Dragonfly firmware for Pycom/ESP32

[Andreas]

Please note: If you are looking for more recent releases based on Pycom’s 1.20.2.rc3 and 1.20.2.rc6 complemented with additional features, you might want to follow up at Squirrel firmware for Pycom/ESP32.

Introduction

We’ve built upon many aspects researched within Investigating random core panics on Pycom/ESP32 devices and will follow up on this with an extensive report and an attempt to mainline this ASAP, as soon as we are able to confirm it will really make things more robust. In all other cases, this is just us fantasizing about possible improvements.

For now, we would like to get this into the hands of more people and will be happy about any feedback.

Thanks already!

– Inofficial firmware images for Pycom devices

About

The firmware images referenced within this post are all based on Pycom’s 1.20.1.r1. On top of that, these builds also include noteworthy patches from the community you might enjoy.

• Mitigations against random memory corruption errors and core panics.
  This has been researched within Random memory corruption faults on ESP32-WROVER rev.1 and rev.2 when running in dual-core mode and Investigating random core panics on Pycom/ESP32 devices.

• Mitigations against random file system corruption and core panics, mostly when using LittleFS or FTP.
  Fix core panics: Don't use m_malloc and gc_malloc unintended by amotl · Pull Request #418 · pycom/pycom-micropython-sigfox · GitHub

• Improved 1-Wire support
  Support modonewire from vanilla MicroPython by amotl · Pull Request #356 · pycom/pycom-micropython-sigfox · GitHub

• I2S support
  Add I2S support by amotl · Pull Request #368 · pycom/pycom-micropython-sigfox · GitHub

Vanilla firmware images

These images called VERSION-BUILD-vanilla-dragonfly are inofficial firmware images for testing built with VARIANT=BASE. They are available from https://packages.hiveeyes.org/hiveeyes/foss/pycom/vanilla/. The most recent releases are:

• FiPy-1.20.1.r1-0.7.0-vanilla-dragonfly-onewire-i2s.tar.gz
• GPy-1.20.1.r1-0.7.0-vanilla-dragonfly-onewire-i2s.tar.gz
• LoPy-1.20.1.r1-0.7.0-vanilla-dragonfly-onewire-i2s.tar.gz
• LoPy4-1.20.1.r1-0.7.0-vanilla-dragonfly-onewire-i2s.tar.gz
• SiPy-1.20.1.r1-0.7.0-vanilla-dragonfly-onewire-i2s.tar.gz
• WiPy-1.20.1.r1-0.7.0-vanilla-dragonfly-onewire-i2s.tar.gz

Pybytes firmware images

These images called VERSION-BUILD-pybytes-dragonfly are inofficial firmware images for testing, built with VARIANT=PYBYTES. They are available from Index of /hiveeyes/foss/pycom/pybytes/. The most recent releases are:

• FiPy-1.20.1.r1-0.6.0-pybytes-dragonfly.tar.gz
• GPy-1.20.1.r1-0.6.0-pybytes-dragonfly.tar.gz
• LoPy-1.20.1.r1-0.6.0-pybytes-dragonfly.tar.gz
• LoPy4-1.20.1.r1-0.6.0-pybytes-dragonfly.tar.gz
• SiPy-1.20.1.r1-0.6.0-pybytes-dragonfly.tar.gz
• WiPy-1.20.1.r1-0.6.0-pybytes-dragonfly.tar.gz

Installation instructions

Please be aware that when upgrading from a lower firmware version to the current 1.20.1.r1 development release these builds are based upon, you will have to erase your device completely before flashing in order to keep things straight ^[1]. Hint: Use a command like ^[2]

Linux/macOS

pycom-fwtool-cli --port /dev/ttyUSB0 erase_all
pycom-fwtool-cli --port /dev/ttyUSB0 flash --tar FiPy-1.20.1.r1-0.6.0-pybytes-dragonfly.tar.gz

Windows

On Windows, the invocation would be slightly the same. Just adjust the --port setting appropriately.

pycom-fwtool-cli.exe --verbose --port COM11 erase_all
pycom-fwtool-cli.exe --verbose --port COM11 flash --tar FiPy-1.20.1.r1-0.6.0-pybytes-dragonfly.tar.gz

Notes for LoPy, LoPy4, SiPy and FiPy devices

Please also be aware that this procedure will also erase the LoRa MAC as well as the Sigfox ID and PAC identifiers stored on the device. @robert-hh thankfully outlined the procedure to restore it appropriately:

@robert-hh

If you still know the value the LoraMac had before, then you can follow the procedure explained at Lora-Mac=‎FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF | Pycom user forum.

If you do not know it, you will have to use the Pycom updater to restore it:

• First, use the Pycom updater (GUI version) to install a recent image (like pybytes 1.20.1) from the Internet. You do not have to use it, the installation process itself already restores both the LoRa MAC and the Sigfox ID.
• Then, use the Pycom updater to flash the custom image. Do not erase the flash in between.

---

1. Installing the recent Pycom Firmware 1.20.1.r1 requires erasing the flash memory completely ↩︎

2. • On Windows, the program installation location will be
     c:\Program Files (x86)\Pycom\Pycom Firmware Update.

   • On macOS, it is
     /Applications/Pycom Firmware Update.app/Contents/Resources/pycom-fwtool-cli.

   ↩︎

[Andreas]

It looks like it actually might have helped some people out there. Thanks for the feedback!

