+++
title = "Install roro9stack"
description = "Flash roro9stack onto an M5Stack Cardputer ADV from your browser, or with esptool."
template = "install.html"
+++

## Before you start

- An **M5Stack Cardputer ADV**, and a **USB-C cable that carries data** (a charge-only cable won't show up).
- **Chrome or Edge on a desktop computer.** Flashing from a page uses Web Serial, which Firefox and Safari don't have. Without it, use esptool below.
- The **Cap LoRa-1262** is optional for the install: the LoRa Scanner and GNSS need it, the other Apps don't.

## Flash it

1. **Put the Cardputer in download mode.** Hold **G0**, the button next to the screen, while you plug in the USB-C cable.
2. Press **Install roro9stack** above, choose the Cardputer in the list of serial ports (it's usually named after its chip, *ESP32-S3*, or *USB JTAG/serial debug unit*), and confirm.
3. Wait for it to finish, and don't unplug it.
4. The Cardputer restarts into a short **first-boot setup**: a name, a short name for the mesh, your region and your time zone. An interrupted setup simply starts again at the next boot.

Flashing writes the firmware. What's on the SD card isn't touched.

## Without Chrome: esptool

Download the file ending in `-factory.bin` from [the downloads](/downloads/), put the Cardputer in download mode as above, and write it at offset 0:

```sh
pip install esptool
esptool --chip esp32s3 write-flash 0x0 roro9stack-<version>-factory.bin
```

With esptool 4, the command is `esptool.py --chip esp32s3 write_flash 0x0 …`. On Linux your user needs access to the serial port: `sudo usermod -aG dialout "$USER"`, then log out and back in. The file's SHA-256 is listed above and in the release's `SHA256SUMS`.

## After the first boot

- **Wi-Fi:** Settings → Wi-Fi → add your network.
- **Updates:** Settings → Firmware shows the latest release and installs it from the project's server, with no computer. It runs the new firmware on Probation and goes back by itself if it doesn't hold.
- **Something went wrong:** hold G0 while plugging in USB, and flash again. A device that keeps crashing starts in Safe Mode, where Wi-Fi and updates still work.

## Why this page loads from git.twis.la

The flasher asks the project's own Gitea for the latest release and gives the browser that release's factory image. Nothing is copied to this site, and a new release appears here as soon as it exists.