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Unreleased Firmware Updates

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Offline SX720

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Unreleased Firmware Updates
« on: 15 / September / 2019, 23:03:37 »
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I noticed that many cameras supported by CHDK have multiple versions of firmware available but Canon's website does not have an upgrade for that camera.

Why make an update but not let existing camera owners upgrade? The only reason I can think of is the changes were needed to accommodate PCB or BOM changes and the firmware update does not fix any bugs or bring any improvements. An example of a BOM change that could warrant a firmware update is Canon found a cheaper flash memory chip and it requires different commands to write to it.

I tried searching the forum for this question but did not find anyone else with this question or any answers. I apologize if this a duplicate question.
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Offline c_joerg

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Re: Unreleased Firmware Updates
« Reply #1 on: 16 / September / 2019, 02:11:44 »
Quote from: SX720 on 15 / September / 2019, 23:03:37
An example of a BOM change that could warrant a firmware update is Canon found a cheaper flash memory chip and it requires different commands to write to it.

For my S110 there is a firmware for download, which works only on certain serial numbers. I suspect that there are differences in the hardware.
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Offline dmitrys

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Re: Unreleased Firmware Updates
« Reply #2 on: 16 / September / 2019, 07:53:37 »
This is still better than two different BOMs appearing to have the same firmware version:

https://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=14309.msg137843#msg137843
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Offline reyalp

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Re: Unreleased Firmware Updates
« Reply #3 on: 16 / September / 2019, 12:21:41 »
Quote from: SX720 on 15 / September / 2019, 23:03:37
Why make an update but not let existing camera owners upgrade? The only reason I can think of is the changes were needed to accommodate PCB or BOM changes and the firmware update does not fix any bugs or bring any improvements. An example of a BOM change that could warrant a firmware update is Canon found a cheaper flash memory chip and it requires different commands to write to it.
I suspect there are some associated with localization for different markets too.

My impression (not verified by reverse engineering) is that Canon does roll bug fixes into production without offering a public update. The differences are often very small, like one function in a firmware growing by a few instructions between revisions. There is likely a significant support cost for publicly available updates.
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Offline SX720

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Re: Unreleased Firmware Updates
« Reply #4 on: 19 / September / 2019, 00:53:44 »
@reyalp I see what you mean about cost. Canon's technical support most likely gets lots of questions about stuff already covered in the instructions or edge cases experienced during the upgrade process (which are also documented such as not preforming it on a low battery).

@dmitrys that sucks. They should at-least use a different number.

@c_joerg most likely yes, unless Canon wants to do data collection or an attempt to prevent people from downloading it who don't own a S110.
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Offline c_joerg

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Re: Unreleased Firmware Updates
« Reply #5 on: 19 / September / 2019, 09:44:49 »
Quote from: SX720 on 19 / September / 2019, 00:53:44
or an attempt to prevent people from downloading it who don't own a S110.
For download, you don’t need a serial number…
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M100 100a, M3 121a, G9x II (1.00c), 2*G1x (101a,100e), S110 (103a), SX50 (100c), SX230 (101a), S45,
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Offline srsa_4c

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Re: Unreleased Firmware Updates
« Reply #6 on: 21 / September / 2019, 18:39:14 »
Plenty of mis-information in this thread.
This is about a clueless person speculating. Canon did release updates for that camera later, and all 70Ds are eligible for upgrade.
SN check: they want to prevent people from unnecessarily trying an update (an update that would not apply because the cam in question already has the same or newer fw version).
I can't recall any models that need different fw updates depending on their serial number. So, if they happen to change a hw component in a model during production (not sure if that ever happened), newer versions of the firmware would still be made compatible with old hw revisions. Not doing so would be a nightmare in case they are forced to fix, say, a security issue.
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