FlooCast

A Python application that allows for the control and configuration of FlooGoo USB Bluetooth dongles.

It configures a FlooGoo FMA120 Bluetooth dongle to pair and connect with a Bluetooth headset/speaker for streaming audio or making VoIP calls. It can also configure the dongle to work as an AuraCast sender.

The dongle functions as a standard USB audio speaker and microphone, requiring no drivers on Windows, macOS, or Linux.

This fork adds macOS/Linux firmware upgrade support. The official app relies on a Windows-only DLL for firmware updates. The included hid_dfu.py tool reimplements the Qualcomm VM Upgrade Protocol in pure Python, so you can update your dongle's firmware without needing a Windows machine.

Installation

Windows

On Windows, the compiled App can be downloaded directly from Microsoft Store.

Linux/Mac

Requires python 3.7+

Configure Python Environment

Create a virtual environment and install the required packages.

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

Running

After configuring the environment, run main.py within it.

venv/bin/python main.py

If your dongle is not found, or if you see a permission denied error, check the Platform specific notes/issues section. You may also choose to run the command as root to ensure it has access to the serial device.

sudo venv/bin/python main.py

Usage

Once configured, the dongle can automatically reconnect to the most recently used device. Please check the support link for more advanced uses.

Platform specific notes/issues

On Linux, if you run the app as a non-root user, you might get "Permission denied: '/dev/ttyACM0'" error. Please verify the ttyACM0 device is the "dialout" user group and add your $USER to the group. You may take the following link as a reference, https://askubuntu.com/questions/133235/how-do-i-allow-non-root-access-to-ttyusb0

Firmware Upgrade on macOS (without Windows)

The official FlooCast app only supports firmware upgrades on Windows. The included hid_dfu.py tool implements the Qualcomm VM Upgrade Protocol natively in Python, allowing firmware updates directly from macOS (or Linux).

Supported Devices

Device	Chip	USB VID:PID
Flairmesh FlooGoo FMA120	Qualcomm QCC3086	0A12:4007

Other Qualcomm QCC30xx/QCC51xx-based USB dongles using the same HID DFU protocol may also work.

Quick Start

# 1. Set up the environment (one-time)
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

# 2. Plug in the FMA120 dongle

# 3. Check current firmware version
python hid_dfu.py --version

# 4. Download the latest firmware
#    Go to: https://www.flairmesh.com/Dongle/FMA120.html
#    Or directly: https://www.flairmesh.com/support/FMA120_1.1.6.zip
#    Unzip and locate the .bin file matching your variant (e.g. FMA120_1_1_6G.bin)

# 5. Inspect the firmware file
python hid_dfu.py --info path/to/FMA120_1_1_6G.bin

# 6. Upgrade!
python hid_dfu.py path/to/FMA120_1_1_6G.bin

What Happens During the Upgrade

1. Connect -- establishes HID communication with the dongle
2. Sync -- checks if a previous upgrade was interrupted and can be resumed
3. Data transfer -- sends firmware in device-requested chunks (~2 MB, takes 1-2 minutes)
4. Validation -- device verifies the received image
5. Reboot -- dongle reboots with new firmware (USB disconnects briefly)
6. Commit -- reconnects and confirms the upgrade

The dongle has dual-image support with self-recovery. If something goes wrong, it falls back to the previous firmware.

Verbose Output

Add -v for detailed protocol logging (useful for debugging):

python hid_dfu.py -v path/to/FMA120_1_1_6G.bin

Troubleshooting

"Device not found"

• Make sure the dongle is plugged in
• On macOS, no special drivers are needed -- the dongle shows up as a USB HID device
• Try unplugging and re-plugging the dongle
• Check with: python -c "import hid; print([d for d in hid.enumerate(0x0A12, 0x4007)])"

"Read timeout"

• Unplug and re-plug the dongle, then retry
• The dongle may not respond after a dirty disconnect -- a fresh plug-in resets it

"Protocol version mismatch"

• Make sure you're using the correct firmware variant for your dongle (check the suffix, e.g. "G")

Upgrade interrupted / stuck

• Just run the command again -- the tool detects the resume point and continues from where it left off

Permission errors on Linux

• Run with sudo, or add a udev rule for the device:

  echo 'SUBSYSTEM=="hidraw", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0a12", ATTRS{idProduct}=="4007", MODE="0666"' | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/99-fma120.rules
  sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
  

How It Works

The tool communicates with the dongle over USB HID (no serial port needed):

• Report ID 3 (Feature Report) -- Connect/Disconnect handshake
• Report ID 5 (Interrupt OUT) -- Upgrade protocol commands and firmware data
• Report ID 6 (Interrupt IN) -- Device responses

The protocol was reverse-engineered from the fwupd qc-s5gen2 plugin by Denis Pynkin and Richard Hughes.

Acknowledgements

• fwupd -- The qc-s5gen2 plugin provided the protocol reference for the macOS DFU implementation