OTA Firmware update howto? about espixelstick

[forkineye]

It's not fully implemented yet. Right now, it only handles the compiled sketch binary, similar to the standard Arduino ESP8266 OTA stuff. I have a tool planned that'll combine the sketch and SPIFFS images into a single file for upload, but will be a few weeks before I can start on it.

[marcfon]

I understand. So as long as the code changes aren't related to data/www the firmware update should work just fine right?

[forkineye]

Yep, as long as you aren't changing the web handler interface stuff you'll be fine.

[marcfon]

Great! And according to esp8266/arduino-esp8266fs-plugin#4 the SPIFFS should support OTA network update straight from the Arduino IDE.

Not really a question about the firmware but if I would want to do light up some pixels on startup as a test sequence, would that be possible from within the current code? I guess I would need to create a data packet and push that to the pixels right?

[forkineye]

You could manually put data in the buffer if you want. It'll stay there until an incoming E1.31 stream overwrites it. I plan on adding testing functionality to the UI as well in the future, so you could use that for static lighting.

[marcfon]

Where could I look for a clue on how to put the right data in the buffer? Let's say I'd want to light the first led green or something like that. An alternative approach that I'm thinking of is just to use the adafruit neopixel library to achieve this... or would that be silly?

[forkineye]

Inside the main loop where is sets the value: https://github.com/forkineye/ESPixelStick/blob/master/ESPixelStick.ino#L535

Just call the following, it's in RGB order - pixels.setValue(address, value);
To light up max green for the first pixel - pixels.setValue(1, 255);
To light up max red for the second pixel - pixels.setValue(3, 255);

[marcfon]

Works just as advertised! Easy enough to light up pixels (channels). Thanks.

[forkineye]

OTA updates via web page implemented. It uses a custom format that combines the sketch and spiffs bins that I'll posting with each release. The included tool in the release allows you to build your own as well - 846858f