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Firmware & Drivers — Keeping SDRLAB Hardware Current

Learning goal: you will understand which "brain" each SDRLAB device runs, and be able to update it safely — or at least know exactly where the official update lives. Audience: beginner to intermediate ｜ Prerequisites: a device from the SDRLAB section and its quickstart done.

Concept: firmware vs drivers​

Two words that get mixed up constantly — let's fix that:

  • Firmware is software embedded in the hardware: the TRX-duo's SD-card OS, the H4M's PortaPack operating system, the ESP chip on a Flipper module. Updating it changes what the device itself can do.
  • Drivers are software on your computer that let the OS talk to the hardware: librtlsdr on Linux, the RTL-SDR DLL on Windows.

RTL-SDR Blog V4: update the driver, not the dongle​

The V4 has no user-updatable firmware — what matters is the driver on your computer. Older drivers (especially distro-packaged ones) predate the V4's R828D tuner and will fail with confusing errors. The V4 page has the full Linux driver install — the short version:

sudo apt purge ^librtlsdr
sudo apt install libusb-1.0-0-dev git cmake pkg-config build-essential
git clone https://github.com/osmocom/rtl-sdr
cd rtl-sdr && mkdir build && cd build
cmake ../ -DINSTALL_UDEV_RULES=ON
make && sudo make install
sudo cp ../rtl-sdr.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/
echo 'blacklist dvb_usb_rtl28xxu' | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-dvb_usb_rtl28xxu.conf
sudo ldconfig

Then reboot and verify with rtl_test. On Windows, SDR#, SDR++ and SDR Console ship current V4-compatible drivers — just keep those apps updated.

TRX-duo: the SD image is the firmware​

The TRX-duo is an embedded Linux computer (Xilinx Zynq 7010 + ARM Cortex-A9) that boots from a microSD card. The card contains the OS, the FPGA bitstream and the Red Pitaya-compatible applications — updating the "firmware" literally means writing a newer official SD image.

⚠️ Important: the SD image is downloaded from the official vendor pages — do not use random third-party links. See the TRX-duo page → Firmware and SD image for the official download locations (vendor site and the vendor's product page with the firmware/quick-start manual).

Typical SD-card flow (see the product page for the exact official instructions):

  1. Download the official image from the vendor.
  2. Write it to a microSD card (≥ 4 GB) with dd or balenaEtcher.
  3. Insert the card, connect Ethernet + USB-C power, and boot.
  4. The device appears at its network address (by default it requests an IP via DHCP; the Red Pitaya-compatible default is http://192.168.1.100 when no DHCP is present).

H4M: Mayhem firmware​

The H4M runs the open-source Mayhem firmware (the community fork that turns the PortaPack into a full toolkit). The H4M page covers installation; the official sources are:

Flash methods, in order of convenience:

  1. In-device Flash Utility — copy the firmware .bin to microSD, open Utilities → Flash Utility, select it. Easiest.
  2. hackrf.app — connect USB-C, let the website flash the device. No local tools.
  3. hackrf_spiflash (classic) — with the device in HackRF mode:
sudo apt install hackrf
hackrf_spiflash -w portapack-h1_h2-mayhem.bin

Keep the microSD content in sync with the firmware version: every release ships a COPY_TO_SDCARD archive — extract it to a FAT32 microSD card. Out-of-sync SD cards are the #1 cause of "apps missing" reports.

Flipper Zero expansion modules: two firmware layers​

Flipper modules have two brains to keep in mind:

1. The Flipper Zero itself (custom firmware for the apps)​

The NRF24 sniffer, mousejacker and extended WiFi apps are not in the official Flipper firmware. Install a custom build — Momentum, Unleashed or Xtreme — which bundles these apps. Updating the Flipper is done via qFlipper (desktop) or the mobile app; see the Flipper Zero section for the base flow.

2. The module's own chip (ESP firmware)​

  • 5G board / ESP32-C5 → Marauder firmware (2.4/5 GHz). Flashed over the board's USB-C port; the vendor ships it pre-flashed.
  • WiFi multiboard / ESP8266 → ESP8266 Deauther or Marauder firmware. Flashed via the board's USB/UART or a web flasher.
  • NRF24 / W5500 modules → no module firmware; they are plain SPI peripherals controlled entirely by Flipper apps.

Update safety checklist​

  • Back up SD cards before rewriting (TRX-duo, H4M).
  • Download firmware only from official vendor / project pages (links above and on each product page).
  • Match firmware version with SD-card content (H4M).
  • Reboot / re-plug after driver changes (RTL-SDR V4).
  • Verify with the device-specific test (rtl_test, hackrf_info, web UI, module app).