Using Meshtastic Python Flasher
This method is no longer supported. Please use a supported method.
Make sure not to power the radio on without first attaching the antenna! You could damage the radio chip!
Overview
Meshtastic Flasher (aka m-flasher) is a graphical user interface for flashing supported devices with Meshtastic. The following operating systems are currently supported: Windows, Mac, and Ubuntu.
Prerequisites
Verify that Python3 is installed
- Linux
- macOS
- Windows
python3 --version
# If version is less than v3.6, please update python3
python3 --version
# If version is less than v3.6, please update python3
python3 --version
# If version is less than v3.9+, please update python3
Install or Update Python3
- Linux
- macOS
- Windows
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install -y python3 python3-pip python3-venv
- Download directly from python.org
- Homebrew:
brew install python@3.9 - MacPorts
Install or Upgrade App
For Windows, the installer will manage installing python and flasher updates automatically.
For macOS and Linux, it is recommended that you install using pip.
Note: Update an existing installation using pip install meshtastic-flasher -U
- Linux
- macOS
- Windows
python3 --version
# ensure you are using at least python v3.6
# change to a directory where you want to create a python virtual environment
mkdir some_dir
cd some_dir
# if the following command fails, it might tell you what package to install
python3 -m venv venv
# activate the python virtual environment
source venv/bin/activate
# your prompt should change - it should include "(venv) in the front
# upgrade pip
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install meshtastic-flasher
meshtastic-flasher
python3 --version
# ensure you are using at least python v3.6
# change to a directory where you want to create a python virtual environment
mkdir some_dir
cd some_dir
python3 -m venv venv
# activate the python virtual environment
source venv/bin/activate
# your prompt should change - it should include "(venv) in the front
# upgrade pip
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install meshtastic-flasher
meshtastic-flasher
# open a command prompt
# create a new directory for the python virtual environment
cd c:\
mkdir some_dir
cd some_dir
# check that python version is sufficient, must be at least v3.9+
python -m venv venv
# activate the python virtual environment
venv\Scripts\activate
# your prompt should change - it should have (venv) at the beginning
pip install meshtastic-flasher
meshtastic-flasher
Flashing the Device
The Meshtastic Flasher will flash the latest firmware on esp32 and nrf52 devices. This is a newly developed application (as of February 1, 2022), so there may be some issues discovered as it is tested by users.
There are three steps:
- Click the GET VERSIONS button to get the versions available (from GitHub).
- Click the DETECT DEVICE button to determine the port and device variant connected.
- Click the FLASH button to flash the version selected using the port selected to the device.
Issues?
If you run into an issue, please create a ticket here: Flasher Issues
The code can be found at the Meshtastic-gui-installer repo
Known limitations
The following are known limitations:
- Raspberry Pi is not available, since it is arm-based and there are no pre-built libraries for PySide
- Ubuntu 20.04 is the version used for testing, it may work with other versions.
- See README for more details.
Connect and Configure Device
After flashing the Meshtastic firmware to the device, you can proceed with the initial configuration.