Let me think about the USB programming question – Any idea why OTA doesn’t work for you? Have you tried with my version lately? I changed how reset works in an earlier update which made it more reliable for me, although I still notice if the wifi signal is weak it still fails. Sometimes trying 2 or 3 times in a row will make it go through. I was going to try to add a system log to help debug these odd ball things that are hard to repro outside of the actual garage.
On the sound – yes I agree the sound option should be honored or selectable in some other way, let me see if that can be easily incorporated, I was originally thinking it should only beep when the door is opening/closing (which is loud by itself) but it still could annoy some people.