Flashing with the CLI
Make sure not to power the radio on without first attaching the antenna! You could damage the radio chip!
Before you flash your device start by verifying connectivity with the device being flashed. Outlined below are steps that can be taken to verify connectivity and, if necessary, to install the appropriate drivers. If you end up needing to install drivers be sure to reboot your computer afterwards to verify the installation is complete.
The T-Beam 0.7 board is an earlier version of the T-Beam board, and due to changes in the design in subsequent iterations this board uses a specific firmware file different from the other T-Beam boards.
firmware-tbeam0.7-X.X.X.xxxxxxx.bin is the correct firmware. firmware-tbeam-X.X.X.xxxxxxx.bin is incompatible. For all other T-Beam boards review the resources section for the correct selection.
Command Line Interface Instructions
Install Prerequisite Software
- Linux
- macOS
- Windows
Linux
Check if you have python3 and pip installed with the following command
python3 --version
pip3 --version
If python3 is not installed, install with
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python3
If pip is not installed, install with
sudo apt-get install python3-pip
macOS
OS X comes with Python 2.7 installed, but not pip. The following uses Homebrew to install python3 which includes pip3. On MacOS you will use pip3 instead > of pip.
Check if you have Homebrew installed with the following command
brew -v
If it's not installed, follow the instructions on the Homebrew website before continuing.
Check if you have python3 and pip installed with the following command
python3 --version
pip3 --version
If python3 is not installed, install with
Install Python3
brew install python3
Confirm pip3 was installed alongside python3
pip3 -v
Install esptool
pip3 install --upgrade esptool
Confirm Communication With Chip
- Linux
- macOS
- Windows
Linux
On Linux, you may need to explicitly declare esptool as a .py script. Use esptool.py chip_id.
macOS
On macOS, you may need to explicitly declare esptool as a .py script. Use esptool.py chip_id.
Windows
On Windows, you must explicitly declare esptool as a .py script. Use esptool.py chip_id.
Connect the radio to your computer using a data USB cable. Confirm your device is talking to your computer using the following command:
esptool chip_id
# You should see a result similar to this:
mydir$ esptool chip_id
esptool.py v2.6
Found 2 serial ports
Serial port /dev/ttyUSB0
Connecting....
Detecting chip type... ESP32
Chip is ESP32D0WDQ6 (revision 1)
Features: WiFi, BT, Dual Core, 240MHz, VRef calibration in efuse, Coding Scheme None
MAC: 24:6f:28:b5:36:71
Uploading stub...
Running stub...
Stub running...
Warning: ESP32 has no Chip ID. Reading MAC instead.
MAC: 24:6f:28:b5:36:71
Hard resetting via RTS pin...
Download Firmware
- Head to the Meshtastic Downloads Page to download the latest firmware.
- Scroll down to the Firmware section and select one of the following, depending on your preferences:
- Download Stable: For stable, well-tested releases.
- Download Alpha: For newer, experimental releases with the latest features.
- Once redirected to the GitHub release page, scroll down to the "Assets" section and expand it. Identify the correct firmware for your device by its architecture (e.g.,
firmware-esp32s3for ESP32-S3-based devices like the Heltec V3). - Download the file and take note of the download location on your system (usually in your
~/Downloadsfolder).
Navigate to Firmware Directory
- Open a terminal and navigate (
cd) to the directory where your firmware was downloaded. The folder name typically matches the architecture and firmware version from the zip file. For example:
cd ~/Downloads/firmware-esp32s3-X.X.X.xxxxxxx/
Make sure to replace esp32s3 and the version number with those corresponding to the file you downloaded.
Install/Update Firmware
Now, proceed with the instructions below for your operating system to install or update the firmware for your specific board:
Be very careful to install the correct firmware file for your board. In particular, the popular 'T-BEAM' radio from TTGO is not called 'TTGO-Lora' (that is a different board). So don't install the 'TTGO-Lora' build on a TBEAM, it won't work correctly. If you flash the incorrect device firmware, it may appear to successfully complete, yet the device will usually become unresponsive, displaying a blank screen (if equipped). Attempt to flash the correct version. Please note, while these devices are quite resilient and damage is not always likely, there is a possibility of onboard radio and peripheral damage due to incorrect GPIO pin direction
- Linux
- macOS
- Windows
Connect and Configure Device
After flashing the Meshtastic firmware to the device, you can proceed with the initial configuration.