PB Pro 602 Firmware

[wascalwabbit]

I'm trying to upgrade my firmware to 2.0.2, but i can't seem to find a valid file to do so.

According to the handbook I should be looking for a *.bin file, but all I can find on the website is a *.tar.gz file, which extracts to a *.tar.g-0 file. neither work for upgrading the device's firmware.

Am I doing it all wrong or is there a problem with the firmware/website?

[mtravellerh]

Originally Posted by wascalwabbit

I'm trying to upgrade my firmware to 2.0.2, but i can't seem to find a valid file to do so.

According to the handbook I should be looking for a *.bin file, but all I can find on the website is a *.tar.gz file, which extracts to a *.tar.g-0 file. neither work for upgrading the device's firmware.

Am I doing it all wrong or is there a problem with the firmware/website?

Hmm. I extracts to a bin file normally. What expanding software are you using?

[wascalwabbit]

Thank you for your reply

At first I had used ExtractNow!, but after you suggested using a different software I tried 7-zip, which returns a .tar file, which in turn can be extracted to the .bin file I was looking for.

It would be interresting to know why PB decided to go with .tar.gz instead of .zip or .rar. I'm sure the linuxers don't mind, but I doubt your average window$ user is familiar with it.

Either way, thanks again, I'm off to check out the new firmware.

[mtravellerh]

Originally Posted by wascalwabbit

Thank you for your reply

At first I had used ExtractNow!, but after you suggested using a different software I tried 7-zip, which returns a .tar file, which in turn can be extracted to the .bin file I was looking for.

It would be interresting to know why PB decided to go with .tar.gz instead of .zip or .rar. I'm sure the linuxers don't mind, but I doubt your average window$ user is familiar with it.

Either way, thanks again, I'm off to check out the new firmware.

Yeah, our programmer guys are strange like that.

[LoneTech]

I wouldn't mind zip much, but rar is a non-free format to the point that I know of no free creator for it. It's popular for the simple reason that it compresses well, but that's a bit of a marginal factor here.

Zip isn't actually supported by default on most unix-like systems, but fairly easily installable (typically the info-zip implementation).

Tar and gzip (separate stages, as you noticed extracting one at a time) usually are, except on Windows. Still, it's fairly easy to install there, as 7-zip and a bunch of other programs support it. The non-free programs WinZip and WinRAR both do.

If you want a more level playground, 7z archives would force everybody to look up 7-zip, which is both free and available to each platform. It's growing in popularity as it compresses quite well. Compared to rar, I guess its weakness is that it doesn't have a redundant multi-part feature (where you can lose a part and still get your data), but you can do that with parchive. It's rarely needed, anyway, but made sense when dealing with floppies.

In short, I would suggest the reason is likely habit; we always have tar. Making zips requires an extra installation step.

Addendum: It would appear ExtractNow also supports tar.gz, but from some sort of messy-DOS tradition doesn't recognize this extension. It might do the right thing if you rename the .tar.gz to .tgz instead, and your .tar.g-0 may be a misnamed .tar.

[wascalwabbit]

Good info, thanks.

I actually like 7-zip, just don't install it every time I wipe windows, just because I have never had to deal with a format that ExtractNow can't handle.

I'm going to test your suggestion just for the fun of it xD