Electronics

rBoot now supports Sming for ESP8266

9 Comments

Although it’s always been possible to use Sming compiled apps with rBoot it wasn’t easy. I’ve shared Makefiles and talked a few people through it previously on the esp8266.com forum, but now there is a new sample project on GitHub to help everyone do it.

The sample demonstrates:

  • Compiling a basic app (similar to the rBoot sample for the regular sdk).
  • Big flash support, allowing up to 4 roms each up to 1mb in size on an ESP12.
  • Over-the-air (OTA) updates.
  • Spiffs support, with a different filesystem per app rom.

Spiffs support depends on a patch to Sming, for which there is a pull request pending to have it included properly. Probably the most common way I envisage this being used is a pair of app roms (to allow for easy OTA updates ) with a separate spiffs file system each, but rBoot is flexible enough to let you lay out your flash however you want to.

Suggested layout for 4mb flash:

0x000000 rboot
0x001000 rboot config
0x002000 rom0
0x100000 spiffs0
0x1fc000 (4 unused sectors*)
0x200000 (2 unused sectors†)
0x202000 rom1
0x300000 spiffs1
0x3fc000 sdk config (last 4 sectors)

* The small unused section at the top of the second mb means the same size spiffs can be used for spiffs0 and spiffs1. The top of the fourth mb (where spiffs1 sits) is reserved for the sdk to store config.
† The small unused section at the start of the third mb mirrors the space used by rBoot at the start of the first mb. This means only one rom needs to be produced, that can be used in either slot, because it will be of the same size and have the same linker rom address.

9 thoughts on “rBoot now supports Sming for ESP8266”

  1. I’m messing with ESP8266 stuff. Specifically a Sonoff basic device. I’m trying to downgrade to a previous version of their firmware. I have two devices on the previous firmware and four that OTA upgraded before I realized the “feature” that I want to avoid. I’ve done comparisons between the two bin files of the previous versions and also compared two bin of the later versions and have attempted to try and plug in the later version stuff into the previous version. I uploaded the previous version and looking at the serial out it seems to just boot loop:

    rll⸮⸮|⸮l⸮|⸮l⸮b|⸮⸮⸮⸮r⸮blb⸮⸮nn⸮lnn⸮⸮⸮bp⸮⸮lrlrlp⸮n⸮⸮lbn⸮|⸮⸮b⸮⸮nn⸮l⸮⸮l`⸮nnl`nr⸮⸮⸮n⸮⸮l`p⸮n⸮r⸮⸮⸮⸮⸮bn⸮|쎎⸮b⸮⸮nn⸮l`⸮nnl`nr⸮⸮⸮n⸮lp⸮n⸮r⸮⸮⸮⸮⸮⸮lbn⸮|⸮⸮⸮b⸮⸮nn⸮l`⸮nnl`nr⸮⸮⸮n⸮l`r⸮⸮n⸮l`rl⸮⸮n⸮⸮⸮nn⸮⸮⸮⸮rnnn⸮l⸮b⸮l⸮⸮l⸮⸮⸮⸮⸮⸮lll~rl⸮⸮llln⸮⸮⸮⸮l⸮⸮⸮`⸮⸮l⸮⸮n⸮⸮n⸮n~⸮⸮ll⸮⸮bllpb⸮br⸮⸮⸮l`nl⸮p⸮⸮l`bl`l⸮⸮n⸮n⸮⸮⸮nl⸮|bll`rl⸮⸮⸮⸮n⸮r⸮⸮n|⸮⸮l⸮prl⸮⸮r⸮l⸮l⸮l`⸮⸮r⸮l⸮l⸮l`⸮⸮r⸮l⸮⸮⸮ll`⸮⸮⸮n⸮⸮nlrl⸮⸮⸮
    ets Jan 8 2013,rst cause:1, boot mode:(3,6)

    load 0x40100000, len 2408, room 16
    tail 8
    chksum 0xe5
    load 0x3ffe8000, len 776, room 0
    tail 8
    chksum 0x84
    load 0x3ffe8310, len 632, room 0
    tail 8
    chksum 0xd8
    csum 0xd8

    2nd boot version : 1.6
    SPI Speed : 40MHz
    SPI Mode : DOUT
    SPI Flash Size & Map: 8Mbit(512KB+512KB)
    jump to run user1 @ 1000

    ⸮⸮⸮⸮n⸮r⸮⸮n|⸮⸮l⸮prl⸮⸮r⸮l⸮l
    ets Jan 8 2013,rst cause:1, boot mode:(3,6)

    load 0x40100000, len 2408, room 16
    tail 8
    chksum 0xe5
    load 0x3ffe8000, len 776, room 0
    tail 8
    chksum 0x84
    load 0x3ffe8310, len 632, room 0
    tail 8
    chksum 0xd8
    csum 0xd8

    2nd boot version : 1.6
    SPI Speed : 40MHz
    SPI Mode : DOUT
    SPI Flash Size & Map: 8Mbit(512KB+512KB)
    jump to run user1 @ 1000

    If you have any feedback on this, I’d appreciate it.

    Thanks,
    David

    1. Yes in theory, it’s just an ide using the espressif supplied sdk. However I’ve not done it myself so I don’t know if it’s as easy as it should be. If arduino ide hides away a common set of build scripts then you’d need to find them and tweak them. But if all the makefile stuff is in the project in the normal way then you should just be able to import the rboot-sample from github and build it from within the ide. I’m afraid you’d have to have a play, but if you get it sorted and can provide feedback that’d be great.

  3. Pingback: ESP8266 - Sming 개발환경 만들기 (아두이노 스타일 Eclipse C/C++ 개발환경) | Hard Copy Arduino

  4. It is not clear to me whether rom0 can span a 1MB boundary, e.g. rom0 has size 1MB and starts at 0x002000, ending at 0x101fff. If so, can rom1 be of same size (1MB) and start at 0x102000? Would this require rom1 and rom2 to be different (linked with different relative locations)?

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