Firmware [Unipi technology Knowledge Base]

Firmware (the software running on the IO boards) is a big part of our hardware (except Unipi 1.1) and gets updated during the time as things are getting fixed or new functionality is being added.

The Firmware is a standard part of our OS images and is also distributed in our repository in the unipi-firmware6 package.

Package update does not flash the firmware onto the IO boards, this requires a manual intervention.

Connecting via SSH

The first necessary step is to connect to the unit via SSH. How to connect via SSH is explained in SSH access. How to find or set the password for SSH is also described in the article about Passwords.

Obtaining the update package

To update the firmware, you need to obtain the update package. We strongly recommend online update, as offline update might need expert Debian knowledge.

Online firmware installation

1. Obtain the latest firmware version
```
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
```
2. It's very important to REBOOT, so the updated kernel modules are used
```
sudo reboot
```

Offline firmware installation

(!)

Attention:
This option is for experts only, as it might require to bring newer versions of other packages, we highly recommend using the online installation method.

1. Download the latest version of the unipi-firmware6 package from https://repo.unipi.technology/debian/pool/. Then it is needed to get it to the unit. There are two ways to do that:
2.a - Using SCP
- Copy if from your PC to the unit using SCP (a WinSCP, Filezilla or other software can be used) to the /tmp/ folder
- Install the package using dpkg, for example
```
dpkg -i /tmp/unipi-firmware_5.50_all.deb
```
2.b - Via USB flash
- Copy the downloaded file from your PC to the root of the FAT32 formated USB flash and insert the USB flash to any USB port of the unit.
- Switch to root user
```
sudo su
```
- Find out the name of the inserted flash disk (usually it is sda1)
```
fdisk -l
```
- Create a mount folder for the disk
```
mkdir /media/usbflash
```
- Mount the disk to the newly created folder
```
mount /dev/sda /media/usbflash
```
- Install the package using dpkg, for example
```
dpkg -i /media/usbflash/unipi-firmware_5.50_all.deb
```

Updating the firmware

There are two tools for managing firmware of Unipi products:

fwspi - used for internal IO boards of Unipi PLCs.
fwserial - used for Unipi Extensions.

The tools are located in /opt/unipi/tools/ directory and have to be run as root.

This is an example that will get the current firmware version of board on section 1.

sudo /opt/unipi/tools/fwspi -u 1

Note, the parameter -u specifies the board Modbus address - board section.

Internal IO boards

The internal IO boards are fixed, so only information needed is the section number.

1. Check the current FW version installed in each IO board
```
sudo /opt/unipi/tools/fwspi -u 1
```
2 If the firmware is 5.x or older, you need to upgrade it first, see the section below.
3. Update to the downloaded FW version
```
sudo /opt/unipi/tools/fwspi -av
```
4. The output shows the old version and the newly installed version.

RS-485 Extensions

xS/xG series extensions can be upgraded similarly. Apart from Modbus address, you also need to specify the port and other RS-485 parameters, if they do not use the default setting.

$/!\$

Attention:
Make sure that there is no other application using/communicating on the used port and do not disconnect power to the unit or Extension. Any of this will lead to bricking the extension.

(!)

Note:
The -p (port) parameter must be set according to the used serial for the extension - see the serial port mapping for Unipi Edge, Unipi Patron, Unipi Neuron or Unipi Axon to find proper serial port within your unit. For example, if extension is connected to RS485-1/RS485-1.1:

sudo /opt/unipi/tools/fwserial -p /run/unipi-plc/by-sys/rs485-1/tty -P

Note that the fwserial assumes that extension's Modbus address, baud rate and parity are in the factory-default state, ie 19200 baud 8N1 with address 15, if you have a different configuration, you need to specify as parameters:

-b, --baud <bps> baudrate, default 19200
-o, --stopbits <n> stop bits (1|2), default 1
-r*, --parity <type> parity (N|E|O), default N

* -r is currently available only on systems running Debian 13

When the extension is on port /run/unipi-plc/by-sys/rs485-1/tty, Modbus address 6, baudrate 9600 and parity even:

1. Check the current FW version installed in the extension

sudo /opt/unipi/tools/fwserial -p /run/unipi-plc/by-sys/rs485-1/tty -u 6 -b 9600 --parity E

2 If the firmware is 5.x or older, you need to upgrade it first, see the section below.

3. Update to the downloaded FW version

sudo /opt/unipi/tools/fwserial -p /run/unipi-plc/by-sys/rs485-1/tty -u 6 -b 9600 --parity E -Pv

4. The output shows the old version and the newly installed version.

Upgrading the firmware

Direct update from older firmwares (5.x and below) is not possible, an upgrade needs to be performed. The only change is that parameter -U (or parameter -a and doing the command for each board separately) is used instead of -P, see the examples for both commands:

sudo /opt/unipi/tools/fwspi -u 1 -Uv

sudo /opt/unipi/tools/fwserial -p /run/unipi-plc/by-sys/rs485-1/tty -u 15 -Uv

Other useful parameters

Resetting the configuration

When updating the firmware, you can also reset the configuration (AO type, MWD, default states) to the default state with the -R parameter. For example:

sudo /opt/unipi/tools/fwspi -u 1 -PRv