Guru Meditation Error on wlan.deinit()

[clemens]

I have installed a Dragonfly build for FiPy and manually populated the device with both the Hiveeyes firmware and the BOB firmware, however without having attached any sensors for now. With both firmwares, I did not observe any core panics / Guru meditation errors during a short time of testing.

Also, I did not observe any broken upload through Atom/Pymakr so far. I was able to download the whole large Hiveeyes firmware from the board to the local computer without any issues.

Only thing what is not working: From a running FiPy device a newly initiated upload does not work. You will have to stop the running program first – what works not always – but this was the case before also.

Uploading the Hiveeyes firmware via Atom was – again – not possible on a first attempt. I’ve still seen messages like that:

[17/65] Writing file dist-packages/microWebSocket.py (11kb)
[18/65] Writing file dist-packages/microWebSrv.py (35kb)
Failed to write file, trying again...
Failed to write file, trying again...
Failed to write file: no module named 'logger
[19/65] Writing file dist-packages/microWebTemplate.py (13kb)
Failed to write file, trying again...
Failed to write file, trying again...
Failed to write file: no module named 'logger
[20/65] Writing file dist-packages/mqtt.py (6kb)
Failed to write file, trying again...

However, the process succeeded on a second attempt after pressing the upload button in Atom.

[Andreas]

We just heard back from @wtf that

@wtf

flashing the firmware image and getting things running was quite flawless with your release and notes on it!

@Andreas

Also, the C-level 1-Wire/DS18X20 driver just unlocked through Support modonewire from vanilla MicroPython by amotl · Pull Request #356 · pycom/pycom-micropython-sigfox · GitHub worked perfectly for him.

@wtf is using Annapurna firmware images for Pycom/ESP32, which essentially builds upon Dragonfly.

Pictures

[Andreas]

@Andreas

After @Thias also reported about these core panics at Unlocking LoRaWAN / TTN for the Terkin Datalogger, we reported these findings upstream to Firmware Release v1.20.1 | Pycom user forum.

@Thias just told me he didn’t observe any crashes when using the Dragonfly builds. Thanks for letting us know!

@Thias

In my setup I am using the current Terkin-Datalogger version from the master branch in LoRaWAN mode, sending payloads every 5 minutes. I’ve not seen any crashes since I put the LoPy4-1.20.1.r1-0.7.0-vanilla-dragonfly-onewire firmware onto the device a couple of weeks ago. Everything works as expected and is super stable.

[Andreas]

@sita also had troubles with a program running on a LoPy4 device using one of the original firmwares. Running the same on the Dragonfly firmware seems to work though.

@sita

I am getting [core panics] in receiver side [when communicating over LoRa]. I have tried updating the firmware but no change, even for simple basic data transmission also getting the error.

Guru Meditation Error: Core 1 panic'ed (InstrFetchProhibited).
Exception was unhandled.

@sita

[After installing the vanilla Dragonfly build] it is working fine, data also receiving now. :)

Guru Meditation Error

[Andreas]

We also heard back from @wtf that the C-level 1-Wire/DS18X20 driver unlocked through Support modonewire from vanilla MicroPython by amotl · Pull Request #356 · pycom/pycom-micropython-sigfox · GitHub the other day worked perfectly for him when using the Annapurna firmware for Pycom/ESP32 derivate of Dragonfly.

He invoked the Terkin Datalogger with six DS18B20 sensors attached.

Thanks for the report, @wtf!

[Andreas]

thibault also reported on the Pycom forum about core panics the other day:

@thibault

Guru Meditation Error: Core  1 panic'ed (LoadProhibited). Exception was unhandled.

The core panic come always when we search to send a data through the lora socket (send() function of the socket).

The Dragonfly builds have also been helpful to them:

@thibault

I have use the DragonFly firmware to run our code without the LoadProhibited core panic.

Thanks for letting us know!

---

https://forum.pycom.io/topic/5426/safe-boot-whereas-p12-is-connected-to-ground-through-resistor

[Andreas]

We moved on to Pycom Firmware Release 1.20.2 and started providing corresponding firmware images outlined within Squirrel firmware for Pycom/ESP32.

[didilamken]

Ich wollte das Loggen auf SD-Karte näher untersuchen und habe die BOB-Software (FiPy-master), die seit Monaten auf einem FiPy mit
1.20.1.r1-0.7.0-vanilla-dragonfly-onwire 2019-11-17 gut läuft auf einem zweiten Fipy mit neuem
1.20.2.rc10 2020-06-26 geflasht.
Jetzt gibt es den Fehler “_onewire” not defined oder ähnlich und das Programm stürzt ab.
Wenn ich auf die alte Firmware 1.20.1.r1-0.7.0-vanilla-dragonfly-onwire 2019-11-17 zurück gehe, läuft alles.
Kann mir jemand die Feinheiten der Firmware-Versionen erklären?

[Andreas]

Hi Didi,

@didilamken

Kann mir jemand die Feinheiten der Firmware-Versionen erklären?

Gern.

@didilamken

Jetzt gibt es den Fehler “_onewire” not defined oder ähnlich und das Programm stürzt ab.

Pycom hat unseren Beitrag Support modonewire from vanilla MicroPython by amotl · Pull Request #356 · pycom/pycom-micropython-sigfox · GitHub leider noch nicht in den Mainline übernommen. Daher gibt es diese Erweiterung bis auf weiteres nur in unseren eigenen Builds.

Du kannst die Dragonfly Builds verwenden, oder auch deren Nachfolger Squirrel firmware for Pycom/ESP32, welche immerhin auf Pycom’s 1.20.2.rc6 aufbauen.

Viele Grüße,
Andreas.