femtofox/usb_config.md

USB Configuration Tool

To configure some Femtofox settings such as wifi, you can insert a USB flash drive containing a configuration file. The system will automatically recognize, mount and implement the settings you specify. Configurable settings are:

• Wifi SSID
• Wifi PSK (password)
• Wifi country
• Timezone
• Meshtastic:
  • LoRa radio model
  • URL (used to configure LoRa settings and channels)
  • Security: Add Admin Key
  • Security: Clear Admin Key List
  • Security: Legacy Admin Channel enable/disable

Instructions

The USB drive must be formatted with a single FAT32, exFAT, NTFS (read only - log will not be saved to drive) or ext4 partition. Add a file named femtofox-config.txt and whichever of the the following lines you want to set, keeping in mind this is CaSe sEnSiTiVe:

wifi_ssid="Your SSID name"
wifi_psk="wifipassword"
wifi_country="US"
timezone="America/New_York"
meshtastic_lora_radio="ebyte-e22-900m30s"
meshtastic_url="https://meshtastic.org/e/#CgMSAQESCAgBOAFAA0gB"
meshtastic_admin_key="base64:T/b8EGvi/Nqi6GyGefJt/jOQr+5uWHHZuBavkNcUwWQ="
meshtastic_legacy_admin="true"

Note

Enter as many or as few settings as you like.

For wifi_country, insert your country's two letter code (such as CA or IN) in capital letters.

Use a timezone as it appears in the tz database.

Meshtastic For meshtastic_lora_radio, choose your radio from the supported hardware list. Options are:

• ebyte-e22-900m30sm
• ebyte-e22-900m22s
• e22-900mm22s
• heltec-ht-ra62
• seeed-wio-sx1262
• waveshare-sx126x-xxxm
• ai-thinker-ra-01sh
• none (for simradio)

Important: You cannot set URL and security settings in the same operation - if you must set both, set the URL first, then edit the femtofox-config.txt file on the USB drive to remove the URL and add in your security settings.

To add a meshtastic_admin_key, copy it from the app and add base64: to the beginning (meshtastic_admin_key="base64:T/b8EGvi/Nqi6GyGefJt/jOQr+5uWHHZuBavkNcUwWQ=").

Clearing the meshtastic_admin_key list: The admin key list can contain up to three keys - if more are added they will be ignored. The USB configuration tool supports clearing the admin key list, after which you will need to re-add your admin key/s in a second operation. To clear the admin key list, enter meshtastic_admin_key="0", without base64:.

Caution

Attempting to set wifi settings via USB configuration tool without a wifi adapter connected will lead to a 5 minute hang while the configuration tool runs - either disconnect and reconnect power or wait the full 5 minutes to to recover.

To apply your configuration, reboot the Femtofox with the USB drive plugged in. No other USB drives can be plugged in at the same time. A log (femtofox-config.log) is saved to /home/femto and the USB drive (except on NTFS, which is read only).

Boot codes

When the Femtofox is finished booting, it will blink its User LED (see below) in a pattern which can be used to gather info on its status or help diagnose issues.

LED blink pattern	Meaning	Possible causes	Solutions
⚠️ ________________ 1 very long blink, lasting 5 seconds	Failed to mount USB drive. Ignoring.	Invalid filesystem Corrupted partition table Defective USB drive Defective USB OTG adapter	Use a supported partition (FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, ext4) Repair partition table Try another USB drive Try another USB OTG adapter
⚠️ _____  _____  _____ 3 long blinks, each lasting 1.5 seconds	USB drive mounted successfully but femtofox-config.txt was not found. Ignoring.	Config file missing.	Create configuration file as described above.
⚠️ _____  _____  _____  _____  _____ 5 long blinks, each lasting 1.5 seconds	USB drive mounted successfully and femtofox-config.txt was found but did not contain readable configuration data. Ignoring.	Configuration file improperly formatted or contains no data.	Check configuration file contents as described above.
⚠️ ___  ___  _  _  ___  ___  _  _ 2 long blinks, each lasting 1 seconds, then 2 short blinks, each lasting 1/4 of a second. Repeats twice	Error while trying to implement a Meshtastic setting after 3 attempts. Some settings may have been implemented successfully.	The error may be transient. Configuration file may contain improper data.	Try again. Check configuration file contents as described above. Check the log. This pattern may flash before other patterns. The pattern will repeat once for each failed setting.
✅ . . . . . . . . . . 10 very fast blinks, each lasting 1/8th of a second	USB drive mounted successfully, and femtofox-config.txt was found and contained configuration data which was sent for deployment. Any affected services will now restart. You can disconnect the USB drive.	This does not mean that the information in the config file is correct - only that it was readable. Note that the "success" boot code will flash if at least one setting is successfully read - even if the setting was not implemented successfully.
✅ __  __  __  __  __ 5 medium blinks, each lasting 0.5 seconds	Boot complete. Appears on every successful boot and always appears last.

Note

Boot codes can appear in sequence - for example: one long (4 second) blink, followed by 5 medium (half second) blinks means the attempt to mount the USB drive failed, and that boot is complete.