Is Ethos 1.6.0 safe?

[Jeronimo770]

I am new to Ethos. I have a new FrSky X18 Tx and first thing I installed Ethos 1.6.0 on my pc and upgraded the X18 firmware to Ethos 1.6.0 and RF firmware to 3.0.1, presuming this was a good thing to do.

Now I read that folks are keeping to Ethos 1.5.xx till 1.6 is proven OK.

So my question is, how do I downgrade (?) my Ethos to 1.5.18 or .19?

I am not familiar with GitHub website - looks too complex for me but I have found these files: X18-EU.zip and X18_FLASH on this page: https://github.com/FrSkyRC/ETHOS-Feedback-Community/releases

Are these the files I need and if so, how do I use them??

Advice appreciated, thank you

 

[Wayne]

I think you are fine. The only issue I have heard of any merit is bricking receivers when attempting to update them. (It is rare but is happening.) I have not heard any safety concerns at all.

 

[LtDan]

My last firmware upgrade was 1.4.17 and then I watched this almost weekly change 1.50 to 1.5.1 all the way to 1.5.19 now at 1.60 to 1.61 to a prerelease of 1.6.2. I asked one of the FRSky/Ethos gurus on FB why all the constant and never-ending stream of firmware upgrades. His short answer was to go to Git-Hub and read all the change notes. I basically fly smaller scratch-built RC airplanes not much over 60" wingspan. I do not use any FRsky stabilized RX. The recent numerous upgrades seem to be for the stabilized RX's. I do have the X4lite Multi module and that works great for some of the planes that still have Spektrum RX's.

 

[Wayne]

When we all flew Futaba and Spektrum stuff we would be lucky if the companies ever released fixes for their buggy software. Some of the bugs were in the radios for 10 years solid!!

FrSky takes the other approach and issues many updates, often times fixing very small things, but also adding some new things. With Ethos they started offering Ethos rather early in its development. It was very stable, but lacking many features. Over time they have not only added those missing features, but also added new things that customers have requested. And being a rather complex software that is pulled in many different directions, it can take a while for all issues to be noted and then fixed.

Personally I love that FrSky adds features to their products after someone has already bought it. I love that they are always looking to improve their products and software. But yes, it is a little much to keep up with the updates.

I suggest people check their radio gear during the winter months to see if they are current on firmwares and updates. Do this once a year and you should be fine. If you are experiencing an issue that they have addressed, then do the update sooner.

Hope this sheds some light on the subject.

p.s. My personal radio is out of date right now.. I'll be updating it pretty soon as the weather is flyable here now. Woohoo!