roro9stack

A multi-app firmware for the M5Stack Cardputer ADV with the Cap LoRa-1262. It's a Meshtastic-compatible mesh messenger, plus Wi-Fi tools, IRC, GNSS and more. Licensed GPL-3.0.

• Domain language: CONTEXT.md
• Decisions: docs/adr/
• Milestones: docs/milestones/

Requirements

Only Docker is needed. PlatformIO and the ESP32 toolchain run inside a container, and are cached in the roro9stack-pio Docker volume. The first build downloads about 1 GB and takes a few minutes.

Build and test (local CI)

scripts/ci.sh

This runs the host-side unit tests (test/, native environment), then builds the firmware. The output is .pio/build/cardputer-adv/firmware.factory.bin.

The framework is rebuilt with the TLS settings in platformio.ini (custom_sdkconfig, ADR 0006), so the first build after a fresh checkout takes about 4 minutes; later builds take under a minute.

Flash

1. Connect the Cardputer by USB-C.

2. Run:

   scripts/flash.sh            # auto-detects the port; or: scripts/flash.sh /dev/ttyACM1
   

   This uploads the firmware, then opens the serial monitor. Quit the monitor with Ctrl+C.

If the upload can't connect, put the device in download mode: hold G0 (the button next to the screen) while plugging in USB, or while pressing reset. Then retry.

If you get "permission denied" on the port, your user needs access to the serial device. Run this once, then log out and back in:

sudo usermod -aG dialout "$USER"

Firmware Updates over Wi-Fi (OTA)

Once the Cardputer runs an OTA-capable firmware (flashed once over USB), updates can go over Wi-Fi:

scripts/ota_keygen.sh                  # once: creates the signing key (see ADR 0003)
scripts/flash.sh --ota 10.39.39.12     # build, sign and push; or set RORO_OTA_HOST

The device shows the push address in Settings → Firmware. It installs a correctly signed update right away, restarts (waiting up to 60 s if you're typing), and runs the new firmware on Probation. If the new firmware crashes, or can't reconnect Wi-Fi within 3 minutes, it rolls back to the previous one and says so.

To install from the SD card instead, copy the .ota file from .pio/build/cardputer-adv/ into /updates on the card, then use Settings → Firmware. With the Cardputer on USB, the card can stay in: scripts/sd_put.sh <file.ota> sends it over the serial console into /updates (about 30 s for 1.6 MB, checked with SHA-256 before it's renamed into place; SD_PUT_DEBUG=1 shows the console while it runs).

The private key lives in ~/.config/roro9stack/ota-key.pem and must never be committed. If it's lost, generate a new pair and flash once over USB.

Networks without DHCP

Each Saved Network gets its address automatically (DHCP) or has a Fixed one (docs/milestones/S1.md): in Settings > Wi-Fi, Enter on a network opens its page, where "IP address" switches between Automatic and Fixed, with an address, a prefix length (24 is 255.255.255.0) and an optional gateway. Switching to Fixed starts from what the network is giving the device at that moment. The setting is checked and applied when you leave the page. IPv4 only.

"DNS and NTP" on the same screen holds two DNS servers (9.9.9.9 and 1.1.1.1 by default), used on Fixed networks, or on every network with "Always use my DNS"; and two NTP servers (pool.ntp.org and time.cloudflare.com), used after any the network's DHCP offers. Enter on "Status" shows what's in use and where each value came from.

System

The System App (docs/milestones/S1.md) shows what the device is doing, live and read-only, in any build. Tab moves between five views:

• Overview: each core's load, free memory, network traffic, battery, uptime and chip temperature, and both cores' load over the last two minutes.
• Tasks: every FreeRTOS task with its core, its share of a core over the last second, and the least stack it ever had left (in the warning colour under 512 bytes). s sorts by share, stack or name.
• Memory: free heap, the lowest since boot and the largest free block, with two minutes of free heap drawn against the three memory floors (55, 40 and 20 KB).
• Network: the connection, then for IRC, Gemini, the Debug Console and Firmware Updates the bytes read and written since boot and what's moving now. For TLS connections these are the bytes the service sees, without the encryption overhead.
• System: what info prints, plus the battery, the SD card with its write faults, the radio and the GNSS receiver.

