Touch Manager

Touch Manager is a desktop firmware library, safe installer, and diagnostic console for the Synthux Touch 2. It turns the command-line DFU workflow into a clear, profile-aware interface without removing the board's permanent BOOT/RESET recovery path.

Important

Touch Manager is pre-release software that writes firmware to hardware. Keep USB power connected during an installation and retain a known-good firmware binary. Automated tests never write to a connected device.

What works in 0.3

• Bundled metadata for 23 official and community Touch 2 instruments.
• On-demand downloading and verified local caching for redistributable official firmware.
• Searchable firmware library with trust, provenance, target, and checksum information.
• Raw .bin import and local Cortex-M vector-table analysis.
• SHA-256, size, Thumb-vector, stack-pointer, and execution-layout validation.
• Fixed profiles for STM32 internal flash, Daisy BOOT_SRAM, and Daisy BOOT_QSPI.
• Detection of runtime USB, STM32 ROM DFU, Daisy Bootloader DFU, and serial ports.
• Profile-specific update instructions and a built-in, version-checked flashing engine.
• Runtime-return detection, recovery-aware results, and SQLite install history.
• USB serial diagnostics and support-transcript export.
• Responsive macOS-first interface built with Tauri, React, TypeScript, and Rust.

The full architecture, threat model, target profiles, TouchLink proposal, and phased roadmap are in BUILD_PLAN.md.

Download

Download the latest macOS installer from GitHub Releases.

The current preview is built for Apple Silicon Macs and is fully self-contained: its flashing engine is included in the application, so Homebrew and Terminal setup are not required. It is ad-hoc signed rather than Apple-notarized, so first launch may require Control-clicking the app, choosing Open, or approving it in System Settings → Privacy & Security.

Release builds can download the eight official firmware binaries whose upstream MIT licenses permit redistribution. Every download is checked against its catalog SHA-256 and target profile before it enters the local cache. TouchBass 1.0.2 remains source-only until its upstream repository includes a redistribution license.

Community entries link to their upstream source and the community-maintained Simple Touch 2 directory, rather than mirroring binaries with unspecified licenses.

Safety model

The frontend cannot supply a shell command, arbitrary address, or DFU alternate setting. The Rust backend accepts only compiled-in target profiles and validates the binary again immediately before launching dfu-util. It refuses ambiguous devices, checksum failures, unknown memory layouts, and mismatched STM32/Daisy update modes.

Touch Manager does not write option bytes, change readout protection, or mass-erase a device. The STM32 BOOT/RESET gesture remains the recovery mechanism.

Development setup

Prerequisites:

• macOS, Windows, or Linux with the Tauri 2 prerequisites
• Node.js 20.19 or newer
• Current stable Rust
• dfu-util 0.11 or newer for local development only; release builds include it

On macOS:

brew install dfu-util
npm ci
npm run tauri dev

Frontend-only preview:

npm run dev

Optional firmware workspace

Developers can additionally resolve staged binaries from a Synthux workspace containing Firmware/SHA256SUMS.txt. Normal users do not need this workspace to download the eight licensed official releases or import their own .bin file.

Resolution order:

1. SYNTHUX_WORKSPACE
2. An ancestor of the current working directory

For a custom checkout location, set the workspace explicitly when starting the development build:

export SYNTHUX_WORKSPACE=/absolute/path/to/synthux
npm run tauri dev

Imported .bin files work without this workspace, but are marked as local and unreviewed. Do not redistribute third-party firmware without checking its upstream license.

Verification

npm test
npm run build
(cd src-tauri && cargo fmt --all -- --check)

The local golden test verifies all 23 staged artifacts when a firmware workspace is available. In a standalone CI checkout, catalog schema and metadata are still tested without requiring or redistributing those binaries.

Native builds

npm run tauri -- build

Current macOS downloads are clearly labelled development previews. A polished stable release still requires Apple Developer ID signing and notarization. Windows releases need explicit WinUSB guidance, and Linux releases need narrow udev rules; those distribution tasks remain on the roadmap.

The tagged macOS release workflow builds dfu-util 0.11 and libusb 1.0.30 from their checksum-pinned sources, statically links them, verifies that no non-system dynamic libraries remain, and embeds the executable in the application bundle. Both corresponding source archives and the required license notices ship with every release. See third-party notices.

Buttonless updates

The application contains the host-side TouchLink update request. Existing instruments do not yet implement its acknowledgement and reset handler, so they continue to use the guided physical update sequence. Buttonless updates require rebuilding maintained firmware with the versioned TouchLink protocol described in the build plan.

Contributing

Read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a pull request. Hardware-writing changes need an especially clear safety argument and must keep the physical recovery path available. Please report security-sensitive problems according to SECURITY.md.

License

Touch Manager is available under the MIT License. Firmware listed in the catalog remains subject to each upstream project's own license.