Dash-Chan 0.5.0 beta — Arcade Scout

Dash-Chan now looks and behaves like a tiny arcade scout: an expressive virtual pet with a radio notebook. This update keeps every Avatar Studio option and adds four colorful habitats, discovery cheers and two home views.

Open the web flasher and Avatar Studio · Field guide · Upload setup

• Recon + Buddy / Full Face: nearby clues stay beside the pet, or expand its expression across the display. Both show approximate saved Wi-Fi/BLE counts.
• Signal City, Sunset Run, Star Patrol, Pixel Garden: original animated environments, expressive eyebrows, highlights, paw pads, happy cheers and level-up sparks. Dark, Light, Matrix and BWM themes remain.
• Simple progression: one XP per eligible saved Wi-Fi discovery, one level per 25 XP, food only from wardriving. Every cosmetic is unlocked immediately.
• Hardware play: individual switches for RGB mood lights, tilt/gaze, head swipes, proximity greetings and ambient brightness; optional local NFC outfit cards. Camera and microphone remain unused.
• Companion website: simpler Install / Avatar Studio / Upload drives / Field guide navigation; live world and expression previews; a smiling one-antenna logo; updated real firmware screenshots.
• Uploads: browser WiGLE preview/send, WDGWars-compatible CSV export, and USB/SD configuration for manual or opt-in post-drive uploads from the robot over configured Wi-Fi. Verified HTTPS, retained original files, and per-file receipts for accepted or uncertain outcomes.

Installation uses split images and preserves NVS/calibration and SD files. Existing sound/voice settings remain unchanged. Official StackChan K151 only; 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and BLE, with UART GPS and FAT32 microSD.

Validation: firmware build, host parser/GPS/progression checks, 2,880 outfit combinations, browser layouts at 320/390/768/1440 pixels, actual web-flasher code on K151 with unchanged NVS, and physical USB setup/failure/cancel recovery. A separate 45-second stationary bench saved 104 rows and 19 Wi-Fi discoveries with zero additional queue drops. XP stopped after recording stopped.

This is a beta. Live WiGLE/WDGWars account acceptance, long uploads, NFC tag enrollment, sensor interaction tuning and long outdoor drives still need field validation. No real drive was uploaded during development. Radio clues are heuristic, not authenticated device identities. The M5Burner submission remains the separate earlier 0.4 factory image.

Sources and licenses · Measured checks and limits

Dash-Chan 0.4.0 beta — GPS presets, Wisp & Ember

Dash-Chan 0.4 adds GPS receiver setup and two new original companions for the official M5Stack StackChan K151.

Open the web flasher & Avatar Studio · GPS compatibility & ATGM336H wiring

• GPS & SD → GPS SETUP: named M5Stack Unit/Module/COMX/GNSS/Atomic/Cap UART presets, ATGM336H-5N/-6N DIY options, Port A/B/C and custom exposed Grove RX pins, baud selection and a one-shot baud finder. The receiver stays receive-only; no configuration commands are sent.
• Wisp: a cute black ghost with bright eyes and drifting wisps. Ember: a tiny flame with flickering tips and sparks. Both work with outfits, eye styles, affection, panic and field gear, on the robot and in Avatar Studio.
• Backward-compatible saved settings and original avatar files; USB uploads check that firmware supports the new shapes before changing anything. Both mute preferences persist.
• Expanded wiring guide, handbook, native screenshots and original-art attribution. Bare ATGM modules need regulated 3.3 V power; Grove red is 5 V. Stack, Atomic and Cap products need correctly routed adapters. This is UART NMEA compatibility, not universal plug-and-play or LoRa/RTK/cellular support.

Validation: firmware build; host regressions and 50,000 malformed radio inputs; eight GNSS talkers decoded through the pinned GPS parser; 2,880 style combinations; desktop/mobile browser tests; physical baud search/cancel/recording lockouts; USB uploads of both new shapes; mute/GPS persistence after software restart. A usable-fix bench session reopened 38 WiGLE rows; a separate no-fix check wrote only a header with zero queue drops. The interactive framebuffer-capture session had seven cumulative queue drops. Full measured evidence and limits.

