AP51-FLASH(8)

📦
version 2025.0 · 3 versions
, in debian trixie, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 AP51-FLASH 💖 (section 8 of the System Manager's Manual, bestie)

okay so bestie, welcome to the ap51-flash manual page, and lemme tell you, this thing is iconic. it's a firmware flasher for ethernet connected routers and access points. yes, we're flashing routers over the wire and it's giving main character energy the whole time. 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

ap51-flash — firmware flasher for ethernet connected routers and access points

no cap, that's literally the whole job description. 🦋

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

ap51-flash [ -vh ] [ -m mac ] [ interface image ... ]

look at her. so small. so powerful. 💅

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so here's the vibe: ap51-flash just chills there listening on the traffic of a network interface, detecting remote devices, and checking all that traffic for known identification markers. and those markers? the supported devices literally send them out automatically during the initial boot process of the embedded boot loader. like, they're waving at you. 🫶

when that detection hits, it goes searching through the list of images you gave it for a matching firmware. then a device specific communication procedure kicks off and the flashing process begins for real for real. the firmware data gets extracted from the selected image and transferred over to the device in TFTP server or client mode. ✨

ap51-flash runs in the foreground and keeps using that interface until something interrupts it — either an SIGINT signal (the classic, typically generated by control-C) or a SIGTERM signal (for example generated by the kill(1) command). so like, it's not going anywhere until you tell it to. 😌

the interface doesn't need a valid layer 3 network configuration, but it has to be set in the UP state (using the ip-link(8) command).

also, ap51-flash needs enough privileges to capture and inject raw ethernet packets on the selected interface. and those are often only accessible to the root user. so yeah, permissions check, bestie. 👑

and here's a lil tip: while ap51-flash doesn't require a target device specific network configuration or a TFTP client/server on the same machine, it is recommended to disable any other TFTP client or server on the system running ap51-flash, so you don't get interferences from a different TFTP program. two TFTP girlies fighting = chaos, and not the cute kind. 😭

✨ OPTIONS ✨

listed below are the command line options for ap51-flash:

  • -m mac, --mac mac — adds a mac address to the allowlist filter. when one or more addresses are supplied, only those addresses will be tried to be flashed. you gotta supply this option multiple times to add multiple addresses to the allowlist filter. if you don't specify it at all? every detected device gets flashed. periodt. 🔥
  • -v, --version — prints the ap51-flash version and exits. quick lil peek, then she's gone. 💨
  • -h, --help — prints the ap51-flash help and exits. your girl never leaves you hanging. 🌸

✨ NOTES ✨

the currently supported devices are:

  • Alfa Network AP121F
  • Datto AP440
  • Datto AP840
  • Datto AP840E
  • Datto TW420
  • Dlink DIR-300
  • Engenius EOC-1650
  • Engenius EOC-2610
  • Engenius EOC-2610p
  • Engenius 3660
  • FON La Fonera (2100)
  • Open Mesh A40
  • Open Mesh A42
  • Open Mesh A60
  • Open Mesh A62
  • Open Mesh D200
  • Open Mesh G200
  • Open Mesh MR500
  • Open Mesh MR600 (v1, v2)
  • Open Mesh MR900 (v1, v2)
  • Open Mesh MR1750 (v1, v2)
  • Open Mesh OM1P
  • Open Mesh OM2P (v1, v2, v4)
  • Open Mesh OM2P-HS (v1, v2, v3, v4)
  • Open Mesh OM2P-LC
  • Open Mesh OM5P
  • Open Mesh OM5P-AN
  • Open Mesh OM5P-AC (v1, v2)
  • Plasma Cloud PA300
  • Plasma Cloud PA1200
  • Plasma Cloud PA2200
  • Plasma Cloud PAX1800 (v1, v2)
  • Plasma Cloud PAX5400
  • Ubiquiti Bullet2 & HP
  • Ubiquiti NanoStation2
  • Ubiquiti NanoStation5
  • Ubiquiti Pico2 & HP
  • Ubiquiti RouterStation
  • UniAppliance Colibrì (!UniData)
  • Zyxel NBG6817

look at that roster. absolute legends, every single one of them. 🏆

✨ AUTHOR ✨

ap51-flash was written by Marek Lindner and others. this manual page was written by Sven Eckelmann <sven@narfation.org>. it is licensed under the terms of the GNU GPL (version 3 or later). 📜

aaaand that's the whole page bestie!! 🎉 this manual page is from the System Manager's Manual, dated August 29, 2019, and it lives in section 8 — so if you ever forget any of it, just holler man 8 ap51-flash and she'll be right there. mwah, go flash something responsibly. 💖✨🎀🦋

📦 where this page comes from