3.5.6

This is an optional bug fix release that contains a few fixes for issues encountered by users. A lot of effort was put into tracking down crashes and other instability issues.

Enhancements:

• Display end channel for Input/Output of e1.31/DDP/ArtNet configuration
• Allow re-ordering of entries in the scheduler editor UI. Allows prioritizing schedule entries (first to match plays)

Bug Fixes:

• Fix CPU utilization % on both MultiSync and About pages
• Fix arguments not being passed to scripts from events/commands
• Fix links to scripts and effects from About page
• Backup/Restore proxy settings
• Fix network settings restore
• Fix zero length backups if binary plugin data in config directory
• Fix problems with WiFi PSK having dollar signs
• Implement new IO read-ahead for reading fseq files to hopefully better deal with slow media
• Larger frame cache and IO cache for read aheads to reduce skips due to slow media
• Reduce CPU usage (particularly on Pi Zero, older Pi's) by only blanking the parts of the sequence data that is actually being output instead of all 8M channels
• Reduce gpu_memory split on older Pi's
• Disable the swap file on Pi's. This should not have been enabled, and contends for media transfer time
• Fix very long strings on BBB pixel capes having pixels stuck on/off
• Remove an invalid log entry with Pixel overlay models
• Multisync - ignore earlier sync packets if multiple packets are received at once, prevents some skips if network delay
• Fix stopped effects leaving data on for various pixels

Upgrade Instructions:

If you have a system running 3.5.x, you can go to the FPP about page (about.php) and click on the "Manual Update" button. It should only take a minute or two to upgrade.

For older versions, it's recommended to grab the 3.5.6 image from the bottom of https://github.com/FalconChristmas/fpp/releases/tag/3.5.6 , install that.

3.5.5

This is an optional bug fix release that contains a few fixes for issues encountered by users. A lot of effort was put into tracking down crashes and other instability issues.

Bug Fixes:

• Delay setting up/configuring audio until after the "boot delay" setting to allow slower cards (like the SBP3) time to fully initialize
• Fix crash if the netlink network monitoring code passes in an invalid network interface index
• Fix problems with Dynamic playlist entries not allowing FPP Commands or stopping properly
• Fix some slight delays if the the output thread decides to stop while waiting for omxplayer to buffer it's contents
• Fix issue of jumping to a new item in a running playlists marks the playlist an non-scheduled and thus wont terminate at the correct stop time

Upgrade Instructions:

If you have a system running 3.5.x, you can go to the FPP about page (about.php) and click on the "Manual Update" button. It should only take a minute or two to upgrade.

For older versions, it's recommended to grab the 3.5.4 image from the bottom of https://github.com/FalconChristmas/fpp/releases/tag/3.5.4 , install that, and then hit the "Manual Update" button on the about page. At this point, there are no images for 3.5.5. Use the 3.5.4 image and hit the upgrade. The changes are relatively small so the upgrade should proceed fairly quickly.

3.5.4

This is an optional bug fix release that contains a few fixes for issues encountered by users. A lot of effort was put into tracking down crashes and other instability issues.

Enhancements:

• Do an HTTP HEAD if controller misses a ping
• Be less aggressive about removing controllers that miss a ping, must miss multiple pings before being removed
• Add ability to completely disable the ping/HEAD monitoring of e1.31/ArtNet/DDP controllers if a controller is known to be flakey

Bug Fixes:

• Set source port of ArtNet packets to the proper ArtNet port
• Fix rename buttons in file manager
• Don't reject pixel string configurations that are invalid if the number of pixels on the string is 0
• Fix mediaOffset/remoteOffset loggin
• Fix display of BBB strings in some cases after upload of smart receivers configs from xLights
• Fix crashes in HTTP VirtualDisplay if pixel size is 2 and a pixel is on the very bottom row

Upgrade Instructions:

If you have a system running 3.5.x, you can go to the FPP about page (about.php) and click on the "Manual Update" button. It should only take a minute or two to upgrade.

For older versions, it's recommended to grab the 3.5.4 image from the bottom of https://github.com/FalconChristmas/fpp/releases/tag/3.5.4 , install that, and then hit the "Manual Update" button on the about page.

3.5.3

This is an optional bug fix release that contains a few fixes for issues encountered by users. A lot of effort was put into tracking down crashes and other instability issues.

