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Welcome to the Deluge Community Firmware 'Getting Started' Guide!
The best way to start understanding all things open source is to first identify what role you may play in the community.
Even if you are not a coder you can play a key role in the Deluge’s Open Source development. Read the following types of roles and see which ones sound most like you!
Spectator
You simply want to stay updated with what big development and features are happening. You’d rather avoid testing unstable firmware, navigating confusing websites, and dealing with file formats you don’t recognize. You’ll continue to use your Deluge with the official and stable firmware while keeping an eye open for new development and future updates.
Tester
You eagerly load community firmware with newly implemented features to stress test them in order to discover bugs, crashes, and incompatibilities. You actively document issues and detail how to reproduce them. Why? So these issues can be addressed and stable features can become a reality as fast as possible!
Explorer
You want to set out and discover the creative limits new features can unlock. You’ll experience new features by experimenting and incorporating them with your musical workflow. Whether you share your results or not, your real-world experience with these features may prompt you to share feedback on improvements that could be made to these new features. You may even go so far as to create videos showcasing your approach for others to see, discuss, and regale!
Adopter
You want to use the latest and greatest features for your Deluge and don’t want to look back. You already loaded the newest firmware and overwrote all your previous songs to incorporate the brand spanking new [Insert New Feature Here]! Sure, your songs won’t load properly on older firmware and some minor bugs may still be getting ironed out but that's the price you’re willing to pay to stay up to date with new features you now can’t imagine living without!
Coder
You hold the hypothetical keys to the hypothetical Deluge castles that exist in everyone's minds. Whether you may be a novice coder or a seasoned veteran, you know that you want to make a lasting impact on how the Deluge functions. This could entail behind the scenes optimizations, making your most desired feature a reality, fulfilling the most popular feature request, or just perusing the codebase until inspiration strikes.
Helper
You have a desire to support the Open Source effort. You may not be a coder but you recognize that you’re still a useful extra pair of hands. There’s certainly help to be had whether you are a graphic designer, a spreadsheet wizard, multilingual, a great notetaker, or simply willing to tackle tasks you might be a good fit for.
Do you have a 7SEG/Numeric Deluge like this:
Do you plan on loading new firmware onto your Deluge at any point in the future? Read on!
Have an OLED Deluge? You have the latest bootloader installed on your OLED unless the Deluge logo does NOT animate when you turn on your Deluge. In that case you will need to update your bootloader to be able to download community firmware.
WARNING!
When updating firmware, there is a potential way to make 7SEG Deluge’s inoperable if the right precautions aren’t made.
Rohan, the developer of the Deluge, has provided the following guide to warn potential users with outdated ‘bootloaders’ and guide them how to permanently avoid this issue by updating their bootloader. All the information you need on that is here:
Bootloader precautions for "numeric" Deluge developers
TLDR?
If you attempt to install a firmware file (.bin) on your 7SEG Deluge that is either too small (0 bytes) or too large (~3.5 MB and larger) you could make your 7SEG Deluge inoperable. Although it is fixable, you will be terribly inconvenienced.
However, there is a way to update your 7SEG Deluge so this can never be an issue. You’ll need the latest beta v4.1.4-beta1 or wait for v4.1.4 to be released. The steps are detailed in the link above. Please take every precaution to follow those steps perfectly! Otherwise, just always check the size of your .bin firmware file before you update your Deluge.
Want to quickly check if you have an outdated bootloader?
- Approach your Deluge, make sure it’s turned OFF.
- Hold the BOTTOM, LEFT-MOST pad on the Deluge (‘Sample 1, Mode’).
- Turn on your Deluge.
- Note what number shows up, if any.
If no number is displayed or if ‘0003’, ‘0004’, or '0005' was displayed you should read through the above link.
For numbers ‘0006’ up to ‘0008’, you have no precautions to worry about. Carry on! 🙂
The following is a step by step demonstration of how to download and install new firmware.
First, we can check what firmware the Deluge is currently using. Turn on your Deluge and enter the Main Menu (hold SHIFT then press down on the SELECT knob).
From here, scroll until you find Firmware Version.
Enter the “Firmware” section (press down on the SELECT knob).
Version “4.1.2”, got it. Now let’s check what’s the latest Firmware available on the Synthstrom website.
Official Firmware Download Page
Note: OLED and 7SEG Deluges have different Official firmware.
