This works well. With the HA Matter Server Add-on as controller, I can now add and control Matter-over-Thread devices.
With this setup I can keep IoT devices on a separate VLAN, which I have not been able to figure out with a USB radio.
Now, six months later I would like to update the firmware. I see there are updates in the repository, and just like to keep relatively up to date.
However, it is a bit cumbersome to start over and figure out how to maintain data and network.
Any chance this could be built with ESPHome instead?
One challenge may be that it has two ESPs on the board. An ESP32-S3 for running the logic and Wi-Fi (unless using the Ethernet daughter board), and an ESP32-H2 to handle the Thread communication.
You first build the firmware for the H2. Then for the S3.
It is as if the first firmware is embedded in the S3, because this is the one that flashes the H2 chip.
For sure doing this would be beyond my knowledge with ESPHome.
Although, I think I have seen before a GitHub repo being referenced.
It would be so convenient if one could have a yaml-file defined with your configuration, and then be able to rebuild any time with the latest updates and flash OTA.
ESP’s router software has nothing at all in common with ESP home except for the target hardware.
What you are asking for is an automated build and OTA update process. Espressif already provides an easy-to-use build system, but it is far more flexible than is needed if all you want is a standard-order router.
What someone could do is build the firmware and then post the image someplace. People could then simply download the image and reflash the device. There is no need for everyone to build the image unless they want different features compiled in.
Next on my to-do list is a 3d printed housing for the Ethernet version.
I think this is the Threads router that most people should be using with HA. At $10 each, I plan on running about three of them all on Ethernet.
It just seems ESPHome also utilizes espidf, but yes the functionality is otherwise quite different.
Yes, an “automated build and OTA update process” would be very nice. And almost necessary to make this board a good and easy solution to more people.
Espressifs guide is easy to follow. But it seems the memory card in my old rasberry pi I used last have failed. So, instead of starting over to do a new build environment, I considered alternatives, also searching for pre-build firmware…
The flexibility also seems excessive to me. If using this exact board, I guess two versions would be sufficient. One with Wi-fi and one with Ethernet, unless this can be configured through the serial console.
So far I just use Wi-fi, but have the Ethernet add-on as well.
It would be nice if someone would build it, and make the firmware available. But it should also be a trustworthy source. Ideally Espressif should host it, but I believe their intension is more that it is a experimentation and PoC board for developers who want to utilize these chips in some thirdparty HW solution.
Also, if you want to do OTA, I believe it needs to have a public key for the web server certificate hosting the firmware build in, to trust it as a source going forward.
I guess this would have be to a self-signed cert to have long enough lifetime.
Did you update any of your boards yet?
Does it retain its settings?
If not, is it enough to do: