Edge Collective

Quahog Debug

fixing the bootloader

ESP32 boot mode selection

Upshot -- for hog32a version:

• get rid of R4 and C4
• place R1, C3, R2, R3, Q1, and Q2
• need to connect pin 2 to ground (or it can float; but currently it is used in i2c, and is pulled high with a resistor, so we need to connect it to ground)
• need to connect the 'DTR' pin on the CP2104 breakout to the DTR pin on the quahog

Once these are done, the board will enter the bootloader automatically.

flashing using esptool

Looks like we need to convert the .elf file to a binary image ...

See the guide to esptool

For esp32, elf2image produces a single output binary "image file". By default this has the same name as the .elf file, with a .bin extension. ie:

    esptool.py --chip esp32 elf2image my_esp32_app.elf

In the above example, the output image file would be called my_esp32_app.bin.

Actually, checking just now -- platformio generates a 'bin' file directly, so no worries.

need to upload the partitions, too? See this issue

arduino esp32 partitions scheme

Setting up Heltec ESP32 on Arduino

What is working

If I first erase the chip using:

python esptool.py --chip esp32 erase_flash

And then use 'adafruit esp32 feather' in the board setup in arduino ide, it seems to just work. Not sure if I needed simply to erase the flash beforehand.

Button on Meshtastic

I was getting 'button press functionality' when running Meshtastic on the Quahog. I needed to change the quahog Mestastic-device code so that the 'button' was no longer GPIO 0 (default), but GPIO 19 (other pins may also work for this). This corresponds to 'release/latest/quahog_firmware_v3.bin' in Meshtastic-device-quahog on github.

Rationale for Quahog

'Off-grid wifi gateway' ... is this useful?

I guess if you want the Quahog up on a pole ... up to 100 feet away from the wifi gateway... then it can be powered by 12V ... so that might be useful in some circumstances ...