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Installing on ESP32

The easiest way to install on the ESP32 is using the webinstaller, of course.

But if you need to install a version that's not available there, or you built your own, then you can manually install it on an ESP32 device.

  1. Get the firmware

    • Download a release binary (e.g., MicroPythonOS_esp32_0.5.0.bin)
    • Or build your own on MacOS or Linux

  2. Put the ESP32 in Bootloader Mode

    If you're already in MicroPythonOS: go to Settings - Restart to Bootloader - Bootloader - Save.

    Otherwise, physically keep the "BOOT" (sometimes labeled "START") button pressed while powering up the board. This is explained in more detail at the webinstaller

  3. Flash the firmware

    ~/.espressif/python_env/idf5.2_py3.9_env/bin/python -m esptool --chip esp32s3 write_flash 0 firmware_file.bin

    Add the --erase-all option if you want to erase the entire flash memory, so that no old files or apps will remain.

    There's also a convenient ./scripts/flash_over_usb.sh script that will attempt to flash the latest firmware that you compiled yourself.

  4. Access the MicroPython REPL shell

    After reset, the REPL shell should be available on the serial line.

    Any serial client will do, but it's convenient to use the mpremote.py tool that's shipped with lvgl_micropython:

    lvgl_micropython/lib/micropython/tools/mpremote/mpremote.py

  5. Populate the filesystem (only for development)

    In development, you probably want to override the "frozen" libraries and apps that are compiled in, and replace them with source files, which you can edit.

    There's a convenient script that will do this for you.

    Usage:

    ./scripts/install.sh

    Example:

    ./scripts/install.sh

Notes