Starnote Firmware Releases

Blues regularly provides updated firmware releases for Starnote that include feature additions and other improvements.

warning

Make sure you read and understand the Blues Firmware Release Policies and Procedures before updating Starnote firmware.

Firmware Releases

This section lists all available Starnote firmware releases. Instructions for updating Starnote firmware are available for Starnote for Iridium and Starnote for Skylo.

15be7671da1a9ceef7724fff5445cc7c  starnote-s-11.3.1.17696$20260611162831.bin
715872a64c68989e238e24dc2f96e6de  starnote-11.2.1.17592$20260308183114.bin

f5e519357cc6852c2152ade92796479d64d90bf602db4578421159a7900d8a9a  starnote-s-11.3.1.17696$20260611162831.bin
3762dbb7b2dcdd0a989fc5d8b62ca2f98c0b87c1bf72ae87ec56d05555f9f5fa  starnote-11.2.1.17592$20260308183114.bin

e179cb23f3ba3babcc0bf7f2f2fb6616  starnote-s-10.2.1.17719$20260701164750.bin
c473909b5b1f76723ad87b58d747ae05  starnote-x-10.2.1.17719$20260701164750.bin
e062e3b5529ff56ab6b80d851f1fe2a2  starnote-10.1.1.17591$20260308123622.bin

ab7c180ed022036aff2c8f95cb90006eb4634b664b523490924d2ed8610b5862  starnote-s-10.2.1.17719$20260701164750.bin
f5b112710cc58028b6e8bd5382c54e19ad622ee904479d0eabc2c741eba65919  starnote-x-10.2.1.17719$20260701164750.bin
2c28677d690c28ed56bce7ae4e3a82200a85ffdd3169bbcde5c8f45f508f1092  starnote-10.1.1.17591$20260308123622.bin

Firmware Release Policies

The Starnote firmware is managed on two parallel product lifecycles:

• Developer Firmware Releases
• Long-Term Support (LTS) Releases

This section summarizes how these releases are versioned, as well as our policies around customer deployments and support timelines.

Developer Firmware Releases

Developer Firmware Releases are meant for testing new Starnote features and functionality during the early prototype and pilot phases of a project. It's not uncommon for these releases to expand the feature-set of the Starnote based on feedback and requests from customers building real applications.

These releases happen, on average, once a quarter and are supported by Blues for 90 days from the date of release, or the date of the following developer firmware release whichever is soonest. Once that 90-day period elapses, customers will be required to upgrade to a newer version in order to receive support.

Long-Term Support (LTS) Releases

Long-Term Support, or LTS, releases are meant for scaling, enterprise customers deploying an application to production. These applications are often feature complete and ready for the field, and do not need new features, or the risk associated with incorporating updated firmware into an existing application. LTS releases address this problem by supplying stable and consistent behavior that customers can bet on for field deployments.

LTS releases happen at least once per year, with occasional bug fixes back-ported into the current major LTS line each quarter, if needed. LTS releases are feature-frozen, meaning that they do not generally receive new features, API changes, or any functionality that modifies the documented behavior of the device. Every LTS release carries 10 years of free security updates from its release date, uniform across the firmware lines and available to every SKU. Other bug fixes are made on a best-effort basis. Customers deploying an application to the field must select an LTS version in order to receive support.

note

All Starnote orders fulfilled through Blues volume purchasing and the Blues online store are shipped with an LTS release.

Release Versioning

We've chosen to adopt a firmware version numbering scheme inspired by the LTS practices employed for NodeJS. Namely, we're adopting an even and odd major version numbering scheme to delineate between our LTS and Developer releases.

LTS releases will always start with an even number, and we will increase the minor or patch version numbers in the event fixes from a newer release need to be back-ported to an earlier LTS. For example, 10.1.1 was our first Starnote LTS version. If, in the support period, we identify a need to back-port a critical vulnerability, we would release a new Starnote LTS version on this line with a new minor or patch number, for example 10.2.1.

Likewise, Developer releases will always start with an odd number, and we will increase the minor or patch version numbers as we cut updated Developer firmware releases throughout the year.

Additional Resources

• Updating Starnote for Iridium Firmware
• Updating Starnote for Skylo Firmware
• Notecard Firmware Releases
• Satellite Best Practices