Does anyone have a good idea when to expect the new firmware?
Updates are Coming
- Thread starter UPMan
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Am I the only ones tired of the constant whining about nonsense of this thread? I mean come on already, STOP !! If you don't want to register for a friggen ESN or whatever number that seems to have everyone's shorts in a bunch, then don't ! This post was origianlly started with some excitement, and now I regret even reading it. I have to admit, i've never seen a bunch of adults complain like children on here ever! Listen, if this Uniden issue is pi**ing you off that much that it's causing your blood pressure to rise, and your stomach in a knot, then sell the g** da** scanner and buy a GRE or whatever else you want ! As of my writing, their are 10 pages on this post, and I think less than half of them are even worth reading. I vote to close this thread and wait till the upgrade comes out. Here's another useless opinion, which happens to be mine: if I don't want to do something, then I won't ! Wow, does anyone care? Nope...I know I wouldn't. Now for all you whining on this thread, it's time to get a grip here. Go out, smell the roses, play a little sport, exercise, work, take up bird watching or stamp collecting.....but please step away from the computer and those demons at Uniden that are making you see red...all I have to say each time I read this thread is geezasphuckinkrist !!!!
mike_s104 said:
Paul said about a month away....
slicerwizard said:
So many questions will be answered when the process starts... So many assumptions proven so wildly wrong...
Patience is so good...
werinshades said:
Thanks. I tried following the thread but couldn't stand to read about registering ESNs, speculations and complaining.
Hey Upman,
Perhaps when people disable the keypad beep on their scanners, could you make it so it also doesn't disable the low battery alert? This is kind of a stupid thing you have done here. I don't mind being alerted when the battery is about to die, what I do mind is being informed when I press a button. Tying the low battery alert in with the keypad beep setting seems kind of stupid and ridiculous. Please fix this, I have never had this issue with any of my other Uniden scanners. Even ones that didn't beep when I pressed a button would audibly alert me when the batteries were about to die.
Perhaps when people disable the keypad beep on their scanners, could you make it so it also doesn't disable the low battery alert? This is kind of a stupid thing you have done here. I don't mind being alerted when the battery is about to die, what I do mind is being informed when I press a button. Tying the low battery alert in with the keypad beep setting seems kind of stupid and ridiculous. Please fix this, I have never had this issue with any of my other Uniden scanners. Even ones that didn't beep when I pressed a button would audibly alert me when the batteries were about to die.
D
DaveNF2G
Guest
If SDR really takes off, what Uniden is doing here will be a likely model for all sorts of radios in the near future. The hardware will be sold once, with a suite of relevant software defined capabilities. Changing the nature of the radio and updating its capabilities will then become a process of reprogramming instead of replacement.
It's the same thing that Motorola and other manufaturers have been doing for years, i.e. Flashport. You buy the radio and if you want certain features, you pay extra for them. If you don't want the extras, you just get the base model.
I can see it now on the for sale forums... "What is the flash on your 396?"
I can see it now on the for sale forums... "What is the flash on your 396?"
DaveNF2G said:
I have 396, I do have the key pad alert turn off and also my low battery never beeps. It does flash when it is there. I do not recall ever making adjustment to it but I know it did when I first got the scanner. Not fussing here, liked that it doesn't beep.
Highpockets
Member
UPMan,
With the upgrades and changes coming to the 396 - 996 will this effect the price of a new scanner once the upgrades take effect when buying a new unit when the ones on the shelves are replaced with the upgrades included, in other words each upgrade price of scanner goes up? Or will Uniden sell them as they are now and let you decide if you want to upgrade and add new features?
With the upgrades and changes coming to the 396 - 996 will this effect the price of a new scanner once the upgrades take effect when buying a new unit when the ones on the shelves are replaced with the upgrades included, in other words each upgrade price of scanner goes up? Or will Uniden sell them as they are now and let you decide if you want to upgrade and add new features?
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I am speculating here but...
The way I read it, the ESN and checksum are "generated" by the first update... not chosen by the user. In order for the update to work on your scanner, the Serial, ESN, and checksum (or some similar combination) would be used to generate the key that unlocks the firmware... for your scanner only. This prevents the firmware from being pirated and also allows Uniden to keep track of who has what update.
