ESPixelStick v4.0-beta5

First of all, I’d like to thank @MartinMueller2003 for all the hard work he’s put into this project over the past couple of years. Numerous fixes have occurred since beta4, most notably web frontend stability (websockets removed) and FPP / xLights compatibility and synchronization. You will need to be on a current release of xLights in order for input/output uploading to work. MacOS libraries for the flash tool have been updated as well, but you will still have to execute the flash tool from the command line and jump through Apple's security hoops to allow mklittlefs to run. Numerous 3rd party ESP32 platforms have been added for those that like to roll their own controllers.

What's Changed

• Refactored GPIO_Defs by @MartinMueller2003 in #412
• Temporary change to avoid SD card hang while reading in ticker handler. by @MartinMueller2003 in #414
• Fixed ESP32 crash reading SD card by @MartinMueller2003 in #416
• Significant reduction in the number of sync adjustments needed. by @MartinMueller2003 in #417
• Fixed issue that shut down 2nd RMT channel after a few frames. by @MartinMueller2003 in #420
• More refactoring for multi platform support by @MartinMueller2003 in #421
• Made max Pixel and Max Channel counts platform sensitive. by @MartinMueller2003 in #428
• Fixed Rainbow functionality by @MartinMueller2003 in #431
• Fixed PWM invert issue by @MartinMueller2003 in #436
• Fixed RMT frame corruption issue due to interactions with the UART. by @MartinMueller2003 in #444
• Added ability to put network config into a file on the SD card. by @MartinMueller2003 in #445
• Added ability to display last file play error on the UI in advanced mode. by @MartinMueller2003 in #447
• Network Manager and WiFi Power Update. by @MartinMueller2003 in #460
• ESP32 Core 2.0.2 Upgrade by @MartinMueller2003 in #462
• Added MH ET Live MiniKit to the support platform list by @MartinMueller2003 in #466
• Fixed error in determining the max number of universes to support by @MartinMueller2003 in #467
• More tweaks for the Ethernet UI Advanced functionality by @MartinMueller2003 in #468
• Partition changes to enable full featured ESP32 build by @MartinMueller2003 in #469
• Fixed Poor performance on ESP32 by @MartinMueller2003 in #473
• Cleaned up UI <->FS path to not include any string operations. by @MartinMueller2003 in #482
• Added QuinLED platforms to the Auto Build lists by @MartinMueller2003 in #485
• Changes to vscode scripts by @MartinMueller2003 in #490
• Restored ISR processing. Fixes truncated frames. by @MartinMueller2003 in #491
• Stopped crashes on servo init by @MartinMueller2003 in #496
• Added Generic Serial, Renard and DMX to the RMT outputs by @MartinMueller2003 in #508
• Fixed the IRAM issue by @MartinMueller2003 in #509
• QuinLED Quad outputs update by @henrygab in #511
• Bump minimist from 1.2.5 to 1.2.6 by @dependabot in #512
• Fixed data width conversion and add HTTP Reboot. by @MartinMueller2003 in #514
• Fixed configuration failures on platforms that do not have SD defined. by @MartinMueller2003 in #519
• Security fixes, build-break fix, and best-practices fixes by @henrygab in #523
• Major restructure of the UART support functionality by @MartinMueller2003 in #522
• Fixed missing ESP32 start uart isr caused by adding the timer support for ESP8266 by @MartinMueller2003 in #525
• Bug fixes, Refactoring and new platform by @MartinMueller2003 in #528
• Fixed error in configuring the WS2811 RMT bit table resulting in a reboot by @MartinMueller2003 in #531
• Remove use of sprintf() (unsafe API) by @henrygab in #532
• Fixes to make the system more stable and easier to maintain. by @MartinMueller2003 in #535
• Fixed in the latest ESP8266 dev-platform by @ivankravets in #537
• Add support for m5stack atom boards by @bramoosterhuis in #541
• Added configurable "Blank" value support to the PWM driver by @MartinMueller2003 in #544
• Workaround for ESP8266 UI not connecting by @MartinMueller2003 in #547
• Enhancement to the PWM output driver to use a "home" position when a servo output is set to zero. by @MartinMueller2003 in #550
• Fixed Port 8 config on Dig-Octa platform by @MartinMueller2003 in #558
• Fixed RMT flicker and stutter when 8 ports are configured by @MartinMueller2003 in #560
• Fixed issue that built the UNO as an UNO AE+ and the AE+ as an UNO by @MartinMueller2003 in #565
• Fixed bug that routed fseq channel data around zigzag and group pixel processing by @MartinMueller2003 in #572
• Fix data corruption issue for DMX on RMT based ports. by @MartinMueller2003 in #576
• Workaround for an issue when using RMT0 by @MartinMueller2003 in #577
• Add Olimex ESP32 Gateway by @NickSchaf in #583
• New effect and a crash fix by @MartinMueller2003 in #602
• Improved ISR time by 9% and fixed some bugs by @MartinMueller2003 in #610
• Fixed issue that did not always set the output properly by @MartinMueller2003 in #611
• Updates DDP from 2017-07-25 to 2022-09-05 by @mores in #616
• Fix flickering when 8 RMT channels are running by @MartinMueller2003 in #623
• Multiple fixes for channel stalling issues by @MartinMueller2003 in #625
• Fixed crashes in ESP32 CAM by @MartinMueller2003 in #626
• Bump decode-uri-component from 0.2.0 to 0.2.2 by @dependabot in #598
• Added Marquee and Random Flash support. by @MartinMueller2003 in #632
• Added new button support and Marquee effect by @MartinMueller2003 in #635
• Fixed AP Reboot checkbox handling on UI by @MartinMueller2003 in #639
• Bug fixes for large configs. by @MartinMueller2003 in #640
• Update FPP discovery to work better with FPP7 and xLights 2023.* by @dkulp in #642
• Fix side effects ot latest IDF changes. by @MartinMueller2003 in #645
• Reduced RAM usage to make the UI more stable. by @MartinMueller2003 in #646
• Fixed HTTP Path to config files by @MartinMueller2003 in #647
• Fixed Ethernet not reliable issue by @MartinMueller2003 in #648
• Fixed a race condition in output config processing that causes a crash while processing the config file. by @MartinMueller2003 in #652
• Bump word-wrap from 1.2.3 to 1.2.4 by @dependabot in #641
• Fixed memory leak by @MartinMueller2003 in #668
• Fixed a small memory leak by @MartinMueller2003 in #672
• Remote play updates by @MartinMueller2003 in #680
• Fixed config download issue for 8 port implementations. by @MartinMueller2003 in #681
• Fixed FPP related memory leak by @MartinMueller2003 in #683
• Fixed device config values cant be changed by @MartinMueller2003 in #686
• Fixed crash in input processing ...

