Release 0.9.4 dev.4

Release: 0.9.4
Build: 0.9.4-dev.4
Status: development / hardware qualification
Stable baseline: 0.9.3

Purpose

0.9.4-dev.4 is a diagnostic follow-up to the physically working Waveshare 0.9.4-dev.2 build. It keeps stable 0.9.3 as the behavioral baseline. The only runtime addition is temporary Waveshare onboard-audio diagnostics; protocol, renderer, media, automation, settings layout and buzzer semantics are unchanged.

The development baseline is now WLED 17.0.0-devV5, matching the WLED line already used for the other current iDotMatrix controller profiles.

Waveshare build profile

override    = overrides/waveshare-s3-hub75.ini
environment = waveshare
base env    = env:waveshare_esp32s3_32MB_hub75

The short waveshare environment name is intentional and is suitable for merging into the project's global platformio_override.ini alongside the other short board aliases.

The profile inherits the upstream Waveshare board definition, HUB75 pinout/backend, 32 MB flash layout/OTA policy, 16 MB octal PSRAM setup, ES8311 audio pins and SD-card flags. It adds the iDotMatrix 64x64 profile and NimBLE 2.5.1.

WLED devV5 SHTC3 dependency workaround

The first dev.1 build attempt stopped before compilation while PlatformIO was resolving the Waveshare custom Usermods. WLED 17.0.0-devV5 declares SHTC3_v2 using this form:

https://github.com/lost-hope/SHTC3_v2/commit/1f6e3fc7d6135b704aa41fadf09a36cbf6712834

That URL is a GitHub commit web page, not a cloneable repository URL. PlatformIO therefore invokes git clone on it and fails with repository ... not found.

Dev.3 avoids modifying the WLED checkout. Instead, the local waveshare environment reproduces the upstream Waveshare custom-usermod list and changes only SHTC3_v2 to the pinned cloneable form:

SHTC3_v2 = git+https://github.com/lost-hope/SHTC3_v2.git#1f6e3fc7d6135b704aa41fadf09a36cbf6712834

The following upstream functionality remains present:

• Internal_Temperature;
• pinned Waveshare-compatible AudioReactive Usermod;
• SHTC3_v2 at the same commit;
• iDotMatrix as an out-of-tree symlinked Usermod.

Hardware baseline

Before iDotMatrix, the physical board/panel combination was verified with the official WLED 16.0.1 Waveshare binary:

• Waveshare ESP32-S3-RGB-Matrix / ESP32-S3-N32R16;
• 32 MB flash;
• 16 MB PSRAM;
• one 64x64 HUB75 panel;
• HUB75 Half Scan;
• one panel, 1x1;
• full 4096-pixel output working correctly.

That result qualifies the board, panel and upstream Waveshare hardware path. The iDotMatrix 0.9.4-dev.4 WLED 17.0.0-devV5 build still requires compilation and physical qualification.

First gate

1. pio run -e waveshare completes.
2. Firmware boots and drives the complete 64x64 panel.
3. /json/info reports 32 MB flash and approximately 16 MB PSRAM.
4. iDotMatrix BLE advertises and connects to the original app.
5. Clock, TEXT, static image, GIF and Carousel work.
6. 16x16 and 32x32 logical profiles scale to the 64x64 physical matrix.
7. Native 64x64 operation works.
8. Reboot/persistence paths remain correct.

PSRAM/cache tuning and larger 128x64/128x128 physical layouts remain deferred until this gate passes.

Onboard-audio diagnostic gate

The Waveshare profile enables the iDotMatrix one-shot I2C probe only. About eight seconds after startup, serial output lists the devices already visible on WLED's shared SDA 47 / SCL 48 bus, then explicitly reports ES8311 @ 0x18 and ES7210 @ 0x40. /json/info exposes the same result as audioDiag=....

The diagnostic does not initialize or reconfigure the bus. Its purpose is to determine which codec path is physically present and to capture the pinned AudioReactive branch's own initialization messages before changing any audio implementation.