Well, it has been awhile.
I’ve been batting the bootloader question back and forth with Orbit Research tech support and I finally got an answer that makes dubious sense.
After being told lies about their website having the up to date version of the bootloader software, which I disproved more than once, after being told both my version and theirs are the current version, which isn’t possible, I was finally told that the version I have isn’t on their website. This I new anyway, duh. I was told it was decided to not put the newest version of the bootloader software on their site. So, anyone with an older version of the bootloader is screwed. They can’t get the newest, just the last one they graciously decided to put up.
In my not-so-humble opinion, they should take all versions of the bootloader off their site. They should also strip out all the stuff in the manual about updating the bootloader, as it can’t be done due to their current and stupid policy.
I find myself wondering if they’ll adopt this same insane policy with the newer firmware, should they ever come out with any. I’m afraid I’ve lost all faith in keeping my device up to date.