Fwupd 1.5 Released With Expanded Hardware Support, New Capabilities

Version 1.5 of the Fwupd utility is available for updating various component firmware/BIOS natively on Linux and integrating with the Linux Vendor Firmware Service (LVFS) for the easy distribution of said firmware images.

Among the changes to find with today's Fwupd 1.5 release includes the likes of:

- Async versions of the Fwupd library for use by GUI tools to be more responsive without blocking the UI thread or forcing the user-interface to rely on threads.

- New commands for interacting with the EFI System Partition (ESP) via fwupdtool.

- A new plug-in to support updating the firmware on Goodix fingerprint sensors.

- A new plug-in to support updating the firmware on the Broadcom BCM5719 network adapter.

- A new plug-in to support updating the firmware on Elan Touchpads using HID.

- Support for delayed activation with Thunderbolt and support for retimers.

- Support for ChromeOS Quiche and Gingerbread.

- Support for Hyper hardware. So far this is limited to a Hyper USB-C hub.

- Support for firmware with multiple images.

- Many bug fixes.

Some of the hardware plug-in additions were motivated by Lenovo's increased support for Linux on their systems, which is great to see continuing. Downloads -- including for Windows -- and more details on Fwupd 1.5.0 via GitHub. More details on Fwupd 1.5 can also be found via Richard Hughes' blog.