
| nothing_staged | The upload ended, but the device could not read the image back. Install again to send it. |
| not_approved | The image that arrived is not the version the glass asked you about, so the device did not install it. Install again. |
| claimed | Another app holds this device’s settings. Disconnect it or close it, then connect again. |
| window_closed | The upload window closed: it lasts ten minutes, and a take-off, one press on the glass or a dropped link closes it sooner. Install again: the upload picks up where it stopped, unless the device restarted. |
| older | This image is older than the firmware on the device, and a device on released firmware never goes back over Bluetooth. The same version installs again, a newer one too. |
| wrong_key | This image is not signed with the key the device trusts: a development build for a released device, or the other way round. Choose an image of the device’s kind, or change kinds with a .uf2 on the USB drive. |
| too_large | This image is bigger than the room the device keeps for an update, so it is not a skyBlip Go image. |
| not_image | This file is not a signed firmware image. Choose the one ending in .signed.bin: the .uf2 is for the USB drive. |
| flash | The device could not write the image to its memory. Try again, and if it happens again, use the USB drive. |
| unknown_cmd | The firmware on the device is older than this page and does not know the question. Update it with the USB drive. |
| anything else | The device refused, with a reason this page does not know: |
When the page stops
| The page says | What it means, and what to do |
|---|---|
| No Web Bluetooth | This browser has no Web Bluetooth. Use Chrome or Edge, on a computer or on Android. Safari, Firefox, and every browser on an iPhone or an iPad lack it. |
| Not a skyBlip | The device you picked has no firmware update service: it is not a skyBlip, or its firmware predates updates over Bluetooth. |
| Full image needed | This is the slim image, and the sensor hub of this device lacks the firmware this image expects. Choose the file ending in .full.signed.bin instead: the slim one would install, then fail to keep itself, and the device would go back to the firmware it had. |
| No file | Choose the firmware file first. |
| Link lost | The link dropped. Bring the device closer and connect again: an upload under way picks up where it stopped. |
| No answer | The device stopped answering. Disconnect, connect again, and install again. |
| No room given | The device did not say how much of the image it takes at once. Disconnect and connect again. |
| Refused | The device refused the image with an error this page does not know: |
| Image not downloaded | The chosen image did not download from this site. Reload the page and choose it again, or download it from its release and choose the file. |
| Anything else | Something failed on the way: |
Without this page
Press RST twice, and it is a USB drive.
Twice inside half a second, with the device on a USB cable. It shows up on the computer as a drive named TECHOBOOT: drop the .uf2 file of a release on it, and the device restarts on that firmware. That road needs no browser at all, and it is the one to take when the firmware on the device will not answer this page.