Does the program by chance check the size of the kernel to determine how much flash to erase, or is it a set amount every time?

If, by "the program", you mean my kernel downloader, the answer is No, it does not perform any verification on the file you're sending. It's just a straight compile of the raw "download.c" source code that's available at the Empeg web site (with only a tiny modification to reboot the player). Look at that code to see what it's doing.

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Tony Fabris