Attention VirtuaPin plunger kit customers!

If you bought a VirtuaPin plunger or controller kit that came with a KL25Z board, please don't install Pinscape before reading this warning. Installing the Pinscape firmware on your KL25Z will erase and replace your pre-installed VirtuaPin firmware. The KL25Z can only have one firmware program installed at a time, so loading Pinscape or any other new firmware will erase your existing VirtuaPin firmware, and you won't be able to restore it without sending the device back to VirtuaPin. VirtuaPin doesn't allow you to install their firmware at home, because they're worried that you'd illegally share copies if they let you download it. The only way you can restore their firmware is to physically ship the board back to the store and ask them to reinstall it.

Apart from that practical issue, I should also point out that the Pinscape software was never meant to be a replacement for the VirtuaPin firmware. The VirtuaPin product is a full hardware system with its own wiring and peripheral devices (such as their plunger sensor), and the VirtuaPin firwmare is tailored to that particular hardware setup. The Pinscape firmware is designed for the Pinscape DIY hardware setup. VirtuaPin's kit does happen to include the same retail KL25Z that Pinscape uses, but it comes with that proprietary firmware pre-installed. If you want a KL25Z for running Pinscape, I'd recommend just buying a separate "blank" KL25Z - they're only about $15, and readily available from several vendors, such as Mouser, Amazon, and eBay. With a "blank" KL25Z, you won't have to erase any pre-installed firmware that you paid extra for.

With those warnings in mind, if you're absolutely sure that you don't want to continue using the VirtuaPin firmware, the Pinscape firmware will work as a replacement, since it's built for the same KL25Z board and has equivalents of all of the main features. As of the June 2021 Pinscape firmware release, Pinscape also supports the sensor that comes with VirtuaPin's v3 plunger kit (the Vishay VCNL4010 proximity sensor), so you can keep your plunger setup as well if you migrate. (Note that this isn't true of the older VirtuaPin kits prior to v3, since those came with different sensor chips that Pinscape doesn't have support for. If you want to keep using your VirtuaPin plunger, make sure you have the VCNL4010-based kit before committing to this plan. Look for the printed legend VCNL4010 on the little circuit board at the end of your plunger assembly.) You'll also have the option to switch to any of the several other plunger sensors that Pinscape supports, but that's up to you.

Should I update to the latest?

I'm often asked whether or not it's a good idea to update your system when a new version comes out. There's the obvious trade-off with any new software release: "ooh, shiny and new!" versus "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

My usual advice is yes, get the latest, unless you have an unusual situation that makes upgrading difficult or impossible. There are several reasons:

• Bug fixes. Each new release usually includes several fixes for minor bugs that you might not have run into, but might at some point. So updates usually make older features more stable and reliable. It might not always seem like that, because I sometimes inadvertently add new bugs when trying to fix old ones. But even when that happens, there are usually more more improvements than new problems.
• Future updates. Even if you don't need any features in this release, there might be a future release with something you do really want. It'll be easier to upgrade then if you've been keeping your system up-to-date all along, since you won't have to suddenly jump ahead by several versions. If there are any problems on your system with changes along the way, you'll catch them sooner, which means I'll be able to fix them sooner, so hopefully that future update with the features you want will be problem-free for you.
• Testing. Selfishly, I'd really prefer everyone to update for the sake of testing, so that any new bugs that are there get found more quickly, which lets me fix them more quickly.
• Support. Also selfishly, it's easier for me to help you out with any bugs you find if you're working with the latest, so that I don't have to dig back into old versions of the source code.
• Bugs aren't forever (hopefully). Even if you do run into a problem in a new release, hopefully won't be there long, because I'll try to fix it if you let me know about it.
• It's low-risk, because it's easy to return to an older version if necessary. Old release versions are archived below, so you can always find them, and installation is low hassle. It's not like big Windows apps where they make it difficult to "downgrade" to old versions.

Archived Release Builds

This section lists past releases of the firmware and config tool. If you run into a bug in a new update, you can revert to an older version below. But please let me know if you do this, because I might not otherwise hear about the bug!

It's better to use matching versions of the firmware and config tool if possible (that is, both from the same release date). I try to maintain compatibility across versions between the config tool and firmware, so it should be okay to mix versions if you have a good reason, but it's still better to use a matching set when possible to ensure that both pieces of software are working with the same feature set. New UI features in the Config Tool often depend upon corresponding new functions in the firmware, so you might not see a new feature in the UI (or it might be limited, or not work properly) if you have older firmware installed.

How to install old versions

List of archived versions