Hi,
After about 50km with the original firmware, I got a package from Singapore yesterday, with the things needed for the Open Source f/w upgrade, Reprogramming the display was trivial, but the motor caused be issues with constant read errors and programming failures, and after an hour of shortening cables and cursing I gave up, and thought it was caused by my crap ST-LINK V2 adapter.
However, on my desk was sitting the spare controller I bought to get some contact or whatever from, and I though I'd give it a try. Surprisingly, the ST-LINK had no problems whatever talking to this controller, and I've read and written firmware multiple times to it without issues.
So naturally I replaced the orginial controller with this one, and just did a quick test to confirm it's working, and so far so good! Apparently programming issues can be hit-an-miss not only depending on which ST-LINK adapter you're using, but also vary from controller to controller, so I'd recommend anyone that plan to do this to go with the extra controller option. I don't remember what I was supposed to steal from the extra controller (everything's connected without cannibalizing any controllers), but glad I bought one.
TLDR: Programming failures can be related to the individual controller as well as the ST-LINK V2 adapter and wire-lengths.