Offband offband-v1.0.0

First production-stable Offband release — companion, observer, and repeater roles
all working and hardware-verified. Built on the MeshCore 1.16.0 base.

Base

• MeshCore 1.16.0 base-update (#126) — the fork is rebased onto upstream MeshCore
  1.16.0, smoke-verified across all three active roles (Companion, Observer, Repeater)
  on Heltec V3/V4 + RAK3401.

Added

• RAK3401 (WisMesh 1W) GPS (#104) — the RAK12500 (u-blox ZOE-M8Q) I²C GPS now works
  in Slot D. Companion and repeater acquire a position fix. (Position only; the I²C
  path does not sync the clock.)
• Display always-on toggle (#141) — display always on keeps a USB/mains-powered
  observer's screen lit; display normal restores the 15 s timeout. Persists across
  reboots, applies immediately. Heltec V3, V4 OLED, V4 TFT observers.
• Display rotation (0/180) (#148) — display rotate 0/180 / display flip over the
  _sys channel; persists, applies immediately. Verified on the OLED observers
  (Heltec V3, V4 OLED). Displays without a verified rotation driver (the V4 TFT)
  report rotation not supported on this display rather than silently no-op'ing; TFT
  rotation is tracked separately.

Known issues

• Heltec V4 observer GPS position unverified (#149) — an attached UART GPS doesn't
  yet surface a position on the V4 observer (reads 0,0). Observer time (NTP/SNTP) and all
  other function are unaffected; GPS only adds the device's own map-position dot.

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Which file do I download?

File	What it is	When to use it
*-merged.bin (ESP32 — Heltec V3/V4, XIAO)	Full image — bootloader + partition table + app in one, flashed at 0x0 after a chip erase. Self-contained, works on a blank chip.	First install / clean setup. In a web flasher this is the "Full Firmware" option.
*.bin (ESP32)	App only — flashed at the app offset (0x10000); the bootloader must already be on the chip.	Updating an existing node — OTA / "Update Only." Keeps the device identity + WiFi/MQTT config.
*.uf2 (nRF52 — RAK, T-Echo, XIAO nRF52)	Complete self-contained image.	First install and updates — double-tap reset, then drag-drop onto the USB drive. (nRF52 has no merged/app split.)

⚠️ ESP32: the app-only *.bin will not boot if flashed at 0x0 — use *-merged.bin for a fresh install. A full erase / "Full Firmware" wipes the device's identity + saved config, so use it only for a first install or recovery, never a routine update.

What's Changed

• epic(#126): MeshCore 1.16.0 base-update (integration) by @Strycher in #134

Full Changelog: offband-v0.18.1...offband-v1.0.0