Enhancements:

• Update rpi_ws281x library to latest to grab support for Pi4 v1.2
• Update "Overlay Model Text" command to allow auto-enabling the model and then disabling when done
• Display remote "Warnings" in list on MultiSync page
• Display warning on status page if an enabled/configured output cannot be started
• Add command to stop FSEQ effects and start remote FSEQ effects
• Remove warnings about receiving UDP data in non-bridge mode after 30 seconds
• Add note on Display Testing page about RGB might not actually be RGB

Bug Fixes:

• Proxy should handle Falcon 2.54 firmware controllers better, displaying the pages properly
• Fix hang at startup if ArtNet broadcast outputs are configured
• Fix UDP outputs if the UDP interface goes up/down while fppd is running
• Make sure the local address/interfaces are not removed from Multisync lists, causes issues with discovery
• Fix drawing issues in HTTP Virtual Display when new connection is made
• Fix scrolling multiline text being cut off top and bottom
• Fix several cases where flipping from one playlist to another may crash, network interfaces going up/down may crash
• Fix a couple of minor memory leaks

Upgrade Instructions:

If you have a system running 3.5.x, you can go to the FPP about page (about.php) and click on the "Manual Update" button. It should only take a minute or two to upgrade.

For older versions, it's recommended to grab the 3.5.3 image from the bottom of https://github.com/FalconChristmas/fpp/releases/tag/3.5.3 , install that, and then hit the "Manual Update" button on the about page.

3.5.2

This is an optional bug fix release that contains a few fixes for issues encountered by users and a couple of minor enhancements.

Enhancements:

• New "HTTP Virtual Display" output (requires model data from FPP Connect in 2019.65+ version of xLights)
• Allow selection to use ConnMan instead of Hostapd for tethering. Some Wifi adapters (particularly on BBB's) work better with ConnMan.

Bug Fixes:

• First frame sent after controller becomes ping-able may be invalid
• Fix crash if "Stop Now" command is sent when already stopped
• Fix several cases where remotes may not start their sequence if the Open is received, but not the Start
• Fix issues where BBB's may need a complete reboot to pick up their string/matrix configurations
• Fix some display issues with Commands and Events in playlists
• Fix Playlist length calculation with sub-playlists
• Exclude tether and SoftAp interfaces from multisync lists
• Fix multicast e1.31 on a single output line not having the correct Multicast address assigned
• Fix problems with "Remote Command" not working, possibly crashing
• Fix startup issues in Docker due to not being able to create files
• Fix problems creating backups if OSX "._" files are in various directories
• Fix crash in URL Command if no content-type is returned
• Fix crashes in Branch playlist item
• Fix All Lights Off not appearing in command list
• Fix issues if one configured output type doesn't initialize, it prevents others from initializing

Upgrade Instructions:

If you have a system running 3.5, you can go to the FPP about page (about.php) and click on the "Manual Update" button. It should only take a minute or two to upgrade.

For older versions, it's recommended to grab the 3.5.2 image from the bottom of https://github.com/FalconChristmas/fpp/releases/tag/3.5.2 , install that, and then hit the "Manual Update" button on the about page.

3.5.1

This is an optional bug fix release that contains a few fixes for issues encountered by users and a couple of minor enhancements.

Enhancements

• Add a UI warning if sound device cannot be opened. Also stop the current playlist item instead of hanging there.
• Change minimum year in Scheduler to 2019 instead of 2014
• Add "POST" method for all commands to allow easier sending of characters that are hard to encode/decode as part of the URL
• Eliminate popups on MultiSync page for unreachable instances
• Added an "All Lights Off" command

Bug Fixes:

• Fix GPIO input page so events properly display
• Fix crashes with URL event/commands
• Fix some crashes while trying to convert Events to new JSON
• Fix crash if MCP23017 is configured for output
• Fix overlapping text if multiple UI warnings

Upgrade Instructions:

If you have a system running 3.5, you can go to the FPP about page (about.php) and click on the "Manual Update" button. It should only take a minute or two to upgrade.

For older version, it's recommended to grab the 3.5.1 image from the bottom of https://github.com/FalconChristmas/fpp/releases/tag/3.5.1 , install that, and then hit the "Manual Update" button on the about page.

3.5

New user installation instructions

For new users, you need to download the appropriate image from the links below. Then follow the instructions found at https://falconchristmas.com/forum/index.php/topic,9372.0.html to "burn" the image on to an SD card. Just extracting/copying the file to a blank SD card will NOT work.

Important note: upgrading from 3.x to 3.5 will convert all Events to a new JSON format. Prior versions of FPP will NOT be able to read those. It is suggested to backup any events prior to upgrade.

New Features:

• New kernel (BBB), wifi firmwares, PHP updates, and system packages (requires re-imaging, non-required updates)
• New upgrade procedure that should make upgrades from 3.4 significantly faster
• Upgrade procedure and branch changing will now display log of progress
• New "Generic UDP" output for creating formatted UDP packets for channel data
• New "Command" API's that expose a lot of internal functionality to various frontend capabilities. See below for more information.
• Detect some common "problems" (slow storage, controllers not pingable, etc...) and display on status page

Enhancements:

• Boot service logs are now added to troubleshooting commands
• Pixel String pages now use "number" entry fields to avoid tying in wrong data
• Raise limit per virtual pixel string to 1600 (from 999)
• If media file is found in fseq file, auto select it in playlist editor when fseq file is selected

