nvflasher

nvflasher v0.1.2 is a MyGo desktop app for preparing and flashing NVIDIA Jetson devices, with Orin Nano Super defaults. It wraps NVIDIA's official Linux for Tegra scripts; it does not implement a flashing protocol.

Feature	Linux x86_64	Windows / macOS
BSP diagnostics, Recovery USB discovery	Yes	Disabled
Single flash, MFI generation/flash	Yes, root required	Disabled
Rootfs provisioning, packages, chroot scripts	Yes, root required	Disabled
SSH forced recovery, direct image download	Yes	Yes

Screenshot: to be added after first packaged release.

General software customization

Provision rootfs includes optional, platform-independent software settings:

• Chinese support installs Chinese language support, fonts and IBus Pinyin. This is separate from the system Locale; selecting it does not imply changing LANG. Package installation needs compatible Ubuntu repositories and network access. This option configures GNOME input-source defaults and installs dconf-cli; the target must provide the GNOME input-source schema. Other desktop environments are not automatically configured.
• GNOME automatic suspend, screen lock and idle screen blanking each offer Keep current / Enable / Disable. These set desktop defaults, not existing user overrides; enabling restores standard timeouts rather than previous custom values. The target needs the corresponding GNOME schemas and dconf-cli. Capabilities are checked after package installation, before any desktop defaults are written; missing components produce a clear error (earlier provisioning steps are not rolled back). Disabling screen lock reduces physical-access security. These are not firmware or system-wide sleep controls.
• Desktop login autostart accepts one absolute executable path inside the target rootfs, for example /opt/myapp/myapp. The executable must exist; use Overlay or package installation to supply it. It runs as the created user after a desktop login, not as a root/system service. Shell commands and arguments are not supported.
• Local DEB files accepts one local host path per line. Browse appends a selected file without adding duplicate paths. Only arm64 and all packages are supported. APT installs them during image preparation and may download dependencies. Install only trusted packages: their maintainer scripts run as root. Saved settings contain paths, not package contents; those files must remain accessible at provisioning time.

Old configurations default to Chinese support off, desktop settings unchanged and no autostart or local DEB installation. Empty options leave existing rootfs changes in place; they do not undo earlier customization. No vendor-specific services, hardware rules or platform boot changes are included. Real-device validation remains required.

Build

Requires Go 1.27.2+, Bun, MyGo CLI 0.3.5, and the MyGo GTK3/WebKitGTK 4.1 build prerequisites on Linux.

bun install
go test ./...
bun run typecheck
bun run build

The Linux bundle is placed in build/. To work on the UI, run mygo dev in a graphical session. Cross-platform builds depend on the corresponding MyGo packaging toolchains.

Build and release

On Linux, build both installation packages with:

bun run build -- -platform linux/amd64
bun run build -- -platform linux/arm64

Each build/linux-<arch>/ directory contains a .deb and .tar.gz package. GitHub Actions uploads them as nvflasher-linux-amd64 and nvflasher-linux-arm64 artifacts after every CI build (including manual workflow_dispatch runs). Pushing a v* tag also publishes both architectures' packages to a GitHub Release after tests pass.

Usage and safety

On a Linux x86_64 host, extract the NVIDIA BSP and sample rootfs into Linux_for_Tegra, run apply_binaries.sh, and provide its directory under Settings. Install host dependencies as reported by Environment. Start nvflasher with root permissions (pkexec or sudo) when flashing or provisioning; connect the Jetson via USB in forced Recovery mode. The app only executes NVIDIA's official tools. For MFI flash, supply an extracted MFI directory or a .tar.gz archive (safely extracted into the workspace); MFI generation produces mfi_<board>.tar.gz in the BSP directory. Only identical hardware should be flashed together.

Use the language menu to switch between English and Simplified Chinese; the selection is stored locally. On Linux, the Environment page can accept a sudo password to restart with root permissions. The password is used once for authentication, never written to configuration or logs. The elevated app may use separate root-user settings; verify the BSP path and flash options again after restarting.

