VFO-Knobby RF.Guru

Update a knob over its cable

Just got your knob? Start here: it left the workshop with the firmware of the day it was made, and there is always a newer one by the time it arrives. From your browser and its USB-C cable, put the newest setup firmware on it, then set it up. The same for a knob that will not start its firmware, or cannot reach the firmware list: it starts with its WiFi, Bluetooth pairings and settings as they were. Or start it over, as it shipped. For knobs made by RF.Guru.

Only its WiFi to set? With firmware 1.20.2 or newer on the knob, set its WiFi over its cable instead: nothing but the network is written. No Bluetooth on it? Add Bluetooth to it.

“Erase it and make it new” erases the whole knob.

Every firmware and every setting goes: its WiFi networks, its Bluetooth pairings, its radios and logins, and the settings on its SD card (VFO-CFG) with the rest of the card. Afterwards it asks for WiFi, as a new one does. “Update its setup firmware” keeps all of that.

What it takes

  • Chrome or Edge on a desktop or laptop — Windows, macOS, Linux or ChromeOS. Other browsers, and phones, have no Web Serial to reach the knob with.
  • A USB-C data cable.
  • A knob made by RF.Guru: the page checks it by its MAC address before it writes anything.
  • On Linux, your user in the serial ports' group — dialout on Debian, Ubuntu and Fedora, uucp on Arch — then log out and in again.

What it does

  • Fetches the latest release from GitHub, every file checked against its sha256 before anything is written.
  • Update its setup firmware: writes the setup firmware and restarts the knob into it — under a minute. Nothing else on the knob changes.
  • Erase it and make it new: erases the knob, writes the setup firmware, and puts every firmware on its SD card — a few minutes. It then shows WIFI SETUP.