Flashing with the CLI
Make sure not to power the radio on without first attaching the antenna! You could damage the radio chip!
For ESP32 devices if the device already has a version of Meshtastic installed using the OTA firmware upgrade tool in the Android app is the friendliest path for users. OTA firmware updates are not yet available on Apple platforms.
If your ESP32 device does not have Meshtastic pre-installed flashing 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-tbeam0.7-1.x.x.bin
is the correct firmware. firmware-tbeam-1.x.x.bin
is incompatible. For all other T-Beam boards firmware-tbeam-1.x.x.bin
is the correct selection.
Command Line Interface Instructionsโ
- Linux
- macOS
- Windows
Install Prerequisite Softwareโ
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
Install esptool
โ
pip3 install --upgrade esptool
Install Prerequisite Softwareโ
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
โ
pip3 install --upgrade esptool
- Download and install Python. When installing, make sure to click
Add Python X.Y to PATH
. - Download and install Gitbash (or other appropriate shell) and run all subsequent commands from that shell.
Confirm installation of python
& pip
with the following commands.
py --version
pip --version
Install esptool
โ
pip install --upgrade esptool
Confirm Communication With Chipโ
- Linux
- macOS
- Windows
On macOS, you may need to explicitly declare esptool as a .py script. Use esptool.py chip_id
.
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...
Navigate to Firmwareโ
cd
into the directory where you unzipped the latest release. For example:
cd ~/Downloads/firmware/
Install/Update Firmwareโ
Install or Update the device that you have by using the following commands according to your operating system:
Be very careful to install the correct load 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.
- Linux
- macOS
- Windows
Select Firmwareโ
Browse to the previously downloaded firmware and select the correct firmware based on the board type and frequency.
Be very careful to install the correct load 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 firmware: It may appear to flash correctly, but if your device has a screen it might stay blank. On-board radio peripherals might be damaged because of GPIO pin direction, but you should just try to flash with the correct version.
Flash Firmwareโ
Select Flash ESP
. It may take a minute or two. Once complete, "Done! Flashing is complete!" will be shown.
Connect and Configure Deviceโ
After flashing the Meshtastic firmware to the device, you can proceed with the initial configuration.