Bug fixes:

• Renard output not working correctly
• Event multisync packets not formed correctly - could cause crashes on remotes
• Fix "Other" output page not allowing any outputs in Docker container
• If Tether is turned on, wait up to 10 seconds for wlan device to appear
• Several bugs in Branch playlist entry which prevented it from working
• Status menu item and several other pages now work when behind proxy

Commands

FPP 3.5 introduces new internal "Command" objects that are used to invoke various functionality. The commands are somewhat self describing so they can easily be exposed to various front end capabilities with little to no code. The "Event" subsystem has been completely rewritten to use the new commands. Thus, Events are no longer restricted to just "Scripts" or "Effects". There is also a new "FPP Command" playlist entry which can be used to trigger a command during a playlist. Every command also automatically gets a REST API and an MQTT API. The "Big Buttons" plugin has already been updated to use them so a button can trigger many different Commands now. Other plugins will be updated to use the commands as needed.

Current commands include things like setting GPIO's, running scripts, starting/stopping effects, starting/stopping playlists, inserting a playlist into the currently running playlist, volume changing, and event triggering. More will come in the future.

Upgrade Instructions:

The best way to upgrade from FPP 2.x is to re-image the device. The full OS upgrade to Debian Buster requires a re-image.

If you have a system running 3.x, you can go to the FPP about page (about.php) and click on the "Manual Update" button. At that point, a big green "Upgrade" bar should appear. It may take a long time to upgrade. Likely 20-30 minutes. You will need to reboot after the upgrade is complete to finish the upgrade process.

3.4.2

This is an optional bug fix release that contains a few fixes for issues encountered by users.

Bug Fixes:

• Channel range returned in Ping/Discovery packet may be truncated causing xLights to crash generating a sparse sequence
• Add full channel range to getSysInfo JSON so xLights can query the full version range if the range in the Discovery packet has been combined
• Fix some cases where a playlist that is scheduled to run will start, immediately stop, and then start again. This can cause fast running lead ins to run twice.
• Fix a problem with BBB String capes where, if the total data length sent to PRU's is between 13K and 25K, 1 channel of data on all strings is not copied and is black. (last pixel on longest strings will not display blue)

Upgrade Instructions:

If you have a system running 3.4, you can go to the FPP about page (about.php) and click on the "Manual Update" button. It should only take a minute or two to upgrade.

For older version, it's recommended to grab the 3.4 image from the bottom of https://github.com/FalconChristmas/fpp/releases/tag/3.4 , install that, and then hit the "Manual Update" button on the about page.

3.4.1

This is an optional bug fix release that contains a few fixes for issues encountered by users.

Updates

• "Play" button can be used to jump directly to a song/sequence in the playlist while the playlist is running

Bug Fixes:

• Crash when using the "Remap channels" playlist items
• Crash when configured output ranges are completely outside the ranges provided by the FSEQ file
• In remote mode, starting a Test can take several seconds before lights start
• In remote mode, lights are left on at end of sequences

Upgrade Instructions:

If you have a system running 3.4, you can go to the FPP about page (about.php) and click on the "Manual Update" button. It should only take a minute or two to upgrade.

For older version, it's recommended to grab the 3.4 image from the bottom of https://github.com/FalconChristmas/fpp/releases/tag/3.4 , install that, and then hit the "Manual Update" button on the about page.

3.4

New user installation instructions

For new users, you need to download the appropriate image from the links below. Then follow the instructions found at https://falconchristmas.com/forum/index.php/topic,9372.0.html to "burn" the image on to an SD card. Just extracting/copying the file to a blank SD card will NOT work.

New Features:

• New "Generic SPI" output

Enhancements:

• Collect individual channel ranges for outputs instead of one large range to allow xLights to create smaller sparse FSEQ files
• Enable multisync send/receive on interfaces that may come up or restart after FPPD has been started
• Reduce the delay between sequences
• Display media name and fseq name that is playing on status page along with playlist

Bug fixes:

• Make sure fppcapedetect is run AFTER /home/fpp/media is mounted so the information about the detected cape is not overwritten
• Fix regression where EVENT environment variables were not set
• Add event control channels to range of channels to load from fseq files
• Fix BBB panels "Output by row" not displaying fades correctly
• Fix "zombie" processes being left from running scripts and events
• MQTT sending wrong "secondsTotal" when only media is being played
• Fix blanking of channels when stopped
• Pi - fix matrix outputs should require all 3 chains to be equal length

Upgrade Instructions:

The best way to upgrade from FPP 2.x is to re-image the device. The full OS upgrade to Debian Buster requires a re-image.

If you have a system running 3.x, you can go to the FPP about page (about.php) and click on the "Manual Update" button. At that point, a big green "Upgrade" bar should appear. It will take a long time to upgrade. Likely 20-30 minutes. You will need to reboot after the upgrade is complete to finish the upgrade process.