Only Unit GPS v1.1 on the attached K151 was physically tested. Outdoor road stability, detection performance and WiGLE server upload acceptance remain unverified. This is a beta.

The ZIP is the exact verified CI build used by the web flasher. It includes split images, SHA-256 checksums, installation instructions, and source/license notices. Preserve NVS/calibration; do not erase the whole flash or format SD to update.

M5Burner factory-reset package

The separate K151-FACTORY-RESET.bin asset is for M5Burner at address 0x0. It resets NVS, including settings and factory servo calibration. Prefer the web installer to preserve calibration. If using M5Burner, read backup and NVS restore instructions first. Head motion must remain off until calibration is restored. Checksums and instructions are supplied as M5BURNER-SHA256SUMS.txt and M5BURNER-INSTALL.md. This clean merged image embeds the exact four original release images; a factory-reset install through M5Burner has not been physically tested.

Dash-Chan 0.3.0 beta — Avatar Studio

Your own tiny field partner

Open Avatar Studio and the web flasher.

• Six eye styles and custom body, accent, and eye colors on cat, dragon, or robot bases.
• Independent headwear, glasses, and neckwear: 1,728 style combinations before colors.
• Four starting outfits, live expressions and cruising preview, browser-local drafts, legacy/current avatar imports, CFG export, and transparent PNG portraits.
• USB upload without reflashing; a clear upgrade message protects older firmware from incompatible new profiles.
• On-device Avatar Studio for quick changes. Auto/Always/Off field gear includes a handheld antenna, receiver, and earpiece; fresh GPS movement animates cruising.
• Original travel captions, readable panic/love expressions, and preserved sound/voice preferences.

Official StackChan K151 only. Install 0.3 before sending the new profiles. Existing DCAV1 files still load. An SD /dashchan/avatar.cfg takes priority at boot; update/remove it if changing appearance through USB.

Studio guide · Flashing and recovery · Attributions

Validation: firmware build, host regression/50,000 malformed-packet inputs, WiGLE round-trip, all 1,728 profile combinations, browser layouts/import/export/drafts/portrait tests, actual K151 USB avatar transfer/readback, native screen captures, and three software restarts with mute preserved. Downloads use the exact verified CI images served by Pages.

A short 0.3 GPS bench recording saved 15 rows, credited 4 new Wi-Fi discoveries, and reported 0 queue drops with Auto field gear enabled. Stop closed the file; readback reported LOGCHECK header=OK bytes=1762 rows=15. This is a stationary bench check, not an outdoor road test.

Beta limitations: outdoor movement/GPS behavior and long drives need field testing; WiGLE server acceptance and real-device detection performance remain unverified. Gear is decorative, not signal direction finding or audio capture. The radio/CSV pipeline is unchanged from 0.2. See measured validation and reset-log observation.

Dash-Chan 0.2.0 beta — Meet your copilot

Dash-Chan 0.2.0 beta

Meet the pet-centered Dash-Chan for the official M5Stack StackChan K151: passive Wi-Fi/BLE awareness, GPS wardriving to SD, and an offline companion with personality.

Open the web flasher and Buddy Lab · First adventure · Flash and recover · Handbook

What's new

• The pet stays home during watching, wardriving, and alerts. Three original companions, custom colors/accessories/name, four themes, and the supplied BWM/VTS boot logos.
• Voice starts OFF. MENU → Sound & Voice → Voice OFF disables speech. Master sound OFF silences everything. Head petting is visual only; deliberate face-tap speech is limited to once per minute when enabled. Existing mute preferences persist.
• Bounded relaxed head gestures and expressive panic, optional spoken catchphrases, configurable detection tones, affection, and wardriving-only food.
• Continuous encounters announce once by default, recent sightings update quietly, family cooldowns reduce rotating-address alerts, and optional reminders start off.
• Expanded passive probe/receiver-header methods, local watchlists, qualified traffic-pattern hints, and a method-by-method audit of Dragon Detector, Unified Blue, and SquachWatch references.
• Faster channel/BLE sweep with fresh-GPS gates, proper AP-versus-client separation, WiGLE 1.4 CSV, per-session food deduplication, and separate detection events.
• Self-hosted web installer with backup, chip/flash-size checks, SHA-256 download checks, written-image verification, preserved NVS calibration, and explicit reset. Buddy Lab can export an SD profile or upload directly to running firmware.