It samples once a second and keeps its history only while it's open.

Gemini

The Gemini App browses Geminispace (docs/milestones/G1.md): Tab and Shift+Tab pick a link, Enter follows it, Back returns (to where the page was scrolled), Space pages down, g types an address. Certificates are trusted on first use; a changed one stops the page and asks.

On a page, b bookmarks it, s saves it to the SD card to read offline (a non-text file goes to /gemini/downloads/), S saves it with the pages it links to on the same capsule (up to 30). The start page lists bookmarks and Saved Pages; inside a Saved Page, r refreshes it and d deletes it. With a card, every page streams through /gemini/cache/ so a large one arrives whole even with IRC connected; what doesn't fit in memory stays on the card.

LoRa Scanner

The LoRa Scanner (docs/milestones/M3.md) listens with the Cap's radio and never transmits. The Sniffer lists what it hears, newest first: time, RSSI, SNR, and for Meshtastic packets the sender and receiver (their last 4 hex digits) and hops. Enter shows a packet's details: the Meshtastic header (which is never encrypted) and a hex dump. p picks one of the 7 Meshtastic presets allowed in EU868 (LongFast by default), c starts or stops a Capture: a pcap file with LoRaTap headers in /captures/lora/, for Wireshark. A Capture keeps recording with the App closed; otherwise the radio sleeps when the App isn't open. Tab switches to Sweep: the signal strength across 863–870 MHz in 100 kHz steps, as bars with peak hold and a waterfall, with the Sniffer's frequency marked; the Sniffer is paused meanwhile and picks up where it was. The GNSS receiver on the same Cap raises the radio's noise floor by 8 dB while it runs: Settings > "Pause GNSS for LoRa" (off by default) puts it in standby while the radio listens, except during a Track. The Status Bar shows L while the radio listens (bright for a moment on each packet), SW while sweeping, and CAP while capturing.

Storage

The Storage App (docs/milestones/F1.md) shows what's on the SD card: each folder's entries with their size and date, folders first. Enter opens a folder, Back goes up; s sorts by name, date or size. It works on one item at a time, with a clipboard:

Key	Does
c / x	Copies or cuts the selected file or folder; the footer shows what v would paste
v	Pastes it into the folder shown. A copy next to its original is named name (2).txt; anything in the way is asked about first
r	Renames
d	Deletes, after saying what's inside: "Delete saved and its 42 files (1.2 MB)?"
n	Makes a folder
i	Details: type, exact size, date, and why an item is read-only if it is

A copy runs in the background of the card (about 400 KB a second) in short turns, so Logs and Captures keep being written; it shows its progress, Back cancels it and takes back what was copied, and each file's size is checked afterwards. Three things can't be changed: the top-level folders the firmware keeps its files in (what's inside them can), /gemini/cache, and any file being written right now (today's IRC Logs, a Track or a Capture being recorded). The App says why when it refuses. A folder with more than 256 entries shows the first 256 by name and says so.

Enter on a file opens it by type; Tab switches to the same file as a hex dump or as text:

• Text (.txt, .log, .gmi, .csv, and anything that looks like text): only the screen's worth is read from the card, so a file of any size opens at once. Logs open at the end. Up and Down move a line, Left and Right a page, t and b go to the top and the end, e edits it (up to 16 KB, see Notes).
• Captures (.pcap): the packets as the LoRa Scanner lists them; Enter shows one with its Meshtastic header and bytes.
• Tracks (.gpx): the number of points, the start, the duration and the distance.
• Update Files (.ota): the version, and whether the file would install: it's checked as an install checks it (signature and contents) without writing anything. Enter then installs it.
• Anything else: a hex dump.

