How does MX Linux update firmware

[LinuxSpring1]

MX Package Installer or KDE Discover do a decent job of keeping the OS and applications updated. But I have not seen them provide firmware for various manufacturers or motherboards or other hardware devices. For example Dell/Acer/Leneovo do provide firmware updates for BIOS/UEFI regularly. But I have not seen them listed in the MX Package Installer or in KDE Discover. So how does one go about updating the firmware in MX Linux?

[fluxboxplus]

Hi AFAIK it does not do that at all, like Windows does not do it at all. If you need to update your UEFI then you should ether do it via UEFI by using it's flashing facilities or prepare a usb media or a bootable media. There are Microcode updates and other Firmware parts which can be loaded by the Kernel. These Firmware updates are managed by the Repositories.

You can view the updates with:

Code: Select all

aptitude search firmware  | grep firmware- | grep -vE '^v'

cheers

[BV206]

What I do every few months is download the latest Ubuntu live USB iso and run fwupd.
I don't think Debian/MX ever updates fwupd or if that is important.

fwupd will only work for devices that are supported by LVFS (https://fwupd.org)

My only LVFS supported device is a Logitech mouse so the other thing I do is check the motherboad and SSD manufactuers web sites for firmware updates for the models I have.

My motherboard is HP. It is several years old now and I don't think they support it any longer. HP had firmware updates for it that are Windows executable files. Those won't work on Linux or WINE so I downloaded Hiren's Boot CD PE (https://www.hirensbootcd.org) which is a Windows 11 live USB iso image.

I put the iso on a Ventoy USB and the firmware updater either on another USB formatted as FAT32 so Windows can read it, or on an additional FAT32 partition on the Ventoy USB.

Boot the Hiren's CD image, find the firmware updater and run it. That worked for me about twice a year for about 5 years until HP quit providing updates for my motherboard model. I don't know if you can do the same thing with other manufacturers.

[CharlesV]

fwupd is already installed on MX and is supposed to update on schedule if there are updates.

You can install gnome-firmware ( MX Package Installer) , which is a front end gui for fwupd

I have not seen a huge amount of firmware that is updated by fwupd, but I have seen it update one dell and one lenovo as I recall.

[m_pav]

I usually keep a slimmed down Windows partition available for that exact purpose on each of my machines. Also makes them easier to sell when I'm done with them. As things are, OEM's are unlikely to befriend any other OS type because to them, anything other than Windows is too wild to tame, they can not get a handle on it to control it, so it goes into the too hard basket.

[MXRobo]

@m_pav Could you please elucidate a little regarding, "slimmed down Windows partition"?

I've suggested in this forum that retaining the original windows ESP partition might help for future bios updates - and did keep it on a computer for another person, but I don't know if this would work or not, or if one needs more than just the original ESP partition.

Thank You.

[LinuxSpring1]

What I do every few months is download the latest Ubuntu live USB iso and run fwupd.
I don't think Debian/MX ever updates fwupd or if that is important.

fwupd will only work for devices that are supported by LVFS (https://fwupd.org)

My only LVFS supported device is a Logitech mouse so the other thing I do is check the motherboad and SSD manufactuers web sites for firmware updates for the models I have.

@BV206 I had a look at fwupd but found the support for various other firmware lacklustre. Yeah it had support for Dell and partially HP laptops but not anything much else. For example the support for hard drive firmware update is sorely lacking. Can fwupd be run via SystemRescueCD? That is my go to repair and fix-it tool. I would not like to have an additional Ubuntu Live USB.

Though having a antiX based Live USB with all the tools of SystemRescueCD in built would be the best solution. It could have 2 or 3 versions of all the latest LTS kernels (6.12.x/6.6.x/6.1.x) and the latest Linux Kernel (6.13.x). However, SystemResuceCD has the option to "Copy to RAM and execute" that would be missing in AntiX based Live USB.

My motherboard is HP. It is several years old now and I don't think they support it any longer. HP had firmware updates for it that are Windows executable files. Those won't work on Linux or WINE so I downloaded Hiren's Boot CD PE (https://www.hirensbootcd.org) which is a Windows 11 live USB iso image.

I put the iso on a Ventoy USB and the firmware updater either on another USB formatted as FAT32 so Windows can read it, or on an additional FAT32 partition on the Ventoy USB.

Boot the Hiren's CD image, find the firmware updater and run it. That worked for me about twice a year for about 5 years until HP quit providing updates for my motherboard model. I don't know if you can do the same thing with other manufacturers.

Thanks for the input on HirenBootCD. I had not considered that. A few clarifications please. Can a single USB/flash drive of say 16GB or higher be partitioned with one partition of NTFS for HireBootCD and the other vFAT/FAT32 for firmware updates? After booting into HirenBootCD it is then used to update the firmware kept in the second partition? And yes HP and Dell are some of the few manufacturers which do support Laptop firmware for about 5 years or so. But unfortunately only with Windows.
About Ventoy, I am not aware of it. It similar to Rufus or UNetbootin or Universal USB Installer?

fwupd is already installed on MX and is supposed to update on schedule if there are updates.

You can install gnome-firmware ( MX Package Installer) , which is a front end gui for fwupd

I have not seen a huge amount of firmware that is updated by fwupd, but I have seen it update one dell and one lenovo as I recall.

@CharlesV I have MX Linux 23.5 running KDE and fwupd is not installed by default. Maybe it has to be installed separately. Is there any other non-gnome GUI frontend available? Maybe this can be a good addition to MX Package Installer. And yes you are right there is not a huge amount of firmware that is supported by fwupd.

I usually keep a slimmed down Windows partition available for that exact purpose on each of my machines. Also makes them easier to sell when I'm done with them. As things are, OEM's are unlikely to befriend any other OS type because to them, anything other than Windows is too wild to tame, they can not get a handle on it to control it, so it goes into the too hard basket.

@m_pav yeah computer/server OEMs are allergic to support other OS. That is one of the reason that they missed the mobile bus. And like @MXRobo I would also be interested in knowing about the slimmed down Windows partition. Can you please elaborate on that? Is it that you retain the Windows recover partition that comes with the computer? Or is that the Windows that came pre installed with the computer is retained? Or is it something else?

[m_pav]

@MXRobo @LinuxSpring1 for starters, have a look at my response in this post for Virtualising a Windows installation --> viewtopic.php?p=803908#p803908

This covers a bit of what I do, there's no magic in it at all, just some program removals, 3 major system cleaners & running windows image manipulation tools to further reduce the footprint before trawling through the filesystem to ensure the leftovers are removed too. When I'm done with the downsizing, I run a trim followed by a forced disk check, then make a MR image backup of it all before provisioning partitions for Linux.

[MXRobo]

@m_pav
Thank you for taking the time to reply, and I have to say, "sorry for bothering you" as for me, MS isn't worth the time.
Gates still thumbing his nose at the anti-trust lawsuit with bios updates, secure boot, fast start, and I believe more with W11.

Thanks though!

[BV206]

Can fwupd be run via SystemRescueCD?

Probably but I'm not sure. I think SystemRescueCD is based on Debian but I don't know if stable or testing or sid and I don't know if it comes with fwupd preinstalled. Also don't know if you would have to reboot after installing fwupd.