Flashing Circuitpython to ESP32 without native USB

[bborncr]

Starting in October, CircuitPython 8 supports ESP32 boards that don't appear as a Mass Storage Device. The Feather Huzzah32 is an example of this. Manually, the CircuitPython firmware can be installed using espytool at address 0x0000.

Any suggestions on how/where flashing CircuitPython for these boards could be added?

Currently, the CircuitPython plugin only installs firmware using Mass Storage and the Micropython ESP32 flasher installs at 0x1000 and can't be changed as far as I can tell.

Thanks so much for Thonny!

[aivarannamaa]

At the moment you can do this by selecting "MicroPython (ESP32)" interpreter and using its "Install MicroPython" tool. Simply select desired CircuitPython bin-file and start the flashing process.

[bborncr]

No, this does not work. The "Install Micropython" tool installs at 0x1000, CircuitPython needs to be installed at 0x0000.

[davekeeshan]

I have hit this issue too with the LilyGo ESP32 C3. I was able to run the commands that Thonny runs manually, but I had to change the base address:

C:\downloads\thonny\python.exe -u -m esptool --port COM7 write_flash --flash_mode keep --flash_size detect 0x0 C:/downloads/esp32c3-20220117-v1.18.bin

Is it possible to change the base address via the configuration.ini?

FYI, the change is captured here.

[aivarannamaa]

I'll add the start-address parameter.

[aivarannamaa]

Handled under #2707. Thonny 4.1 will have both UF2 and esptool installation links in CircuitPython config page.