g90updatefw

Xiegu G90 and Xiego G106 Firmware Updater

The command-line programs g90updatefw (alias g106updatefw) uploads firmware updates to the Xiegu G90 and Xiegu G106 radios.

Note that g90updatefw can be used to update firmware on either the G90 or the G106 radios. g106updatefw and g90updatefw are two names for the same program.

Here is the output of g90updatefw --help:

g90updatefw version 1.9

This program is designed to write a firmware file to a Xiegu radio.
It can be used to update either the main unit or the display unit.

Usage: g90updatefw <firmware_file> <serial_device>
  or   g90updatefw -h or g90updatefw --help
  or   g90updatefw -v or g90updatefw --version

where <firmware_file> is the name of a firmware file for either the
main unit or for the display unit and <serial_device> is the name of
the serial port connected to the Xiegu radio.  On non-windows machines
the <serial_device> is typically similar to /dev/ttyUSB2. On windows
machines it will be similar to COMM2.

Specifying -h or --help produces this help message.
Specifying -v or --version prints the program version.

You should start the program with the programming cable plugged in
and the power disconnected from the radio.

The output from g106updatefw --help is extremely similar.

Linux: serial port permissions

On Linux the serial port device (e.g. /dev/ttyUSB0) is owned by the dialout group. If you see a "permission denied" error, add your user to that group:

sudo usermod -aG dialout $USER

Then log out and back in (or run newgrp dialout in the current shell) for the change to take effect.

If you prefer not to modify group membership, you can create a udev rule instead. Create the file /etc/udev/rules.d/50-xiegu-g90.rules containing:

SUBSYSTEM=="tty", ATTRS{idVendor}=="10c4", ATTRS{idProduct}=="ea60", MODE="0666"

Then reload udev rules:

sudo udevadm control --reload-rules && sudo udevadm trigger

The vendor/product IDs above are for the CP210x USB-to-serial adapter commonly used with the G90 programming cable. Run lsusb with the cable plugged in to confirm the IDs for your cable if they differ.

Source code and additional information about g90updatefw and g106updatefw may be found at https://github.com/DaleFarnsworth/g90updatefw.

Information about downloadable executables for Windows, Mac, Linux, and other HW/OS combinations may be found at https://www.farnsworth.org/dale/g90updatefw/

Dale Farnsworth dale@farnsworth.org

P.S. Andrew, KB0OTY, made a video about using g90updatefw on the Raspberry Pi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnU0LtWxqOs.

Also Steve, KM9G, a video about using g90updatefw on Windows. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIUbbSjRXsU.

Thanks Andrew and Steve!