Public Access
twislaandClaude Opus 5.5
7fe8b3d22a
Fn+h on any screen, text fields included, and ? outside Text Entry, open a panel over the content area: the screen's own keys, then the ones that work everywhere. Every App declares its keys for the state it is in (pages, viewers, dialogs and text fields answer for themselves); the App manager opens the panel and takes every key while it is open. About 30 hint lines are gone, from every App. What stays on a screen is state. The first-start Setup keeps its hints and teaches the key; a device set up before gets one Toast, once. The guide and the FAQ open with it. `key help` over the consoles. 476 host tests (8 new). Checked on the device with key help and screenshots: the Launcher, all nine Apps and several of their states. 8.5 KB of flash and 40 bytes of static RAM. Decisions Q196 to Q203 in docs/milestones/U1.md. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01EhqxQ49eCju4CzKYNjZzwT
81 lines
5.5 KiB
Markdown
81 lines
5.5 KiB
Markdown
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title = "Questions and answers"
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description = "What the firmware does and does not do today, what it talks to over the network, and how to run, update and fix it."
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template = "guide-page.html"
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[extra]
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toc = true
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## Which keys work on this screen?
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Press **<kbd>Fn</kbd> + <kbd>h</kbd>**, on any screen: it lists the keys that work there, then the ones that work everywhere. <kbd>?</kbd> does the same when you are not typing text. The screens themselves never name their keys, so this is the one key to remember. See [The basics](/guide/basics/).
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## Can I send messages over the mesh?
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**Not yet.** The LoRa Scanner **listens** to Meshtastic traffic and shows what it hears, but nothing is transmitted. A mesh messenger is the goal and is planned in two milestones, one for receiving and one for transmitting; it waits for a second node to test against.
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## Is this Meshtastic?
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No. roro9stack is its own firmware, written from scratch, which aims to be **compatible** with Meshtastic on the air. Today that means the Scanner can read a Meshtastic packet's header. The project isn't affiliated with or endorsed by Meshtastic or M5Stack.
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## Does it ever transmit on LoRa?
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No. The radio is receive-only in the current firmware. Nothing will transmit until you have confirmed your region in Settings, and the region's limits (frequencies, power, duty cycle) will bound anything that does.
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## What do I need?
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- an **M5Stack Cardputer ADV**: that is the device the firmware is built and tested for;
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- the **Cap LoRa-1262**, for the LoRa Scanner and GNSS only: the other Apps do not need it;
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- a **microSD card**, for notes, logs, tracks, captures and saved pages;
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- **Wi-Fi** (2.4 GHz) for IRC, Gemini and updates.
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## Which regions are supported?
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**EU868** only, today. Setup asks for your region once, and the radio does not transmit until you confirm it.
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## Why do I need Chrome or Edge to install it?
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The browser flasher uses Web Serial, which Chrome and Edge have on desktop and Firefox and Safari don't. Without it, the **esptool** steps on the [Install page](/install/) flash the same file from a terminal.
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## How do I update it?
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Three ways, all with the same signed update file: from the project's releases on the device itself (**Settings → Firmware**), from the SD card, or pushed over Wi-Fi from a PC. See [Updates](/guide/updates/) and [Install an update from the SD card](/howto/update-from-sd/).
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## Is it safe to update? What if it goes wrong?
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A new firmware runs on **Probation**: if it crashes, restarts, or cannot get Wi-Fi back within 3 minutes, the device returns to the previous version by itself. If a confirmed firmware crashes 3 times in a row, it starts in **Safe Mode** with only Wi-Fi and updates, so a fix can be installed without a cable. And an update that is not signed with the project's key is refused before anything is written.
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## Can I run my own build?
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Yes: it is [open source](https://git.twis.la/twisla/roro9stack) (GPL-3.0). The device only accepts updates signed with the key that its firmware was built with, so a build of your own, signed with your own key, is flashed once over USB (the README explains it); after that, your own updates go over Wi-Fi or the card. Releases from this project are signed with the project's key.
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## Does it phone home? What about privacy?
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**The firmware contacts the project's server once a day,** to see whether a new release exists: **Settings → Check for updates**, on by default, only when Wi-Fi is up and the clock is set. It installs nothing by itself, and you can switch it off. Besides that, the device talks to what you ask it to: the IRC server and Gemini capsules you open, DNS servers (9.9.9.9 and 1.1.1.1 by default) and time servers (pool.ntp.org and time.cloudflare.com by default), all of which you can change. There is no account, no analytics and no telemetry.
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**This website** sets no cookies and has no analytics, loads nothing from other sites, and its server logs keep only a masked part of visitors' addresses. The Install page asks the project's own server for the latest release.
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## Why does IRC disconnect when I update, or when I open a Gemini page?
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A secure connection takes about 52 KB of the 107 KB the device has, and IRC's takes about 40 KB. Both together do not always fit. See [When a connection says "not enough memory"](/howto/not-enough-memory/).
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## Do I need an SD card?
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For the radio, GNSS position, Wi-Fi tools, IRC chat and Gemini browsing, no. For anything that is *kept*, yes: notes, IRC logs, Wi-Fi scan logs, GNSS Tracks, LoRa captures, saved Gemini pages and update files. See [Find your files on the SD card](/howto/sd-files/).
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## How big can a note be?
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Up to 16 KB while it is edited. A larger text file opens read-only in the [Storage App](/guide/storage/). Editing a text file of any size is planned.
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## Why can't I rename or delete some folders?
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The firmware keeps its files in the top-level folders of the card, and `/gemini/cache` and any file being written right now are protected. What is inside the top-level folders can be changed. The Storage App says why when it refuses.
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## The upload can't connect, or the port is missing
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Try a data cable, put the Cardputer in download mode (hold **G0** while plugging in USB), and see [When flashing fails](/howto/flash-fails/).
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## Something is wrong, or missing from this site
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Write to the [issue tracker](https://git.twis.la/twisla/roro9stack/issues) or to contact@roro9stack.net. Security problems: the address in the site's `security.txt`, and please not in the public tracker.
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