Install

Use desktop Chrome/Edge and a USB data cable with the web flasher, or extract the attached ZIP and follow INSTALL.txt. Retain a full private factory backup first. Do not erase the entire flash: it contains servo calibration. The installer does not format the SD card. GPS goes on blue Port C; select its baud in GPS & SD.

The ZIP below is the verified GitHub Actions artifact used for this site's deployment. Split images, SHA-256 sums, source links, and component license notices are included. This build is only for the official K151 with 16 MB flash / 8 MB PSRAM.

Validation and limits

Firmware and protocol regression tests pass, including 50,000 malformed inputs and WiGLE CSV round trips. Browser checks cover desktop and 320/390/768 px layouts, creator export, and refusal/error paths. On the development robot, a bench drive saved 77 GPS-tagged rows, credited 13 new Wi-Fi discoveries, reopened its log, and reported zero queue drops. The web flashing module was exercised against the robot through a local serial bridge: four image checks, preserved NVS, reboot, and avatar acknowledgement passed.

This remains a beta. Known-device detection accuracy, long outdoor-drive stability, and actual WiGLE server acceptance are not established by those checks. Radio signatures are clues, not proof of identity, police presence, recording, or intent. Native coverage is 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and BLE. Complete methods and limitations.

Credits

Thanks to Dragon Detector, skizzophrenic/SquachWatch, Colonel Panic/Unified Blue/Flock-You/AXEOFF, JustCallMeKoko, Midwest Gadgets/Piglet, M5Stack, Espressif, OpenDroneID, and the upstream device researchers. Pinned sources, exact reuse, and licensing. Original Dash-Chan avatars; supplied BWM/VTS marks remain their owners' brands. GPL-3.0-or-later with retained component notices.

Dash-Chan 0.1.0 alpha

Dash-Chan's first public alpha for the official M5Stack StackChan K151: a local companion with passive Wi-Fi/BLE watch, GPS wardriving, and three original avatars.

• Mochi the cat, Sprout the dragon, and Orbit the robot; touch interaction, experience, expressions, and relaxed idle gestures.
• Wardriving is the only way to earn food: five distinct Wi-Fi BSSIDs saved with a valid GPS fix earn a snack. Background watch and petting do not feed the buddy.
• Device-signature alerts adapted from Dragon Detector, with evidence/confidence and a separate history. Playful Axon reactions add expressive offline speech, sirens, and bounded double-takes.
• Start/Stop on the face screen; WiGLE 1.4 CSV on FAT32 SD; background scanning continues after Stop.
• Correct landscape orientation, GPS port/baud settings, scoped SD-driver fixes, and explicit capacity-checked formatting.

Installed and verified on an official K151: GPS fixes on blue Port C at 115200 baud, live Wi-Fi/BLE reception, successful format and remount of a 512 GB card, 37 recorded observations with 11 food-earning discoveries, and a reopened WiGLE header. The user confirmed display orientation, head movement, and audible speaker output. Firmware builds and host regression checks pass.

This is an alpha. ESP32-S3 supports 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and BLE; this build does not add 5 GHz. Signature matches are candidate observations, not proof of device identity. WiGLE server acceptance, long outdoor drives, and field detection accuracy remain unverified.

Download the ZIP and follow INSTALL.txt for the official K151 only. Back up factory flash first; preserve NVS/calibration. The archive includes split images, SHA-256 checksums, source links, and license notices. No factory backup, observed networks, GPS coordinates, or credentials are included.