News from the Workshop

release notes

Mandoputer firmware v1.2.0: Ship Status

A new Ship Status screen: a ship schematic with a warning that moves from section to section, occasional critical alerts, and four ships to choose from.

Firmware v1.2.0 for the Mandoputer is now available. A new screen puts your ship’s systems on the gauntlet, with four ships to choose from.

v1.2.0 — 2026-10-16

Highlights

Ship Status joins the cycle right after Motion Tracker. It shows a schematic of your ship with a warning that moves from section to section: engines, cockpit, wings, cannons. Now and then a critical alert flashes bigger and faster. The screen started as a request from the community.

Choose the ship in the Display Settings menu. The Hunter, a bounty hunter’s gunship seen head on, is the default. The Hauler, Gunship and Bomber are the alternatives, and each one has warnings in its own places.

Changes

  • Feature: Ship Status (mode 10). A blue ship and a red warning out of the box. Each warning holds a section for a few seconds while the band along the bottom names it, then moves on. About one alert in five is critical: a bigger, fast-flashing warning with target brackets.
  • Feature: Ship choice. On Ship Status, the Display Settings menu gains a SHIP row: Hunter, Hauler, Gunship or Bomber. The unit remembers your choice. The menu on other screens is unchanged.

Upgrade notes

  • The mode cycle gains one stop between Motion Tracker and Bounties. Gestures are unchanged.
  • Ship Status arrives in its factory colors (blue ship, red warning) whether or not you changed colors before. Your other screens keep theirs.
  • The SD-card update keeps your saved settings. The USB installer erases them, as it always has.

How to install

  1. Log in at foxheadworkshop.com/account and open your Mandoputer order.
  2. Download firmware.bin (or the installer zip if you don’t have an SD card on hand).
  3. Save firmware.bin to the root of a microSD card (not included; any card formatted FAT32 works).
  4. Insert the card, power the unit on, then press RESET (with the screen facing you, RESET is the button on the left side of the board; BOOT is on the right). A cold power-on can miss the card; the reset runs the check with the card ready.
  5. Single-press BOOT when the update prompt appears.

Step-by-step instructions are in the owner’s manual under Updating Firmware.