Top all-time · #4445
Mender Blog
Company blog · mender.io/blogsystemshardware
Mender Blog is the company blog at mender.io, writing about systems and hardware. Since 2017, 17 different Hacker News readers have linked it 97 times, most often “Over-the-air software updates for embedded Linux devices”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-27, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (9) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Mender's blog as a source on over-the-air updates for IoT and embedded Linux devices, including a PDF on OTA practices and an article on homegrown updaters. Comments mostly point to it or cite it.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 9 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Secure, reliable, and scalable OTA updates for IoT devices. Seamlessly manage device software remotely, ensuring end-to-end security and compliance.
Most-linked posts?
- Over-the-air software updates for embedded Linux devices3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2017-02-07
- United Kingdom to introduce security labelling on connected devices2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-03-09
- /2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-03-02
What Hacker News says?
I think JavaFX could have been more successful if they would have managed it differently. I really liked it. The JavaFX developers were all great to deal with and would help you as much as they could. One of the problems in my opinion is that once you went up the chain beyond the developers, it seemed like there were some people that didn't understand what they were doing or didn't care or possibly both. They had ta…
Comment linking /
on “The decline and fall of Java on the desktop”Submitted United Kingdom to introduce security labelling on connected devices as a story · 167 points
HN discussionWorking in the IoT space can be... fun. Here's a high-level PDF on good OTA practices I've seen passed around before: https://mender.io/resources/product-briefs/_resources/Requir...
Comment linking /resources/product-briefs/_resources/Requirements%20for%20OTA.pdf
on “AEG combi microwave unusable after update: device thinks it is a steam oven”Submitted Mender – An open-source OTA software updater for embedded Linux devices as a story · 132 points
HN discussionMender is a nice solution for the A/B partition updates as well. https://mender.io/
Comment linking /
on “Ubuntu Core 22 is now available – optimised for IoT and embedded devices”Submitted Software Updates for IoT Devices and the Hidden Costs of Homegrown Updaters [pdf] as a story · 84 points
HN discussionI've never used anything in the product space, but I've read through some of the docs because IoT deployment interests me in the context of most network devices having terrible deployment and update strategies. My favorite sales pitch was always Mender ( https://mender.io ) because it can be as simple as .img files and slice based booting. Unfortunately they changed their pricing a couple years ago and went from a h…
Comment linking /
on “Ubuntu Core 22 is now available – optimised for IoT and embedded devices”Submitted Top three requirements for OTA software updates for IoT as a story · 19 points
HN discussionThanks for the comment. >>> without the lock-in >> Anyone know more precisely what he's talking about? The article doesn't specify. Apologies for the confusion, yes I had meant vendor lock-in. That is usually a blocker for many embedded projects starting out. This is why we've created a open source project with both client and management server licensed under the permissive Apache 2.0. If you are interested, we are…
Comment linking /become-a-tester
on “Embedded developers need an open source OTA software updater without the lock-in”Submitted Editorial Response to BBC Click Article on IoT Device Security as a story · 17 points
HN discussionThey don't want to. They want you to use their product. The article rather seems to be a commercial for this: https://www.mender.io/
Comment linking /
on “Embedded developers need an open source OTA software updater without the lock-in”Submitted Raspbian Update Breaks Devices as a story · 14 points
HN discussionDisclaimer: I'm with Mender.io and author of the article. The Yocto Project is a popular build system for your own embedded Linux distribution. Mender integrates with the Yocto Project with a layer ( https://github.com/mendersoftware/meta-mender ), but is a separate project for end-to-end OTA, which includes the client and the management server. Both are licensed under Apache 2.0 thus it is freely available and you'…
Comment linking /blog/porting-mender-to-a-non-yocto-build-system
on “Software Updates for IoT Devices and the Hidden Costs of Homegrown Updaters [pdf]”Submitted Announcing the Release of Hosted Mender: OTA Updates to IoT as a Service as a story · 11 points
HN discussionThe source of this article is Mender.io, which is an open source embedded linux distro that includes built-in OTA updates: http://mender.io/ I can't speak to their quality as I haven't tried it yet. I have used Resin.io quite a bit and it's great if it fits your use case (and the pricing model makes sense for you).
Comment linking /
on “Software Updates for IoT Devices and the Hidden Costs of Homegrown Updaters [pdf]”Submitted EU introduces a cyber security IoT standard to protect its citizens as a story · 10 points
HN discussionOpenEmbedded/Yocto is one such Linux "distro", https://www.yoctoproject.org/ecosystem/iot There is also the open-source Zephyr RTOS for IoT, of Intel WindRiver lineage, under Linux Foundation governance, https://www.zephyrproject.org Edit: See http://mender.io for OTA updates (open-source client and server). If IoT device vendors separate their application code from the base operating system, e.g. via containers or…
Comment linking /
on “How to force manufacturers to take IoT security seriously?”Submitted Elevator-as-a-Service as a story · 10 points
HN discussionSubmitted Mender Enables OTA Software Updates in NXP's I.mx 8M Application Processors as a story · 10 points
HN discussionSubmitted Four tools for building embedded Linux systems as a story · 10 points
HN discussionSubmitted Mender 1.7 released: Raspbian and broader Linux support as a story · 10 points
HN discussionSubmitted Synchronized software updates in large scale IoT Projects as a story · 9 points
HN discussionSubmitted A quick dive into k3s and the Mender Update Module for Kubernetes as a story · 9 points
HN discussionSubmitted Managing fleets of connected devices with Phased Rollout as a story · 9 points
HN discussionSubmitted Announcing Mender Enterprise: Enabling deployment of large scale updates as a story · 9 points
HN discussionSubmitted Mender 2.0 beta: introducing application updates as a story · 9 points
HN discussionSubmitted US Senate Passes Cybersecurity Improvement Act on to the President for Signature as a story · 8 points
HN discussionSubmitted Good news – The U.S. House Passes the IoT Cybersecurity bill as a story · 8 points
HN discussionSubmitted IoT Development: Going from Prototyping to Production with Embedded Linux as a story · 8 points
HN discussionSubmitted Mender 2.2 released: Safely deploy at scale as a story · 8 points
HN discussion