Building radio firmware in a webbrowser with Gitpod

A very easy option to build EdgeTX radio firmwares without having to setup a local build environment, is provided by Gitpod. Only requirement is that you have an account at GitHub.

Open the following link with the web browser of your choice:

https://gitpod.io/#https://github.com/edgetx/edgetx/tree/main

In case you do not wish to build from the main development branch, replace the last part of the URL with the branch/tag you wish to use. Here an example for building from 2.6 branch:

https://gitpod.io/#https://github.com/edgetx/edgetx/tree/2.6

After some waiting (it can take a minute or so to load), you should be greeted with a Visual Studio Code like development environment in a browser with EdgeTX source code tree pre-loaded from GitHub.

The next step is to tell the development system for which radio and with which configuration option you would like the firmware to be built. You do this by entering a cmake command in the terminal section of the Gitpod window (bottom right pane; feel free to close all the popups if they come on top). Here for example

cmake -DPCB=X10 -DPCBREV=TX16S -DDEFAULT_MODE=2 -DGVARS=YES -DPPM_UNIT=US -DHELI=NO -DINTERNAL_GPS=YES -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ../

we instruct the CMake system to create makefiles for building for the RadioMaster TX16S (PCB=X10, PCBREV=TX16S), mode 2 default stick (DEFAULT_MODE=2), global variables enabled (GVARS=YES), servo output unit as microseconds (PPM_UNIT=US), opted to save memory and build without helicopter mixes (HELI=NO), include support for NMEA GPS connected to AUX2 (INTERNAL_GPS=YES) and selected the type as a Release build without debug symbols included (CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release). (If you are curious about the options available, enter the following command in terminal to list all options: cmake -LAH ../ )

Only a few seconds later, you should be greeted with "-- Generating done" message and that the build files have been written to /workspace/edgetx/build. If so, enter again in terminal the following line to start the compilation and linking step and press Enter:

make -j`nproc` firmware

This time it can take a minute or so until the firmware binary is successfully built. If you see "[100%] Built target firmware" then all went smoothly and you have just made yourself a custom EdgeTX firmware.

It's a good idea to rename the binary, so that it is easier later to see the target radio and which options were baked into it. For this, issue in the terminal:

mv firmware.bin edgetx_main_tx16s_ppmus-mode2-gps_release.bin

In the left explorer tree open the build folder and right click at edgetx_main_tx16s_ppmus-mode2-gps_release.bin and select Download.

Put the downloaded firmware binary to your radio SD card \FIRMWARE subfolder, and flash it to your radio either using EdgeTX bootloader, EdgeTX Buddy or EdgeTX Flasher.

Use EdgeTX Buddy or EdgeTX Flasher to fill your SD card appropriately for your radio.