ESPixelStick v4.0-beta4

This release mainly addresses stability and FPP Remote synchronization. Please create an Issue for any problems you may find or use the Discussions section for any questions you may have.

Changes since 4.0-beta3

• Moved FPP Remote to secondary input Issue #388
• Added option to change E1.31 port number Issue #320
• Display SD card stats on file management page Issue #399
• Fixed issue not being able to use GPIO0 as a relay pin Issue #375
• FPP multisync improvements
• Increased ESP8266 pixel limit to 1200 pixels
• Fixed issue with installing from 32bit Windows systems
• Added ESP32-CAM build environment and binaries
• Added PWM support for relays
• Added factory reset confirmation dialog
• Added RF calibration at boot and maximum TX limits to ESP8266
• Switched LWIP2 build configuration to "High Bandwidth, No Features"
• Switched to "yubox" fork of ESPAsnycWebserver

Change details

• Delayed Device and Network config so they do not happen in Web Event Context by @MartinMueller2003 in #379
• Removed code that prevented GPIO 0 From being used as a relay port. by @MartinMueller2003 in #381
• Resolve incomplete config saved to FS after upload from flash utility by @MartinMueller2003 in #383
• Made FPP Remote a secondary input operation to allow E1.31 or DDP to be used at the same time. by @MartinMueller2003 in #391
• Restored sending system config when device config is requested. by @MartinMueller2003 in #393
• Fixed channel ID in the file player definition that caused an incorrect blank timer to get started. by @MartinMueller2003 in #394
• Added WDT feeds to reduce HW WDT crashes. by @MartinMueller2003 in #395
• Refactored FPP Remote time processing by @MartinMueller2003 in #396
• Fixed issue with blanking caused by the introduction of async timer polling by @MartinMueller2003 in #397
• Remove Build date from FPP Ping and DDP responses. by @MartinMueller2003 in #401
• Added SD card statistics to the File Admin page. by @MartinMueller2003 in #402
• Removed string usage from status response message generation by @MartinMueller2003 in #403
• Cleanup of XJ web message response creation by @MartinMueller2003 in #406
• Converted FPP File Player to use the elapsed time field instead of the frameid filed in the sync status message. This allows us to have a different frame rate than the master. by @MartinMueller2003 in #407
• Adds Relay PWM support by @garymueller in #376
• Fixed end of sequence reporting to cause sequence to properly stop. by @MartinMueller2003 in #411

New Contributors

• @garymueller made their first contribution in #376

Full Changelog: v4.0-beta3...v4.0-beta4

ESPixelStick 4.0-beta3

This release mainly addresses some issues related to FPP Remote mode and FSEQ playback. Please create an Issue for any problems you may find or use the Discussions section for any questions you may have.

