meshtastic/docs/getting-started/meshtastic-flasher.md
2022-03-14 15:12:45 -07:00

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meshtastic-flasher Using Meshtastic Flasher Using Meshtastic Flasher getting-started/clients

import Tabs from '@theme/Tabs'; import TabItem from '@theme/TabItem';

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 python3 is installed

Check python3 version

<Tabs groupId="operating-system" defaultValue="linux" values={[ {label: 'Linux', value: 'linux'}, {label: 'macOS', value: 'macos'}, {label: 'Windows', value: '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 python3

<Tabs groupId="operating-system" defaultValue="linux" values={[ {label: 'Linux', value: 'linux'}, {label: 'macOS', value: 'macos'}, {label: 'Windows', value: 'windows'}, ]}>

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install -y python3 python3-pip python3-venv

Install App

This is the preferred installation method for meshtastic-flasher.

<Tabs groupId="operating-system" defaultValue="linux" values={[ {label: 'Linux', value: 'linux'}, {label: 'macOS', value: 'macos'}, {label: 'Windows', value: '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

To install meshtastic-flasher, download Meshtastic-flasher.app.zip from https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-gui-installer/releases/tag/macapp1.0.0 , unzip and drag to /Applications.

To install meshtastic-flasher, download meshtastic-flasher.zip from https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-gui-installer/releases/tag/winapp1.0.2, unzip and run.

Install using pip

This option is typically for developers.

<Tabs groupId="operating-system" defaultValue="linux" values={[ {label: 'Linux', value: 'linux'}, {label: 'macOS', value: 'macos'}, {label: 'Windows', value: '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 to 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