Useful files

What is on this page

Firmware, drivers and utilities for DMA cards, Makcu and FPGA adapters — what you need once while putting a rig together, and again whenever the firmware changes. The files are served from our own domain, with the size, format and date visible, so nobody has to hunt through third-party mirrors for a build called «final_v2_fix» that no one can describe any more.

Firmware is chosen for the board, not for being newest

Firmware describes what kind of device the card presents itself as to the motherboard. Whether the system sees the card at all, and how it behaves once it starts, follows from that. It is tied to a specific board: a file for one model does not fit another, even when the connector matches and the chip looks the same.

So three things are worth knowing before you download: the exact model of the card, the FPGA on it, and what it will be running alongside. If you do not have that to hand, the product page states it — that is quicker than guessing. We have written both parts up: what firmware is for and how to choose it, and how to choose the card itself.

Makcu: what flashing needs

Makcu is the adapter that carries input from the second machine: the mouse and keyboard plug into it, and it plugs into the main PC. Flashing it needs three things — a USB cable with data lines (a charging cable will not do; the device simply will not appear), the firmware file for your revision, and the writing utility.

More than half of the Makcu questions we get come down to the cable or to the order of steps when entering write mode. Step by step, with screenshots and the usual mistakes: flashing and setting up Makcu.

If the file turns out to be wrong

Flashing is reversible: a failed write does not kill the card or the adapter, and in most cases writing a different file is enough. But there is no need to guess. Tell us the model and what it is doing — not detected, detected as the wrong thing, hanging at boot — and we will tell you which file to take. That is faster than working through builds, and it is included with any device bought from us.

The devices and kits are in the catalogue, where each one states the firmware it ships with.