AiXun T3A firmaware update with Linux

[Furna]

Hello,

I ordered a T3A that is supposed to arrive in the next few days ... is there away to update the firmware from Linux?
I found the firmware available at https://aixun-updates.github.io/ anyway a search here and on Google didn't  return any usuful results.

Thanks
Furna

[Ungolian]

It might be possible with something like a Windows emulator (Wine or Crossover if you can find a copy), but I'm sure you know someone with a Windows notebook.  It's pretty much a one time only update, and takes 5 minutes.  I am still running version 1.25, so I'm not sure how the current firmware runs (haven't heard anything bad, so I assume it's fine).  I think you can now go back to older firmwares, so I'd do version 1.23 or 1.25- 1.23 was great, it worked perfectly, while 1.25 works the same, but added an unnecessary power graphing function like JBC.  Just make sure you don't have the unit itself plugged into the mains.  Not sure if it's been fixed or not, but someone fried their laptop trying to update it while the unit was plugged into mains and switched on.  The USB power from the laptop is all you need to update.

[Furna]

Thanks for sharing your experience about the formware versions.

I should have better explained ... I have no issue finding a Windows machine. Anyway I have been told the Windows upgrading software requires a registration on AiXun website; I would prefer avoiding that.

I still didn't check what MCU is running in this box ... I saw some post title about hacking the T3B citing STM anyway I didn't investigate better ... I would prefer starting to use the tool instead of disassembling to install pin headers for the dbug port and programming from there ...

In short ... is registration to AiXun website required to upgrade the firmware?

[Ungolian]

I'm pretty sure I didn't have to register my updater, but that was a while ago.  I uninstalled my updater over a year ago. Things may have changed though.  Here's a link to Crossover.  It's a paid application, but it has a free trial period.  That's my best suggestion. 

https://www.codeweavers.com/crossover

[Whales]

What's the programming interface?  USB?

I'm not sure if Wine/Crossover will do what you want, I don't think they provide USB kernel interface emulation

I'd put Windows inside a virtual machine and then forward a USB port to the VM.  In Virtualbox this is easy via the GUI, but I normally use Qemu on the commandline.  If you have troubles: remember there are different USB types (XHCI/EHCI/etc) that are normally transparent to the user but matter when forwarding ports.

[Ungolian]

^^ What he said. I'm totally not a Linux pro, just throwing out a suggestion or two.  Good luck!

[Furna]

As I wrote already, it isn't a matter of finding a Windows machine or running a VM ... I would say I have a good knowledge about PCs and operating systems ...
I grabbed an empty old SSD and I now have a dual boot machine with Linux and Win10 ... luckly the old SSD will survive a few days/weeks ...

I do confirm: the AiXun "Platform" software is asking for registration; see attched images of the first screen as soon as the software starts.
I easily find two versions on:
Version 1.17.14 https://www.aixuntech.com/download/software-download/ => https://www.aixuntech.com/userimages/2023-05/aixun_install_en.rar
Version 1.16.xx https://www.jcprogrammer.com/download => https://www.aixuntech.cn/userimages/2022-11/aixun_install_cn.zip
The installer english version of 1.17.14 also installs old FTDI drivers ...
The software chinese version of 1.6.xx even asks for the phone number instead of the email address ...

Does anyone here still have the old installer?

I will try to contact info@aixuntech.com (so they have my email address) and politely ask if they can provide Linux instructions ... in the worst case USBpcap will be my friend on Windows.
I'll report here.

[Ungolian]

Yes, I still have a copy of 1.06.  I can confirm that there is no registration, but since it is so out of date, it will ask you to update the installer to latest revision (which you can decline).  You just start it, change the language to English, install the driver, and connect the device.  I didn't try to update anything though, so it may or may not update the device.

[Tom2]

In my case the older update software updates the station only to version 1.27. With the new update software I received version 1.32.

The new software solved the dormancy problem on my newer revision station. Before the update a dormancy delay between 1-10 seconds worked fine, but with larger delays the dormancy stopped working.

The UI changed slightly, see the attached image.

[finebyme]

dident work for me

[e42]

my update to firmware 1.36 with the aixun tool crashed and my soldering station had a broken firmware. I found an interesting tool , written in python, to flash the aixun soldering  stations with the firmware file directly.

Here is the link to Michael Niewöhner git repository: https://github.com/c0d3z3r0/aixun_t3x_updater

Works fine for me under Linux and saved my T3A station.

Ralf