We’re excited to announce a major milestone in the evolution of the Omega2 platform. After months of development and community collaboration, we’re introducing a new beta firmware based on OpenWRT 23.05 and the modern 5.15 Linux kernel. This firmware provides a clean slate designed to make building your products and applications easier and faster than before.

To complement the new firmware, we’ve also launched a brand-new documentation site. This site is crafted to help you navigate the new features and enhancements with ease, offering comprehensive guides, tutorials, and reference materials.

Together, the new firmware and documentation site represent our commitment to putting your needs at the forefront, streamlining your development process, and enhancing your overall experience with the Omega2 platform.

A User-Focused Firmware Philosophy

The new firmware is a significant departure from the existing v0.3.4 and earlier firmware. We’ve adopted a new approach to firmware development, putting your needs at the forefront. This means a more streamlined, lightweight, and customizable experience.

Core tenets of the philosophy:

• Lightweight: instead of porting everything from the existing firmware, we have started with a clean slate. We will only add functionality that our users deem necessary.
• Modular & portable: all customizations created by Onion are either part of software packages or patches to the build system. This makes it easier for users to build their own customized versions of the firmware and to keep up with OpenWRT’s releases
• Focus on user experience: we want to focus our development efforts on improving the user experience through all the stages of using the Omega in your product: development, production, and deployment

All of this results in a firmware that is:

• Up to date: based on OpenWRT 23.05, released in 2024.
• More performant: boots faster, WiFi has more functionality and flexibility, newer and more secure versions of packages available
• Ready to use out of the box: Onion’s customizations focus on usability so the networking stack is configured for easy connectivity by default and the hardware interfaces are accessible with minimal effort
• Easier and quicker to build: building custom firmware packages and images now takes minutes instead of hours

While the new firmware offers a fresh start, we’ve ensured that core functionalities remain compatible. Most existing applications should work with minimal changes, but we recommend testing your applications with the beta firmware and letting us know if you encounter any issues.

Some Highlights

A few highlights on what’s new in the firmware:

• Now using the open source mt76 WiFi driver: additional functionality, flexibility, and security while maintaining performance
• Modern programming language support: Python 3.11 and NodeJS v18 (!) available for building your modern applications
• Run-time loadable Device Tree overlay: easily extend the hardware capabilities of the device on the fly (without building firmware from scratch), reducing your development time
• Fewer included packages: more space on the device for your custom applications and a reduced boot time

For a detailed list of changes to the firmware, see the What’s New article on the new documentation site.

A Faster and Smoother Build Process

A common thread in our conversations with current Omega users has been the friction of customizing Onion firmware. Building packages and custom firmware images is hard, confusing, and time-consuming, with a lot of effort being spent just in the initial setup.

To resolve this friction we’ve streamlined the build process, making it faster and more intuitive, so you can focus your time and effort on building your unique application and business logic. Building custom packages and firmware images now takes minutes instead of hours.

Learn more about the updated build process on the new documentation site and how you can tailor it to your needs.

Get Started with the New Firmware

To get started with the new firmware, download a new firmware image from the Onion software repository and follow our step-by-step installation guide. See the new documentation site for a quickstart guide as well as information on using the hardware interfaces and more.

Looking Ahead

In Q1 of 2025, we plan to transition to the new firmware as the default for all Omega2 modules coming from the production line. We’ll provide ample notice and resources to ensure a smooth changeover.

We encourage you to try the beta firmware today to take advantage of its new features and give us your valuable feedback.

What About the Existing Firmware and Existing Documentation?

Rest assured, the current v0.3.4 firmware and documentation at docs.onion.io will remain available and supported. You can continue your projects uninterrupted while exploring the new options at your own pace.

We Value Your Feedback

Feedback from our users has always been crucial in shaping the Omega platform. We’re eager to hear your thoughts on the new firmware, your experience with it, any issues you encounter, or features you’d like to see added. Your insights on the documentation’s clarity and usefulness are also highly appreciated.

Join the conversation by:

• Posting on the Onion Community Forum
• Submitting issues or suggestions on our OpenWRT packages or Documentation GitHub repos
• Commenting on Documentation articles
• Getting in touch directly