Re: HDHomeRun firmware downgrades

[ddl@danlan.*com (Dan Lanciani)]

In article <fdivqe2lk0@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, phil-news-nospam@xxxxxxxx writes:
| In alt.tv.tech.hdtv Dan Lanciani <ddl@danlan.*com> wrote:
|
| | Sometime after the version of firmware that I'm currently running
| | (20070131) SiliconDust has apparently added a lock to the HDHomeRun
| | to prevent the loading of firmware older than the current version.
| | Can anyone who has been following the versions tell me the latest
| | version I can load without being locked in?  SiliconDust won't say.
| | This lock makes it impossible to back out an upgrade if there are
| | application compatibility problems.
|
| It may be the case that, due to the firmware image becoming larger, that
| the old firmware format was insufficient for anticipated future firware.
| So perhaps what they have done is inserted a new firmware loader in the
| last release under the old format, and committed to using the new format
| thereafter.
|
| The above is just a plausible guess.

Their second explanation makes it sound something like that; however,
it doesn't quite fit.

| In this case you could also detect
| if that scenario might be the case.  If they require this firmware version
| to be a step taken to upgrade beyond it from versions before it, that could
| very well be the case.

They don't require that, so any of the new, larger, can't-be-backed-out
images must be loadable by the original loader.  I suppose all the newer
images could be part of a transitional process and include a new loader,
especially if the loader provides necessary services to the image beyond
loading it (i.e., it's more a BIOS than just a loader).  Of course, if
they had just explained this it would be a lot easier to believe.

				Dan Lanciani
				ddl@danlan.*com