C:\Program Files (x86)\Pycom\Pycom Firmware Update>pycom-fwtool-cli.exe -p COM3 chip_id
Running in FTDI mode
ESP32D0WDQ6 (revision 1)

No obvious reason why the adhoc wifi is gone after the change to 1.20.1.r1 though

C:\Program Files (x86)\Pycom\Pycom Firmware Update>pycom-fwtool-cli.exe -p COM3 wmac
Running in FTDI mode
WMAC=30AEA42A6AB4

it knows it's wifi MAC

Anyway I'm anxious about trying the full flash erase considering "Erase entire flash, only use this if you are sure you know what you are doing. This will remove your devices lpwan mac addresses etc." at https://docs.pycom.io/advance/cli/ At the moment 1.20.1.r1 has delivered reduced functionality (no adhoc wifi) I'm worried the full flash erase could leave me even worse off.

#
# set device in AP mode
#
from network import WLAN
wlan=WLAN(mode=WLAN.AP, ssid="my_wlan_1", auth=(WLAN.WPA2, "wlan_password"))
wlan.ifconfig(id=1, config=("192.168.4.1", "255.255.255.0", "0.0.0.0", "0.0.0.0"))

Nevertheless, going that way is a big initial step, if you are not used to it. For Linux, any old system is sufficient, which many people may have around. Using Xubuntu or Mint xfce is an easy install process. Setting up the build environment is documented, but there are quite a few chances to omit things.

b.t.w: I could update my pre-built bundles.
b.t.w.2: I asked several times also to update the "official" non-pybytes variant. I think pycom refuses to do so, promoting pybytes as their entry into a service business.

I think pycom refuses to do so, promoting pybytes as their entry into a service business.

Pycom marked the "normal" firmware as legacy. So I do not think, that they will update this branch.

we might want to divert that to a different forum thread, but just for the sake of completeness we also started brewing our own firmware images and publish them to [1]. Please let us know if we can be helpful for the community in any way on this topic.

Cheers,
Andreas.

P.S.: Disclaimer: @Clemens and me are on the same team working on a datalogger software called Terkin for MicroPython [2]. We learned many things from @robert-hh and are taking different kinds of deep-dives into things we wouldn't better not have known about [3].

[1] https://packages.hiveeyes.org/hiveeyes/foss/pycom/
[2] https://community.hiveeyes.org/t/developing-terkin-for-micropython/233
[3] https://community.hiveeyes.org/t/random-memory-corruption-faults-on-esp32-wrover-rev-1-and-rev-2-when-running-in-dual-core-mode/2515

Dev (default)           Oct 30, 2019
Release/v1.20           Oct 7, 2019
pybytes-master          Oct 5, 2019
OTA_1_20_Prep/master    Sep 15, 2019
fw_fixes                Sep 10, 2019
release-candidate       Aug 22, 2019
Release/v1.18           May 15, 2019
master                  May 14, 2019
bug_fixes               Apr 15, 2019
pypic_pid_fix           Mar 1, 2019
development             Nov 12, 2018
spi_bitorder            Nov 7, 2017

@kjm I tested this short script, and it sets up the AP. Note, that you can set ssid, password, and IP address as you like. The DNS settings are more or less useless.

Is this a way to setup an adhoc wifi that I can turn on/off with import pycom, machine; pycom.wifi_on_boot(1); machine.reset() ?

Is this a way to setup an adhoc wifi that I can turn on/off with import pycom, machine; pycom.wifi_on_boot(1); machine.reset() ?

No. This little script will turn on an AP, configured to your needs, if you put it into boot.py or main.py

No. This little script will turn on an AP, configured to your needs, if you put it into boot.py or main.py

Do you know if there is flavour of LittleFS firmware that still has adhoc wifi? If so could I download it with the pycom updater with the 'legacy' option?

• 1.20.1r1 without pybyte: ad-hoc AP comes
• 1.20.1r1 with pybytes: no ad-hoc AP

So it is the by pybytes option which chooses another way. Some Information may be found at https://docs.pycom.io/smart. That all looks for me like an endless source of trouble, because so many instances are involved: - your PC, Pycom servers & services, a smart phone IOS only(!) app, local access points, the Pycom devices, ... And if any of that fails, the process fails.

BUT: at least I found a bypass, that worked on my device. If you copy a file named "pybytes_config.json" with the content below to your device, pybytes will not start and the ad-hoc AP comes up.

{"wifi": {"ssid": "", "password": ""},
         "wlan_antenna": 0,
         "dump_ca": "FALSE",
         "cfg_msg": "NULL",
         "server": "",
         "ssl": "FALSE",
         "lte": {"apn": "NULL", "cid": 1, "reset": "FALSE", "carrier": "NULL", "band": "NULL", "type": "NULL"},
         "device_id": "",
         "network_preferences": [],
         "ota_server": {"port": 443, "domain": "software.pycom.io"},
         "pybytes_autostart": "FALSE",
         "username": "",
}

Note: These are double quotes in the text. Strange also, that with pybytes Ctrl-D for soft reset does not work any more.