OpenRemise
Loading...
Searching...
No Matches
Getting Started

Table of Contents

Buy a Board

Not everyone is able to have printed circuit boards manufactured by a PCB prototype service. For this reason, a small contingent of boards is available at the PCBWay Bazaar, a marketplace service specifically for hobbyists and DIY enthusiasts.

The following OpenRemise boards can currently be ordered:

Please note that these boards do not contain any software when delivered. This also means that the PCBs can only subjected to a visual inspection and not a functional test. However, I also had all of my prototypes manufactured at PCBWay and have not had a single soldering error in over a dozen orders.

"S3Main" on the PCBWay Bazaar

...or Manufacture One

If you don't fancy buying from PCBWay and you know your way around Gerber files, you are welcome to manufacture your own hardware at any other PCB prototype service, e.g.

The KiCad projects with all Gerber files can be found on GitHub.

Install the Firmware

Flashing the firmware for the first time is easier than with many professional products. The only things you need besides the board itself (obviously) are

  • A DC power supply (10-22V)
  • A USB-C cable
  • A Windows or Linux computer with a free USB port

Supply the board with power and plug in the USB-C cable. The red LED under the  symbol on the board should light up.

Note
If the red LED does not light up, please check the polarity of the power supply.

Put the Board into Bootloader

In order to make the board receptive to uploads, we need to switch to the so-called bootloader. Conveniently, I printed the instructions directly onto the board 😉. The two buttons EN and BOOT must be pressed in the following order.

  • Hold EN
  • Hold BOOT
  • Release EN
  • Release BOOT

Unfortunately, the board doesn't give any feedback as to whether it is actually in boot mode. If it turns out later that it isn't, you can repeat the process at any time without worrying about breaking anything.

Note
Some Windows users have reported that it only worked for them if they first put the board into the bootloader and only then plugged in the USB-C cable.

Upload the Firmware

To flash the firmware onto a factory new board there is a small tool called... well, Flasher. It is available for both Windows and Linux operating systems. Please select your operating system and follow the steps.

  • Windows
    • Download and extract Flasher-0.1.1-Windows-x64.zip
    • Run Flasher.bat
    • Click the Download latest firmwarebutton
    • Wait until the display shows Done
    • Click the Startbutton
    • Wait until the display shows Done again
    • Press the EN button on the board to reboot
  • Linux
    • Download and extract Flasher-0.1.1-Linux-x64.zip
    • Make Flasher.sh executable by running chmod +x Flasher.sh
    • Run Flasher.sh
    • Click the Download latest firmwarebutton
    • Wait until the display shows Done
    • Click the Startbutton
    • Wait until the display shows Done again
    • Press the EN button on the board to reboot

The following (accelerated) clip shows what the upload should look like. Depending on the baud rate, uploading the firmware may take a few minutes.

Flashing the firmware using the "Flasher" tool

Note
If the device from which the update is to be performed does not have internet access, it is also possible to open the firmware file from a local storage medium. To do this, use the Open firmwarebutton. The firmware can be downloaded from the following link.
https://github.com/OpenRemise/Firmware/releases/latest

Connect to WiFi

Congratulations, you have successfully installed the OpenRemise firmware on a board. Some features, such as USB, already work, but the board is still running in what is known as access point mode. This means that the board initially opens its own WiFi network and does not connect to one. Therefore, we still need to adjust the WiFi settings to connect to the desired network.

To change the WiFi settings you have to connect to the board with a WiFi-enabled device. If your PC doesn't have WiFi, you can simply use a smartphone. Any device with a web browser is sufficient.

The following steps are necessary to change the settings.

  • Search for new WiFi networks
  • Connect to OpenRemise
  • Open a web browser and go to remise.local (or 192.168.4.1)
  • Change the WiFi settings
    • Optionally change mDNS (restricted to [^\.]*remise, so for example vincents-remise)
    • Optionally set a static IP address
  • Click Save and restart

The following clip shows me performing these steps on my smartphone.

Changing WiFi settings from a smartphone

Note
Clicking on the arrow next to "Networks" opens a list of all the networks found, including signal strength and open/closed status. If the network is password protected, a small lock symbol will appear next to it.

Open the Frontend

If the board has restarted and the WiFi settings are correct, it should now connect to the network. The green LED under the  symbol lights up as soon as a connection is established.

From this point on, the web interface will should be available at the local mDNS address (e.g. http://remise.local).

Warning
OpenRemise currently only supports HTTP. Your browser may warn you before accessing this page and ask for explicit permission to access it. To prevent this from happening again on every visit, it is recommended to add an exception.

...via mDNS

Wait, should? Well, the situation is... complicated. Although all modern browsers support mDNS, they rely on services within the operating system. Unfortunately, this support is limited on Android and completely absent from Windows10.

Operating System mDNS Support Notes
Linux Yes Requires avahi-daemon (usually installed by default on major distros).
macOS Yes Uses Bonjour
Windows 10/11 Yes (partial) Only if Bonjour or other mDNS responder is installed (e.g., via iTunes, Adobe CC, or manually). Windows 11 has improved native support.
Android Partial mDNS is supported at the app level via NsdManager, but not integrated system-wide.
iOS/iPadOS Yes Bonjour-based

...via IP

If you have problems connecting via mDNS, I recommend setting up a static IP address as described in chapter Connect to WiFi. Instead of remise.local, you would then type e.g. 192.168.0.4 into the browser's address bar.

Previous Next
Introduction FAQ