It’s easy to update firmware on Linux thanks to the LVFS, the fwupd tool, and its integration within GNOME Software (aka Ubuntu Software on Ubuntu).
However, there are times when you either need to or want to find out more about what firmware your devices are using. You might, for instance, have encountered an issue, tracked it to a firmware update, and wish to verify the version you’re using to see if it’s he cause.
Do check firmware versions and glean other details about connected hardware, you’ll often directed to the command line (indeed, when trying to update the firmware of my 8BitDo controller, I had to run various commands to check firmware status).
A new Firmware Updater desktop app aims to simplify managing, monitoring and installing firmware on Linux.
New Firmware Update App for Linux
Red Hat’s Richard Hughes recently shared word on a new GUI “Firmware Updater” tool for Linux desktops that’s in development. Crucially, it runs outside of GNOME Software, potentially opening it up to use under other DEs.
Plus, it surfaces a lot more detail on hardware, more directly.
Why the need? Dell, the computer company, approached Hughes with the idea of mentoring an intern who could work on crating a “power user” GTK app for managing firmware of linux.
“The idea being,” Hughes writes, “that someone like Dell support could ask the user to run a little application and then read back firmware versions or downgrade to an older firmware version rather than getting them to use the command line.”
The result of that effort is the (perhaps not surprisingly named) Firmware Updater.
Users can run it to see which connected devices have firmware that’s updatable via the LVFS; see a list of available firmware releases; read changelogs and any special details; and upgrade or downgrade firmware as well.
For now the app is still a work in progress, with the team behind it “working out what kind of UX we want from a power user tool”. It’s designed in such a way that it could even become a distinct panel in the GNOME Settings/Control Centre, rather than a standalone tool.
Finished or not, as the screenshot in this post shows, the tool is already in a good state. Hughes adds that as soon as Firmware Updater is ready for release it’ll be up on Flathub “for the world to install.”