CoinThing

a coin ticker display


Project maintained by barn53 Hosted on GitHub Pages — Theme by mattgraham

CoinThing


What’s New

Version 1.7 is out!


Manual

Setup WiFi

First, the CoinThing has to know the access data for your WLAN router. To get the data, CoinThing first starts itself as a WLAN access point. You can connect to this via smartphone or PC.

When the CoinThing is powered for the first time, a QR code appears that represents the connection data to the access point.

The easiest way to connect is to scan this code via a smartphone camera. Once you are connected to the access point, a configuration portal (WiFiManager) opens. Enter the access data for your WLAN router there. These are the SSID (available SSIDs are listed) and the corresponding password.

After saving, the CoinThing starts again and tries to connect to the WLAN with the given credentials. If successful, again a QR code appears, this time for the settings.

Settings

If you open the address of this QR code (the assigned IP address of the CoinThing), the settings page will open in the browser. You can bookmark this page to easily access the settings again later. This QR code is only displayed if no settings have been made yet. However, the settings can always be accessed via this IP address.

In the settings, you enter all desired data. After clicking Apply, the settings are checked and taken over and displayed by the CoinThing.


Update The Software

Update Procedure

Update Firmware Via Browser (Settings Page)

Update Firmware Via Python Script

If there is an update with a change in the second version number (i.e. from 1.1.xx to 1.2.xx), things are a bit more complicated :-).

You need
Is python installed?
> python --version

Should return something like Python 3.9.4

This is how to install esptool
> pip install esptool
Is the esptool installed?
> python -m esptool version

Should return something like

esptool.py v3.0
3.0
Is the CoinThing connected correctly?
> python -m esptool --no-stub chip_id

Should return something like

esptool.py v3.0
Serial port COM3
Connecting....
Detecting chip type... ESP8266
Chip is ESP8266EX
Features: WiFi
Crystal is 26MHz
MAC: 50:02:91:58:03:37
Enabling default SPI flash mode...
Chip ID: 0x00580337
Hard resetting via RTS pin...
Download the SPIFFS file e.g. spiffs_v1.7.0.bin and execute
python -m esptool --before default_reset --after hard_reset --chip esp8266 --baud 460800 write_flash 0x200000 <path_to_download>/spiffs_v1.7.0.bin

After this was successful, you have to install the matching firmware itself.

Download the firmware file e.g. cointhing_v1.7.0.bin and execute
python -m esptool --before default_reset --after hard_reset --chip esp8266 --baud 460800 write_flash 0x0 <path_to_download>/cointhing_v1.7.0.bin
Or both together
python -m esptool --before default_reset --after hard_reset --chip esp8266 --baud 460800 write_flash 0x0 <path_to_download>/cointhing_v1.7.0.bin 0x200000 <path_to_download>/spiffs_v1.7.0.bin

That’s all.
After a reboot, the CoinThing starts with the new version – enjoy!

If the CoinThing does not startup after update attempts

You can erase the CoinThing completely (you cannot damage it).

After that, install the firmware again, as described above.

Unfortunately, after this a new setup ist necessary.

python -m esptool erase_flash

Available Versions To Download

Version 1.7:

New features

For an update from version 1.6 or below to version 1.7 you need to upload the file spiffs_v1.7.0.bin and one of the cointhing_v1.7.*.bin files as described above.

spiffs_v1.7.0.bin

When your CoinThing is already on Version 1.7.*, you can update via the browser update method.

Version 1.7.0:

cointhing_v1.7.0.bin


Version 1.6:

New features

For an update from version 1.5 or below to version 1.6 you need to upload the file spiffs_v1.6.0.bin and one of the cointhing_v1.6.*.bin files as described above.

spiffs_v1.6.0.bin

When your CoinThing is already on Version 1.6.*, you can update via the browser update method.

Version 1.6.1:

cointhing_v1.6.1.bin

Version 1.6.0:

cointhing_v1.6.0.bin


Version 1.5:

New features

For an update from version 1.4 or below to version 1.5 you need to upload the file spiffs_v1.5.0.bin and one of the cointhing_v1.5.*.bin files as described above.

spiffs_v1.5.0.bin

When your CoinThing is already on Version 1.5.*, you can update via the browser update method.

Version 1.5.1:

cointhing_v1.5.1.bin

Version 1.5.0:

cointhing_v1.5.0.bin


Version 1.4:

New features

For an update from version 1.3 or below to version 1.4 you need to upload the file spiffs_v1.4.0.bin and one of the cointhing_v1.4.*.bin files as described above.

spiffs_v1.4.0.bin

When your CoinThing is already on Version 1.4.*, you can update via the browser update method.

Version 1.4.4:

cointhing_v1.4.4.bin

Version 1.4.3:

Version 1.4.2:

cointhing_v1.4.2.bin

Version 1.4.1:

cointhing_v1.4.1.bin

Version 1.4.0:

cointhing_v1.4.0.bin


Version 1.3:

Do not update to this version - use version v1.4 or later


Version 1.2

New features

For an update from version 1.1 or below to version 1.2 you need to upload the files spiffs_v1.2.0.bin and one of the cointhing_v1.2.*.bin as described above.

spiffs_v1.2.0.bin

When your CoinThing is already on Version 1.2.*, you can update via the browser update method.

Version 1.2.2:

cointhing_v1.2.2.bin

Version 1.2.1:

cointhing_v1.2.1.bin

Version 1.2.0:

cointhing_v1.2.0.bin


Version 1.1:

Version 1.1.0:

The second currency was always USD, it is now also configurable in the settings.

For an update from Version 1.0, please also upload the spiffs_v1.1.0.bin file as described above to the CoinThing.

cointhing_v1.1.0.bin

spiffs_v1.1.0.bin


Version 1.0:

Version 1.0.3:

cointhing_v1.0.3.bin

spiffs_v1.0.3.bin

Version 1.0.2:

cointhing_v1.0.2.bin

Version 1.0.1:

cointhing_v1.0.1.bin

Version 1.0.0:

cointhing_v1.0.0.bin