Version 4.1.3 is available for OLED. Since I’m at 4.1.2 it looks like I could use an update. I’ll download the OLED version, “V4.1.3 OLED”.
Now is the time to access the contents of my Deluge’s SD card. I’m going to remove it from my Deluge first.
Next, we need a computer with access to the SD card.
(Here’s an internal SD card reader on a laptop)
If you don’t have an internal SD card reader on your computer or an external one you’ll have to purchase an external one. You're most likely looking for an SD card reader to USB to purchase. Expect to pay $15-$60 for one.
Once it’s plugged in, insert your SD card.
Generally, your SD card’s folder will pop up automatically. Otherwise check here:
Notice the contents of the root folder. The root folder is the top-level directory that shows up when entering an SD card and contains all the contents of the SD card.
Notice the file ending in .bin? That’s the current firmware you have loaded into your Deluge. You may not even have a .bin file on your Deluge which is fine. But you can't have two or more .bin firmware files on your SD card when updating.
Although not necessary, you can copy the old .bin file and save it onto your computer if you ever need to revert back to it at some point.
Right click and 'Cut' the old firmware .bin file.
Now open a new location to store your old firmware, then right click and 'Paste'.
Now that it’s backed up, make sure the old .bin file isn’t on the SD card, delete if necessary. Don’t worry, technically the firmware is already installed onto your Deluge. This is just a copy of it.
Great, now find where you downloaded the newest firmware, whether it's Official or Community, and copy it.
Now paste it on the root folder of the SD card.
Perfect! Before physically removing the SD card let’s do so safely by right clicking the SD card and selecting Eject.
Sweet, now time to insert the SD card back into the Deluge.
We want the Deluge to be OFF for the next step. We’re going to hold SHIFT on the Deluge while then turning ON the Deluge. This installs whatever Firmware (.bin file) is on the SD card to the Deluge.
You’ll know the process has started when the Deluge turns on and you see the following.
You should only need to wait for a minute at most. Once done, the following will be displayed.
Success! Just to be thorough, let’s confirm that we’re on the updated firmware by repeating the steps we took earlier to check the firmware version.
Woohoo! We’ve successfully updated the firmware.
This process is the same process we’ll perform when installing new Community Firmware. Just note that firmware isn’t separated between OLED and 7SEG, the one .bin file you’ll download will work for both versions!
The next chapter will walk you through finding and downloading Community Firmware.
A website has been made in order to easily find the latest Community Firmware available. This is the best place to download the firmware without the need of navigating GitHub.
Community Firmware Download Page
Note: OLED and 7SEG Deluges share the same Community firmware. Woohoo!
Download Firmware
Simply click the 'Download' button and your download will begin. The download will be a .zip file, open the .zip file and drag just the .bin file into the root folder of your Deluge’s SD card and follow the necessary steps to update your firmware. See Updating Firmware.
Nightly build?
If you’re wondering what a ‘nightly build’ is, it just means it’s an automatically created version of the Community Firmware made every night that includes all changes and fixes made the past day. If you scroll down the Community Firmware page you will find a link to download it.
A nightly build is different from Release 1.0.0 in that it contains features being developed for the _next _Community firmware release.
New Features
A list of all the features added to the Community Firmware is available in the link right below the download button of the same website, “List of Changes and New Features”.
Reporting Bugs
If you have any issues that you would like to report, click the “Feedback and Issues” button. You will be brought to the GitHub Issues section and can create a new “Issue” from there. You will need to have a GitHub account to leave a detailed bug report. This is arguably the best place to leave bug reports as it guarantees that developers will see them soonest. Alternatively, you can also create bug reports on the Synthstrom Deluge Official Forums or in the #nightly-testing Deluge Discord channel.
Discussion/Feedback on New Features
To discuss new features further you can join or create discussions in the GitHub Discussions section, the Open Source category on the Official Forums, or in the #feature-chat Deluge Discord channel.
It is totally understandable to not know your way around GitHub, it’s not particularly intuitive! This guide should help illuminate the things you should concern with as someone that might want to be more involved in open source related activities.
First, let's start at the landing page: https://github.com/SynthstromAudible/DelugeFirmware. You won’t be able to download specific firmware, report issues, and participate in discussions on GitHub without making an account and being signed in. I would recommend creating one, the red arrow in the following screenshot points to where you can make an account on GitHub.
Back to the main page. This is the GitHub repository. A repository contains all of the project's files and each file's revision history.