At the top of the card the last row, Maintenance (also m), holds the card's usage, Storage Clean-up and "Erase SD card", behind a warning: those delete for good. It replaces Settings > Storage.

Notes

The Notes App (docs/milestones/F1.md) keeps plain text notes in /notes on the SD card. The list shows each note's first line and its date, newest first; s switches to by file name. n starts a note, Enter opens one, r renames its file, d deletes it after asking.

In the editor, type. Enter starts a line, Del deletes backwards, Fn with the arrows moves the cursor through the wrapped text, Ctrl+A and Ctrl+E go to the start and the end of the line, Tab types two spaces, and the Compose Key gives accents as everywhere. There's no save key: the note is written five seconds after the last key, on Back, on leaving the App, when the screen turns off and before the device powers off. The top line says "typing" or "saved". Each save writes a temporary file and then puts it in the note's place, so a power cut costs a few seconds of typing and never the note; if a save was cut short, opening the note offers its copy back.

A new note has no file until something is typed; its file is then named after its first line (shopping-list.txt), or note-<date>-<time>.txt.

A note holds up to 16 KB while it's edited. A bigger text file opens read-only in the Storage App (editing any size is issue #47). The Storage App's text viewer has e to edit a file with the same editor, anywhere on the card, unless the file is read-only.

Development aids

scripts/serial_log.sh [seconds] [command…] records the serial output, and can send commands to the firmware first. For example, scripts/serial_log.sh 30 short sleep:12 burst sets short screen timeouts, waits 12 s, then sends a burst of Toasts.

Command	Effect
burst	Publishes 5 Notifications at once
key up|down|left|right|select|back|home, or key <char>	Injects a key press
sound on / sound off	Toggles the Sound setting (beep + LED)
short / normal	Screen timeouts 5 s / 10 s, or 30 s / 60 s
wifi add <ssid><TAB><password>	Adds a Saved Network (so credentials stay out of the repo)
wifi ip <ssid> dhcp / wifi ip <ssid> <address>/<prefix> [gateway]	A Saved Network's IP setting: Automatic, or Fixed. Debug Builds: add try <seconds> to go back to the previous setting unless wifi ip keep follows
wifi dns <a> [b] / wifi dns always on|off / wifi ntp <a> [b]	DNS servers (used on Fixed networks, or always), and NTP servers
log <text>	Appends a line to a test IRC Log (/irc/dev/#test/<date>.log)
sd card	What the SD card says it is: type, size, and its identity register (maker, name, revision, serial, date)
sd list	Lists the files of each Storage Clean-up category
sd fill <folder> <count>	Debug Builds: makes that many small files in a folder, to test a crowded one
cat <path>	Prints the first ~1.2 KB of a file on the SD card
irc start	Starts the IRC Service (normally done by opening the IRC App)
irc stop	Stops it, as /quit does: QUIT if connected, no more retries, and the App stays disconnected until you type
gemini get <url>	Fetches a Gemini page and prints its header, size, certificate fingerprint and heap use
gemini trust <host> <port> <sha256>	Pins a certificate by hand (the Gemini App asks when one changes)
irc say <buffer> <text>	Types into a Buffer, commands included (irc say 0 /join #test)
irc dump	Prints IRC status, memory, and the last lines of each Buffer
wifi status	Prints Wi-Fi state, network, signal, clock and free heap, then the address, gateway, DNS and NTP servers in use and where each came from
info	Firmware, uptime, last start reason, memory, Wi-Fi, the SD card and its write faults since boot, and both app slots with their versions and OTA states
tasks	FreeRTOS tasks over the next second: state, priority, lowest free stack, share of a core, each core's load, and how many passes the main loop made
net	Bytes each network service has read and written since boot
reboot / boot other	Restart, or restart into the other app slot (a manual Rollback)
log level <0-5>	ESP-IDF log level
ls [folder] / du <path>	Lists a folder of the SD card with sizes and dates, or counts the files and bytes under a path
cp [-f] <from> <to> / mv [-f] <from> <to> / rm <path> / mkdir <path> / cancel	What the Storage App does, with its rules: copy (folders too), move or rename, delete (a folder with what's in it), new folder. -f replaces a file that's in the way; a tab separates paths that hold spaces; cancel stops a copy or a delete
install <path>	Update from SD with that .ota file, as Settings → Firmware does
lora probe	Finds the radio: chip, oscillator, antenna switch, DIO1 interrupt, noise floor
lora status	Radio settings, who's listening, packet and error counters, noise floor, task stack
lora rx on / lora rx off	Listens and prints each packet on the console
lora preset <name> / lora custom <MHz> <BW kHz> <SF> <CR> <sync hex> [preamble]	Receive settings: a Meshtastic preset, or anything else (lora custom 868.1 125 7 5 34 8 for LoRaWAN)
lora capture start / lora capture stop	A LoRa Capture, as c in the App
lora sweep on [from MHz] [to MHz] [step kHz] / lora sweep off / lora sweep dump	Sweep a band (863 870 100 by default), with a summary every 2 s (floor, strongest, peaks), or print the latest pass
gnss quiet on / gnss quiet off	The "Pause GNSS for LoRa" setting
lora noise test [gnss|quiet] / lora noise report	Debug Builds: Sweep under one changed condition at a time to find what raises the noise floor (Wi-Fi goes off for a few seconds); then the result
lora inject <hex> [rssi] [snr]	Debug Builds: a packet into the Scanner as if received (nothing is sent)
crash	The last crash: which firmware, why, task, PC and backtrace (from the core dump in flash)
coredump erase	Forgets the core dump
loop spin on / loop spin off	Debug Builds: make the main loop spin without resting, to compare load and radio noise
crash abort / crash wdt	Debug Builds: crash on purpose, or hang the main loop until the watchdog fires
help	Lists the commands

