Flash Radiolink RC6GS v2 Firmware Using Linux

I’ve done this with my own RC6GS v2 and it worked. It may work with other radios from Radiolink, too.

The current firmware version can be checked, by pressing the Exit + Enter keys at the same time (enter menu) and then select “1. LANGUAGE”. The firmware version will be displayed on the bottom of the screen.

Do this at your own risk! — If unsure, don’t do it!

It seems that the device will always present a mass storage device on the USB port – even if the firmware isn’t installed (correctly). This way it should always be fixable, if something goes south.

According to the description of the firmware upgrade process on Windows, the mass storage device needs to be mounted, formatted(!) and then the firmware file needs to be copied to that device.

First download the correct firmware file (ending with .mac) from the Radiolink Website. There seem to be different versions of this radio, so please make sure to select the firmware that is meant for you device.

Connect the radio using Micro-USB cable and turn it on. The system should recognize a new mass storage device.

Identify the device, for example with lsblk -f. The device shouldn’t contain any partitions or filesystems (empty).

Make sure to get the correct device!

Create a new filesystem on the device and format it to FAT32.

For example (assuming the device showed up as /dev/sdc):

$ sudo fdisk /dev/sdc

1. Press o to create a new DOS partition table (GPT doesn’t work!)
2. Press n and then p to create a new primary partition (confirm all default values).
3. Type t and enter 0b for type FAT32.
4. Type w to write the changes to the device (this will DESTROY any existing data, if you got the wrong device!).

$ sudo mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sdc1

This will create a new FAT32 filesystem on the device. Next, mount it and copy the firmware file:

$ sudo mkdir -p /mnt/radiolink
$ sudo mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt/radiolink
$ sudo cp ~/Downloads/mynewfirmware.mac /mnt/radiolink/

Wait a few seconds and then:

$ sudo umount /dev/sdc1

Turn the device off, remove the USB cable. After restarting, everything should work.

Confirm that the firmware was actually updated (see beginning of the article).