Specifically, we are currently in the ‘Code’ section of the repository, as marked by the yellow box. The horizontal area where the yellow box is placed is the navigation bar where you will find other sections we will cover next. The area marked in red contains all the contents of the Deluge Community Firmware code.
If you scroll all the way down on this page (as marked by the green arrow) you will be able to read a great introduction to navigating the GitHub repository. Don’t forget to read through this section if you are ever looking for relevant and helping links regarding everything open source related.
Now, let’s check out another section of the repository: Issues, where bug reports are made and listed.
Note we are in the ‘Issues’ section, marked in yellow. The purple box contains all the current issues that have been reported. Note that right above the purple box on the left we are viewing the currently ‘Open’ issues by default, meaning they haven’t been resolved yet. You can alternatively click the ‘Closed’ text to view resolved issues if desired.
If you’d like to participate and report an issue, hit the ‘New Issue’ button that the red arrow points to. Let’s take a look at how to do so!
We are met with a couple options. If you actually have feedback or want to discuss features, you can alternatively view the ‘Github Discussions’ or join the Discord Community. If you’re in the right place and want to report a problem hit the ‘Get started’ button the red arrow points to.
You will see that an Issue Template appears which details how you will report the problem. Note that not every field is required, but make sure to be as clear as possible. Thanks for helping out!
Next, let’s check out the Discussions section.
Like the official forums, this is a place where users can discuss, give feedback on new features, discuss or expand on possibilities with new features. The area marked in blue is where current discussions exist. To make a new discussion, see if your topic already exists by scrolling through the topics or by typing in the search bar just above the blue box. If you’re in the clear, hit the ‘New discussion’ button that the red arrow points to.
Next, let's check out the ‘Wiki’ section.
Here, where I’ve marked with the green box, lives a variety of documentation and info that will most likely be most relevant to current and potential developers.
Next, we’ll check out the ‘Actions’ section. It’s a place you can look for more recent or specific versions of firmware, even ones that aren’t available for the Community release.
You can see the type of Action by looking at the second line of each entry. I’ve marked entries that have firmware builds that you can download in pink. Note that these builds may be builds from other developers that haven’t yet officially merged into the Community Firmware yet. You can see what ‘fork’ the action is from by looking where the red arrow is pointing. (A fork is a clone of the Community Firmware that has its own independent changes.) Also, you can filter the results of Actions listed by selecting another option in the area marked in green.
Let’s click the first entry and demonstrate how you can download the firmware file that the action generated.
You’ll generally see a brief description of what is fixed or added to this firmware in the title of the action. Now if we look at the bottom, there is a list of files in the area marked orange that the action generated. If you are signed in, you can click and download any of these files, generally you will just be downloading the ‘release.bin’ file. This .bin file is firmware you can add to your SD card in order to update your Deluge with. If you are helping developers test a specific firmware file, this may be where they direct you to download their version.
Hopefully this has given you a decent overview to approach the Github repository.
To contribute to the project with code, bug reports, suggestions, and feedback see: How to contribute to Deluge Firmware
There are many different ways to contribute outside of that! Discuss in the Discord, GitHub, or forums to see what else could use extra hands.
What happens to Community Firmware when a new Official Firmware is released?
The idea is to update the Community Firmware with any improvements the Official Firmware receives. Since some structural changes have been made with the Community Firmware, it may take a little more time to port these changes over, but it shouldn't be a huge problem.
Will I be able to play projects I made in Community Firmware if I revert back to the last Official Firmware?
Yes, you can play old songs from Community Firmware with the latest Official Firmware, however any Community Firmware feature that was used will not be present. If you save this file while using Official Firmware, all the new features used will be forgotten when you load it on a Deluge that has the Community Firmware.
Will old songs or presets sound different when using the Community Firmware?
No. The idea is that everything should sound the same and if it isn't, then some sort of bug is occurring.
Can I brick my Deluge by updating firmware?
As described in 'Before You Start', you can potentially mess your Deluge up if you load a firmware file that is either 0bytes small or over 3.5MB big. Please refer to Rohan's Bootloader precautions for "numeric" Deluge developers to get the necessary details and steps to resolve this.
Technically, there isn't a way to 'brick' the Deluge, there shouldn't be any risk with permanently damaging your Deluge by trying Community Firmware as long as you've made the right precautions with the bootloader.