Changes since 4.0-beta2

• Fixed FSEQ playback for sparse files Issues #367
• Fixed refresh rate display Issue #371
• Added FSEQ validation for channel and sparse range counts
• Stop output on FPP Connect file upload
• Blank output when FPP Remote configuration is changed
• Fixed files not showing for FPP Remote when tab is refreshed
• More serial logging cleanup

ESPixelStick 4.0-beta2

Please create an Issue for any problems you may find or use the Discussions section for any questions you may have.

Changes since 4.0-beta1

• Fixed issue saving when hostname defined in ESPSFlashTool Issue #360
• Websocket stability fixes
• FPP / fseq processing fixes
• Fixed hostname issue for ESP8266
• Fixed cfgver not valid issue
• Added project links to Admin page
• More serial logging cleanup
• Switch back to X.Y versioning

4.0-beta1

The is the initial beta release of the ESPixelStick 4.0 firmware, previously known as the "Unify" branch. I would like to thank everyone for the contributions they've made over the past year and especially @MartinMueller2003 for the work he's put in. A lot of work and testing has went into this, and we look forward to your feedback. Please create an Issue for any problems you may find or use the Discussions section for any questions you may have.

Changes since 3.2

• Compiled against Arduino Core 3.0.2 for ESP8266 platform.
• Compiled against Arduino Core 2.0.0 for ESP32 platform.
• ESP-01 modules are no longer supported. Version 4.0 requires 4MB of flash and ESP-01 modules only have 1MB of flash. For the ESPixelStick V1 or V2, 3.2 is the latest version you can load.
• Requires local upload to controller. OTA update from 3.x via EFU is not supported due to the new flash layout. Upgrades to future 4.x versions from 4.0.0 final however will be supported.
• Complete refactor of the code to allow easier implementation of extensions.
• Pixel and Serial code has been unified and all output modes are now selectable at runtime.
• Added support for the ESP32 platform.
• Added Artnet support.
• Added Alexa support.
• Added SD card support.
• Added FPP remote support (requires board with SD card support).
• Added Relay output support (8 channels, DIY hardware solution with GPIO mapping).
• Added PCA9685 Servo output support (16 channels, requires PCA9685 module).
• Added WS2801 support (ESP32 only)
• Added APA-102 support (ESP32 only)

ESPixelStick v3.2 Firmware

Important Note for ESPixelStick V1 / V2 and other ESP-01 based boards:
You must manually reset the board to see serial output in ESPSFlashTool after flashing. This does not apply to ESPIxelStick V3.

This release mainly addresses flashing issues on newer releases of MacOS. The included binary flash utility now utilizes the Python based esptool.py script for flashing. A portable Python binary for Windows is included in the release, so don't worry about that. This release is also compiled against the 2.7.4 Arduino Core. Our efforts have been focused getting on Unify (4.0) ready so that pretty much wraps this up.
Enjoy!

ESPixelStick v3.1 Firmware

This release wraps up the 3.1 development efforts. You can upgrade from 3.0 using the EFU files included in the release archive, however if you're on one of the newer Travis dev builds, it'll probably fail. This is due to changes that have occurred in the way SPIFFS (the internal file system we use) is handled by the Arduino ESP8266 core. This release also updates ESPSFlashTool to support the new ESPixelStick v3.0 hardware which is Wemos based. That means If you're on a NodeMCU or Wemos board, you no longer have to manually enter flash mode. Enjoy!

ESPixelStick v3.0 Firmware

This release wraps up 3.0 fixing a few minor issues. A full list of changes are in the changelog. Pre-compiled binaries along with a java based flash tool are included in the zip.

ESPixelStick v3.0-rc3 Firmware

This release addresses an IGMP issue found in the ESP8266 Arduino core (lwip). The binaries included have been compiled against this fix - esp8266/Arduino#3499.

ESPixelStick v3.0-rc2 Firmware

This is a release candidate for version 3.0 of the ESPixelStick firmware. It fixes some multicast issues and adds universe boundary configuration.

ESPixelStick v3.0-rc1 Firmware

This is a release candidate for version 3.0 of the ESPixelStick firmware, fixing some minor issues found in the dev1 release.