Canon and Linux, part 4

For the background to this post, see part 1, part 2 and part 3.

Having had no news from Canon for nearly a month, I was about to send them another message when I received the following email from their helpdesk:

Recently you placed a Support Request with Canon Support Centre.

To ensure you received the best possible service we would like to confirm that your request has been handled satisfactorily before it is closed. A description of your request follows:

Please use the following URL to confirm whether your service request is complete or still needs to be addressed: some long URL

YOU HAVE FIVE (5) DAYS IN WHICH TO RESPOND. IF THERE IS NO RESPONSE, YOUR REQUEST WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE CLOSED BY THE SYSTEM.

So I went to the URL provided and responded by saying that I had not had a reply at all and that my request was still open. I then received the following email the very next day:

Please find attached that latest firmware version for your EOS 5D (Version 1.1.1).

As requested I am sending it to you in a ZIP file as the EXE download is not suitable for your Linux operating system.

Please go to the following link where you can find instructions on how to upload the firmware to your camera.

http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eos5d/eos5d_firmware-e.html

Please take careful note to the End Users Licence agreement at the bottom of the page.

Also I would like to state that you have decided to take full responsibility for the installation of the firmware, and we have sent the firmware in this format knowing that you agreed to our conditions.

At last, I had a version of the firmware that I could unpack on Linux! It was then just a matter of following the instructions:

1. Unpack the zip file and extract the .fir file that it contains;
2. Format a memory card in the camera;
3. Move the .fir file to the top directory of the newly formatted memory card;
4. Insert the memory card back into the camera and upgrade the firmware.

All went without a hitch. Considering that the only reason a computer is needed in order to upgrade the firmware is to copy the .fir file to the memory card unmodified, Canon has no real software to write: any computer that can write to the memory card can do that. Therefore, I fail to see why Canon insist on providing versions of their firmware that can only be unpacked on Windows or Mac OS-X and why they go through such an effort to explicitly shift the responsibility of the upgrade to me because I use Linux. Well I suppose the reason they do this is to limit the number of variations they have to support in testing firmware upgrades. But surely, there is a better way to distribute firmware that would not require me to explicitly contact customer support for it.

Canon and Linux, part 3

For the background to this post, see part 1 and part 2.

I got an answer from Canon on Tuesday:

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your query regarding the Firmware update for your EOS 5D.

As the versions available for download are only compatible with Windows and Mac, we could produce a zipped up version of the .FIR file so that you can update your firmware on your Linux computer.

Please note that whilst we try our best to ensure the file we provide you with is virus free, you must install the firmware entirely at your own risk.

Could you please also confirm that you have an EOS 5D.

Some progress then. However, they ask me some more questions, to which I can give the answers but you can't reply directly to their support email address, you have to go through the standard form on the web site again. I did that and asked the following question:

Dear support,

Yes, I can confirm that I have an EOS 5D and I am happy to update the firmware at my own risks. Have Canon got any plans to offer a zip version of the firmware in the future in order to support all their customers equally?

So now I'm waiting for the next answer. This whole malarkey of going through the web form every time means that there are potentially 2 to 3 business days delay for the answer to each new question even if it relates to the same problem, which can potentially drag things out a lot, especially considering the web form is limited to 4000 characters!

Canon and Linux, part 2

5 days ago, I sent a complaint email to Canon about their lack of support for Linux (or any operating system other than Microsoft Windows or Apple OS-X) when it comes to upgrading the firmware of my camera. I received this standard email reply today:

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your recent enquiry regarding your Canon product.

Your query has been sent to the appropriate group and is currently under investigation.

Yours sincerely,

Canon Support Centre

Should our answer not fully resolve your problem, please feel free to either re-submit a new query by clicking here, or alternatively call our support helpdesk at 08705 143 723 Monday to Friday from 9:00AM to 5:30PM stating the 7 digit reference number in the subject of this email.

We aim to answer queries as soon as possible. Responses on average take 2 to 3 business days (or the next working day if submitting on a weekend or public holiday).

If I read between the lines, it looks like the Christmas period was out of hours so the average of 2 to 3 business days probably starts now.

Canon and Linux

I've now been the proud owner of a Canon EOS 5D for a few years. I've never upgraded the firmware on it but tonight I thought I would investigate how complicated it was. I easily found the corresponding web page on the Canon web site. It seems easy enough: you get a .fir file that you put in the root directory of a newly formatted memory card and you then follow the upgrade procedure on the camera. All easy and simple. The only snag is that you get two version of the firmware package: a self-extracting .exe file for Windows or a .dmg package file for Mac OS-X. Both those options are proprietary so they don't work on Linux. Therefore, there is no way I can upgrade my firmware using my laptop. I could use the Mac desktop at home but I am not home right now. Furthermore, it's not even a software problem, it's just a packaging problem: there is nothing in the .exe or the .dmg apart from the automated unpacking. It would be so easy for Canon to offer a simple .zip file that can be extracted on any operating system. By any means, provide the proprietary formats for people who will benefit from them but also provide a generic format that can be used anywhere. So here is the complaint I registered on the Canon UK support site:

You offer firmware download on the Japanese site (http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eos5d/eos5d_firmware-e.html). Unfortunately, you only provide proprietary Windows and Mac packages. Using a Linux laptop, I cannot use those formats. If you were to offer a simple ZIP file for all other operating systems, it would enable all your users to update their firmware. As such, I feel treated like a second class citizen by Canon and it is very disappointing. I am happy to take complete responsibility for updating the firmware from a Linux machine but I would like to be given the option. Is there any way I can download a version of the latest firmware that can be extracted on Linux? If yes I would appreciate if you could provide me with the details of such a download.

We shall see if anything comes out of it. They promised to come back to me within 2 to 3 days. Then I went and filed a second complaint because their web site crashes when I try to log into it as a registered Canon customer but that's a whole different story.