scripts/flash.sh stops a running serial log first, since it would hold the port.

Debug Builds and the Debug Console

scripts/flash.sh --debug (USB) or scripts/flash.sh --debug --ota <ip> (Wi-Fi) installs a Debug Build: the same firmware plus the Debug Console on TCP 2323 (ADR 0004). Then, with RORO_OTA_HOST set to the device's IP:

scripts/rdbg.py                 # interactive: the console backlog, live lines, and commands
scripts/rdbg.py info            # one command and its reply
scripts/rdbg.py -b tasks        # the same, after the backlog (boot messages and so on)

Every command above works there too, plus a few handled by the PC side or the console's own task:

scripts/rdbg.py crash           # the last crash, its backtrace decoded against that exact build's ELF
scripts/rdbg.py coredump        # fetch the core dump and decode it all (registers, every task) with esp-coredump
scripts/rdbg.py reset           # restart at once, even if the main loop is stuck
scripts/rdbg.py screenshot      # the screen as a PNG (2x)
scripts/rdbg.py put <file> [card path]    # to the SD card (default /updates/<name>), SHA-256 checked, ~300 KB/s
scripts/rdbg.py get <card path> [file]    # from the SD card

So a Firmware Update can also go rdbg.py put roro9stack-….ota then rdbg.py install /updates/roro9stack-….ota: the Update from SD path, without touching the device.

Every build keeps its ELF in .pio/elves/ (version and digest in the name) for that; scripts/decode_backtrace.sh <version|digest> <addresses> decodes any backtrace by hand.

After 3 crash restarts in a row the firmware starts in Safe Mode (ADR 0005): only Wi-Fi, Firmware Updates and the Debug Console, so a fix can be pushed as usual. reboot leaves it. The token is in ~/.config/roro9stack/debug-token, made by the first build; keep developing on Debug Builds, so the firmware a Rollback returns to always has the console.