This is also how Uniden will charge you for the for-pay updates... you basically buy the key and download/update the firmware like you always have. I think alot of people have misunderstood this to mean that Uniden will charge for all future firmware updates... but I don't believe this is the case.
Minor updates that contain bugfixes and the like will still be free. Only major updates containing added functionality and features not originally included would require you to pay... and these all will be optional.
Again... this is speculation on my part. That is just the way I read it.
I personally think this is great news and can't wait for the updates to roll out. :lol:
The way I read it, the ESN and checksum are "generated" by the first update... not chosen by the user. In order for the update to work on your scanner, the Serial, ESN, and checksum (or some similar combination) would be used to generate the key that unlocks the firmware... for your scanner only. This prevents the firmware from being pirated and also allows Uniden to keep track of who has what update.
This is also how Uniden will charge you for the for-pay updates... you basically buy the key and download/update the firmware like you always have. I think alot of people have misunderstood this to mean that Uniden will charge for all future firmware updates... but I don't believe this is the case.
Minor updates that contain bugfixes and the like will still be free. Only major updates containing added functionality and features not originally included would require you to pay... and these all will be optional.
Again... this is speculation on my part. That is just the way I read it.
I personally think this is great news and can't wait for the updates to roll out. :lol:
slicerwizard
Member
Yes, it would make more sense if the upcoming installer generated a somewhat random ESN while performing the update. It'd still be trivial to record the serial comms between the PC and 396 and play it back to as many other 396s as you wanted; they'd all become exact clones.Scanmikey said:
Interesting concept. :twisted:slicerwizard said:
I have no idea how the ESN loader will work but I assume it will generate the ESN and checksum locally on your machine and then transfer them to the scanner. If they found a way to generate the ESN/checksum on the scanner, it might throw a wrench into the cloning theory. In other words... the serial comms would only show the command to execute the ESN/checksum generation code, which is located on the scanner, and then the scanner would return the generated ESN/checksum. This would take the data needed for cloning out of the serial comms and place it on the scanner. I don't know that this is even possible, it is only a theory.
If it were possible to get this cloning mechanism working, it would be smart to keep it to yourself and apply it only to your own radios. If the cloned ESN became public, Uniden could probably find a way to blacklist it and either prevent future updates or even brick any scanner using the cloned ESN. (I doubt they would go as far as bricking scanners but it would certainly be in the realm of possibility.) Of course, you might be able to re-clone your scanner with another ESN... but that seems like a lot of work.
I would never attempt anything like this myself but it is all very interesting.
One thing is for sure if people raised this kind of stink over the price of gas and stopped buying it that crap would drop to 50 cent's a gallon..
timjude said:One thing is for sure if people raised this kind of stink over the price of gas and stopped buying it that crap would drop to 50 cent's a gallon..
No, they would just reduce production and still charge the same amount or even more.
Mike
slicerwizard
Member
Understood. I doubt very much that they've put anything like that in to the firmware already. What if I'm updating from a very old version? It won't have it.Scanmikey said:
Agreed. One wouldn't want to advertise something like this.
Actually, rather than going down this road, I wish a group of smart programmers/hackers would get together and write a better version of the firmware; then all of the annoyances would get fixed - multisite, CC-DND, no 200 TG limit, no "Press E" on Close Call hits, proper patch/MSEL handling on Moto systems, analog/digital strapping...
No, of course not. We're just thinking out loud...I would never attempt anything like this myself but it is all very interesting.
Actually, my posts give reasons NOT to try and hack your rig... I just find the topic interesting.CAPTLPOL1 said:
I work for a company that develops it's own software and discussions like this come up a lot... even though piracy isn't an issue for us. I am sure the development team at Uniden has gone through MANY similar discussions.
I await the updates with open arms and will gladly pay for added features if they are offered.
Just because you CAN... doesn't mean you SHOULD.
I have been in scanning many years and the operation of any scanner by hand is no problem but im bad with this computer and have a good scanner friend come over and download all my new up-grades on his lap-top, i hope doing it this way will not give Uniden false notions that upgrades will be done fore two different owners on the same computer....This will result in different ESN's....
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