Raspberry Pi download page to include link to latest firmware

Would it be a good idea for the Raspberry Pi download page to include a link to download the latest firmware from https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware as well? Often the nightly beta will need more up-to-date firmware than the last stable release, so a link to where to get it from would be useful!

Excellent idea. It always struck me as strange that you had to go hunting elsewhere for a link. Should also apply to other similar pages – eg BeagleBoard.

Not necessarily. There are occasions where there is a firmware change which is only supported by development roms after a hiatus. So it is better for a link to the rom (as now), the complete firmware package that would reside in !Boot.Loader which is self consistent, and a complete (Pi only) SD card image with bundled software (as now). I suggested this several years ago and was told it was a good idea.

Not necessarily.

Ok, let me reprahse it to “a link to download the relevant firmware” then. This might mean a link to the firmware for the stable ROM and a separate link to the more up-to-date firmware for the nightly build.

I suggested this several years ago and was told it was a good idea.

And it still hasn’t been added :(

There needs to be information about compatibility between different versions of firmware and OS. Perhaps a link to a wiki page.

Are firmware versions always backward compatible?

Firmware versions sometimes introduce new configuration options, so information about that is important. Hopefully again a link will suffice, if the destination is not impenetrable to ordinary readers!

Perhaps a link to a wiki page.

There is already a link to a ‘help’ page for each rom/download, most of which are waiting for the community to populate with information.

Are firmware versions always backward compatible?

Looking at the HAL & video driver history in CVS, I think there have been five or six times that a change in the firmware has broken RISC OS. The last was in 2017.

There is already a link to a ‘help’ page for each rom/download, most of which are waiting for the community to populate with information.

Or, in the case of the Pi beta: Revised on May 3, 2018 07:07:53 by Sprow

Never the less some users don’t click on “i” for information icons so that gets missed.

Or have the required firmware files included with the ROM, if allowed?

Or have the required firmware files included with the ROM, if allowed?

Well, it seems to be allowed for the stable ROM:

Well, it seems to be allowed for the stable ROM:

If you restrict the discussion to the Pi, then yes. I suspect the licence conditions on the Pi boot software are different t those on say the Beagleboard so a separated download link might be required there.

I’ve taken the plunge and put up a Wiki page about Raspberry Pi firmware

At the moment it’s only linked from the Raspberry Pi stable ROM info page which I’ve also updated.

Comments welcome :-)

Looks excellent to me!

Thanks Stuart, that looks good. It should be linked from the body text on the Downloads page, but I know that requires someone at ROOL to write a line of HTML!