v5.x firmware coming
DAVEGA firmware code size reached 1516 kB as of the v4.09rc5. With the current partitioning, there’s only 20 kB left for more code. This needs addressing, else soon it wouldn’t be possible to add more features.
The current partitioning is:
- OTA1 - 1536 kB
- OTA2 - 1536 kB
- data - 960 kB
The data partition is excessive. Most units don’t store more than a few kB of data. The units with a custom splashscreen are an exception but they still use less than 120 kB.
The plan is to repartition as follows:
- OTA1 - 1792 kB
- OTA2 - 1792 kB
- data - 448 kB
That is, shrink the data partition by 512 kB and add 256 kB to the OTA partitions (which hold the code).
Just to give you some perspective, the code size increased by 49 kB between v4.00 and v4.09rc5, so adding 256 kB is quite a big deal and should last for a couple of years of development.
What this means for the user?
The repartitioning can’t be done over WiFi. Therefore, migrating from v4.x to v5.x will be the same process as migrating from v3.x to v4.x. You will need to get your DAVEGA connected to the USB port and run a v5.x installer that I will provide soon.
After the upgrade, you can forget about the USB port for at least another year.
DAVEGA hardware v1.2
I want to get the v5.x firmware sorted out before switching to the new v1.2 hardware. The v1.2 units will come without a USB port and thus migrating to v5.x would be more problematic (though not impossible). Therefore, all v1.2 units will ship with the v5.x firmware pre-installed.
There are already a few v1.2 units out there running the v4.x. The owners will receive an external USB-UART module to be able to migrate.