cvhviz/CAIRN cairn-v131

Cairn 131

on GitHub

Cairn 131 brings back the whole time zone list on the touch and key boards, adds a 12h / 24h clock to the T096, and adds two companion builds to the release: the Heltec Wireless Tracker V2 and the Heltec WiFi LoRa 32 V4-R8 with its OLED, both with the app over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. Three more builds go out to test as experimental pre-releases: the T114 in color, the GAT562 30S Mesh Kit on the L1 Pro's interface, and a ThinkNode M9 USB companion.

Highlights:

• Every time zone shows again (Wio L2 Pro, ThinkNode M9, T-Deck, T-LoRa Pager, both Heltec V4 touch kits). Settings › Clock › Time zone stopped after the first four zones of Europe & Africa, so Moscow, East Africa, all of Asia, Australia & Pacific and Custom never showed (#50, #38). The list now runs through to Custom.
• 12h / 24h clock on the T096 (#51). Menu › Settings › Clock, under Time zone: a hold flips it, and the Home clock follows at once ("7:05" with AM/PM small beside it, or "19:05"). It is the same setting as the L1 Pro's Clock, so the default is 12h: a T096 that showed 24h before shows 12h after the update until you switch it back.
• New: Heltec Wireless Tracker V2 and V4-R8 (OLED) companions. Until now only their compact repeater was in the release. Both run the T096's one-button interface (the Tracker in color with the five themes, the V4-R8 white on black), and the app connects over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, whichever it finds.
• Wi-Fi on the one-button interface (Tracker V2, V4-R8). Menu › Wi-Fi: with no network yet a hold opens Wi-Fi setup; after that a hold turns Wi-Fi off or on. Menu › Settings › Wi-Fi setup: the radio puts up its own network (its password is on the screen), your phone's browser lists the networks the radio can see, and a save restarts it onto the one you pick. Home's bottom line shows the address once it has joined.
• The Heltec V4 + Expansion Kit V1 stays in the release, as it has been since 130.

To test, as experimental pre-releases (not part of this release; what experimental builds are):

• Heltec T114 companion in color (#51): the T096's five themes, a dimmable backlight, smoother fonts and the 12h / 24h clock. Run on a T114 on the bench.
• GAT562 30S Mesh Kit on the L1 Pro's interface (#45): the whole joystick, so up and down work in every list. Not yet run on a kit.
• ThinkNode M9 USB companion (#52): the app protocol over the USB cable, for setting up M9s from a computer without pairing. Bluetooth stays on. Run on an M9 with a test client.

Checked: the full zone list on a Wio L2 Pro; the 12h / 24h clock on a T096; the Tracker V2 and V4-R8 companions on the bench (screen, button, the app over Bluetooth, Wi-Fi setup, joining a network and the app over Wi-Fi, and the Heltec GPS module on the V4-R8). Not checked yet on a device: the zone list on the other touch and key boards (the same chooser code). The L1 family, the repeaters and the T-Display SF32 get only the new build number.

Update

• On Cairn 108 to 130 (L2 Pro, Heltec V4 touch on either kit, ThinkNode M9, T-Deck, T-Display SF32, T-LoRa Pager): Settings › System › Firmware update: Check, Download, Install. The new build starts on trial and goes back to the old one by itself if it fails to start. On the T-Display SF32, dock the core on the keyboard board first (it carries the Wi-Fi chip).
• T-Deck started from an SD-card launcher: don't use Update on 121 or earlier (122 and later are fine). Copy MeshCore-TDeckPlus-Cairn131-2026-11-11-update.bin to the card and install it from the launcher, as you installed Cairn.
• Over USB on an ESP32 board: the -full.bin goes at 0x0, after Erase Flash, and erases everything. The -update.bin goes at 0x10000 and keeps your data. If the board last updated over Wi-Fi, clear the boot selector first, as in the ESP32 install guide.
• Heltec Wireless Tracker V2 and V4-R8 (OLED) companions: a first install is the -ble-full.bin at 0x0 after an erase. Back up your node's private key from the app first if the board runs MeshCore or Meshtastic now. Later updates are the -ble-update.bin at 0x10000; these two don't update over Wi-Fi. Files with -repeater in the name are the repeater, not the companion.
• Wio Tracker L1 Pro, DV1, L1 e-ink, the room server and the T096: double-tap Reset and copy the board's .uf2 onto the drive that appears (UF2 guide), or use the Cairn app's Firmware Update over Bluetooth. Updating keeps your identity, contacts, channels and settings.
• Compact repeaters: write the -repeater-update.bin at 0x10000, or copy the -repeater.uf2. They don't update over Wi-Fi.
• T-LoRa Pager: pick the file for your radio (it's on the box and the back label). SX1262 units take TLoraPager, LR1121 units take TLoraPagerLR1121; the wrong one runs but has no radio. The online update keeps to the radio you installed.
• A board without Cairn: write the board's -full.bin (ESP32 install guide), copy the .uf2 (UF2 guide), or run the SF32 installer (SF32 install guide).

Downloads

The compact repeater files (-repeater in the name) are rebuilt from the same tree: Heltec T096 and T114 (.uf2), and the Heltec Wireless Tracker, Tracker V2, V2, V3, V4 and V4-R8 (-repeater-full.bin and -repeater-update.bin). Cairn 131 runs on MeshCore 1.18.0, as 118 to 130 did. SHA256SUMS.txt covers every file: shasum -a 256 -c SHA256SUMS.txt.

Not in this release: the experimental boards (what experimental builds are). The Heltec T114 companion, the GAT562 30S Mesh Kit companion and the ThinkNode M9 USB companion are new as Cairn 131 pre-releases; the Heltec Vision Master T190 and WiFi LoRa 32 V3 companions stay on Cairn 130, and the LilyGO T5 E-Paper S3 Pro and the SenseCAP MeshPager X2 stay on Cairn 127.

Fixed

• Touch and key boards: Settings › Clock › Time zone showed only 16 choices. The card grid every chooser draws held 16 options, so the 31-zone list ended early. It now holds 32, as many as the sheet itself (#50, #38).

Added

• T096: 12h / 24h clock (Menu › Settings › Clock) (#51).
• Heltec Wireless Tracker V2 and V4-R8 (OLED) companions in the release, with Wi-Fi for the app (TCP 5000) and a Wi-Fi setup page from a phone's browser. The app's command line (set wifi.ssid, set wifi.pwd) works too. The V4-R8 keeps the mesh in its PSRAM. The Tracker V2 has no PSRAM, so it keeps 200 contacts, 64 messages waiting for the phone and a 4 KB packet log, to leave room for Wi-Fi beside Bluetooth.
• Experimental: T114 in color, GAT562 30S Mesh Kit on the L1 Pro's interface, ThinkNode M9 USB companion (see above).