After an interrupted BSP preparation, retry “Extract and prepare BSP” in the Download step. The app reuses verified archives and extracted files, removing only leftover rootfs character-device nodes that match expected host device numbers before retrying apply_binaries.sh; it never deletes regular files or symlinks there. UI sudo restart requires a working systemd user session; otherwise use pkexec.

Environment can list missing packages on Debian, Ubuntu, and Arch derivatives (including Omarchy and EndeavourOS), copy the installation command, or install them after confirmation in a root session. On Arch, BSP preparation needs the host dpkg package, now included in missing-dependency checks. Arch installation runs pacman -Syu, which upgrades the whole system. NVIDIA does not certify Arch as a Jetson Linux flashing host; installing these packages does not guarantee flashing works on Arch.

Flashing also requires the abootimg executable on the host. Debian/Ubuntu can install it through the Environment page. On Arch the abootimg package is in the AUR rather than the official pacman repositories; the UI offers a copyable paru -S abootimg command to run manually as a regular user, never as root. Rerun diagnostics after installing it.

On Arch, flashing maps NVIDIA's service nfs-kernel-server calls to systemd's nfs-server.service only inside the flash subprocess; it does not change the global host commands. Install nfs-utils first. Destructive operations and package installation use native MyGo confirmation dialogs; template names use an inline field instead of browser prompts.

The UI groups tasks into Flash setup and Rootfs setup wizards. Flash setup walks through environment checks, model selection, official downloads and BSP preparation, and flashing. The automatic catalog covers Jetson Orin Nano 8GB and Super Developer Kits with Jetson Linux 36.5.0: they share downloads but use different flash board configurations. The BSP contains NVIDIA's flashing tools; the app verifies both archives against NVIDIA SHA1 checksums before extraction and runs apply_binaries.sh with root privileges. A USB ID alone does not prove the board model; verify the device label. The flash step offers a prebuilt MFI directory or .tar.gz archive as a separate mode. An arbitrary ISO or .img file is not an MFI package.

Provisioning shows the selected Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs directory and allows browsing to another BSP.

• Timezone, system UTF-8 locale and Ubuntu ARM64 APT mirror are optional; blank preserves the existing configuration. Mirrors are applied before package installation, replacing only ubuntu-ports URLs in .list and deb822 .sources files and preserving NVIDIA repositories. No matching ports source is an error. Locale configuration installs/generates locales, not fonts, input methods or full desktop language packs.
• PNG/JPEG wallpaper sets GNOME desktop and lock-screen defaults without overriding existing user settings. GNOME and dconf-cli must be available in rootfs; dependencies can be included in the package list, which runs before appearance configuration.
• PNG Linux boot logos generate a Plymouth theme and update initramfs. This requires Plymouth, initramfs-tools, /boot/initrd.img-*, and boot arguments enabling splash. It does not replace UEFI/NVIDIA firmware logos. Jetson BSPs using only /boot/initrd require manual boot-chain integration and are explicitly rejected by this option.
• Images are limited to 32 MiB and 8192×8192. New settings and image paths persist; source images must remain accessible when provisioning runs. Blank fields do not undo previous rootfs modifications.

It can create a user, apply an overlay, install APT packages inside chroot, and send a non-interactive script to chroot rootfs /bin/bash -s. Select multiple templates and add their scripts to the visible editor before running; review scripts before execution. SSH forced Recovery requires a bootable Jetson, working SSH, and a previously trusted SSH host key in ~/.ssh/known_hosts. Official package downloads accept optional HTTP, HTTPS, or SOCKS5 proxies; NVIDIA login is not supported.

Settings and non-secret flash/provisioning form values are saved in os.UserConfigDir()/nvflasher/config.json. Passwords and chroot script contents are not saved as last-used values (save an intentional script template instead). Proxy credentials are stored only when you explicitly select Remember proxy credentials; this may expose them to anyone who can access your account. Logs are redacted for common password arguments but avoid printing secrets in your custom scripts. Downloaded .part files are removed on cancel or error.

Disclaimer: NVIDIA BSP downloads and usage are subject to NVIDIA's EULA. Flashing can permanently destroy target data. Make backups and verify the target device, board configuration, and filesystem layout. Use at your own risk. Windows and macOS do not support flashing in this release.

License: MIT.