ratdeck/docs/DUAL-BOOT.md

rsDeck Dual-Boot

The dual-boot layout lets one flash carry three apps on the T-Deck Plus's 16MB flash, with a boot-time chooser:

Partition	Slot	Offset	Size	Contents
launcher	ota_0	0x10000	1MB	Boot chooser UI
standalone	ota_1	0x110000	4MB	Full Ratdeck messenger
rnode	ota_2	0x510000	3MB	RNode (KISS over USB CDC + BLE)
littlefs	—	0x810000	~7.9MB	User data (unchanged from single-app layout)

The littlefs and coredump regions are byte-identical to the legacy single-app layout (partitions_16MB.csv), so migrating to the dual image preserves identity, messages, contacts, and settings.

Boot flow

• The ESP32 ROM bootloader reads otadata and starts the selected slot.
• The launcher (ota_0) shows Standalone/RNode, remembers the last choice in NVS (rslaunch/last), auto-boots it after 7 seconds, and writes the choice via esp_ota_set_boot_partition().
• Both Standalone and RNode re-arm the launcher at every boot (rs_deck::returnToLauncherNextBoot()), so any reset returns to the chooser. On the legacy single-app layout that call self-selects ota_0 and is a no-op.

Launcher controls

Trackball up/down + click, or keys: W/S select, Enter boot, R = Standalone now, N = RNode now. Any input cancels auto-boot.

RNode mode

The vendored RNode firmware (vendor/rnode_firmware, make firmware-tdeck) self-provisions EEPROM on first boot (PRODUCT_TDECK_V1 / MODEL_D9, 915 MHz defaults) and enables BLE pairing on first run when no bonds exist. The T-Deck RNode build is headless — the screen stays off; reset to return to the launcher.

Build

make prep-tdeck     # once: arduino-cli esp32 core + libs
make package        # dist/: rsdeck-full.zip, rsdeck-standalone.zip,
                    #        rsdeck-rnode.zip, rsdeck-*-app.bin
make flash port=/dev/cu.usbmodemXXXX   # flash full image

rsdeck-full.bin flashes at offset 0x0 and contains all three apps. rsdeck-standalone.zip repackages the legacy single-app ratdeck-merged.bin (old partition table, no launcher). The *-app.bin files are bare app images for external launchers or manual OTA-slot flashing.