Linux

This is written for debian, raspian or ubuntu. You'll have to make the usual adjustments if you're using something else.

Update your OS

First, update and upgrade your OS

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

Access to USB Serial

Add your user to the dialout group, change $USER to your user name. This allows your user to access the USB serial device.

sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER

You'll need to logout and back in again.

Flash the companion

Note

If you've already flashed your companion with the MeshCore firmware you can skip this step.

Important

Make sure you flash with "Companion USB" not "Companion Bluetooth"

Note

TODO find out how to do this on the CLI

Install needed software

Install pipx, make sure the bin dir is in the path, then install meshcore-cli

sudo apt install pipx
pipx ensurepath
pipx install meshcore-cli

Logout and back in again.

Find the USB device

meshcli -l

Output probably looks like this, you'll want to use the USB one:

BLE devices:
 No BLE HW

Serial ports:
 /dev/ttyS0         n/a [n/a]
 /dev/ttyUSB0       CP2102 USB to UART Bridge Controller - CP2102 USB to UART Bridge Controller [USB VID:PID=10C4:EA60 SER=0001 LOCATION=1-1]

Start MeshCLI

meshcli -s /dev/ttyUSB0

Configure node

Do basic companion configuration. You should only need to do this once, unless you want to change these settings:

set radio 915.800,250,11,5
set name "🦷 dave test"
quit