EtcherPro was born largely out of our customers’ (and our own) need to flash OS images onto multiple SD cards when adding devices to applications on balenaCloud. Part of our mission is to reduce friction for fleet owners, so helping with provisioning devices en masse is key to our goal. We initially introduced Etcher, the open-source, cross-platform application that is still used to flash millions of drives each month. After seeing its effectiveness, we decided to expand to a hardware platform that could use Etcher and multiple ports to accelerate the flashing process.
Having served customers for a couple of years, we’ve made the difficult decision to discontinue the production of the EtcherPro device as part of the company’s shift towards focusing on software services. For Etcher enthusiasts, there’s no need to worry, we have no plans to stop developing our open-source app.
Why balena will no longer be manufacturing EtcherPro
Balena has always been dedicated to improving the user experience of remote device management. Over time, we decided to streamline our focus and concentrate on enhancing our main product, balenaCloud. By doing so, we can continue to push the boundaries in areas where we believe we can have the most impact. As a result, a couple of years ago, we began phasing out our hardware production by discontinuing the balenaFin carrier board. We have now decided to end the production of the EtcherPro hardware to further align our efforts with this strategic direction.
What this means for you
We will continue to offer hardware support as specified by the EtcherPro’s warranty, while software support will be provided for the next two years. Your device’s functionality will not be affected, but we will not release any new software updates for the device after that period.
We are deeply grateful to the entire community of EtcherPro users who have supported the product over the years. This decision allows us to fully focus on innovating within the balenaCloud ecosystem, and we are excited about what the future holds.
If you have any questions or need assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our support team.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support.
Best regards,
The balena Team
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