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Bluepad32 for NINA-W10 boards

Warning

Deprecated. Will be mantained until August 2024. Depends on 'SPI Flash Legacy' which was removed in ESP-IDF v5.0.

Whenever possible use Arduino + ESP32 platform instead, which has improved features.

What is NINA-W10

NINA-W10 is series of ESP32 modules. These module are present on some Arduino boards like:

NINA-W10 modules are co-processors, usually used only to bring WiFi or BLE to the main processor.

To have gamepad support, the original NINA-W10 firmware must be replaced with Bluepad32 firmware. This is a simple step that needs to be done just once and can be "undone" at any time.

how-does-it-work

This is how it works:

  • Gamepad (A) talks to NINA-W10 module (B)
  • NINA-W10 module (B) talks to the main processor (C)

Bluepad32 firmware is "compatible-enough" with the original firmware:

  • It uses SPI, and the same GPIOs to talk to the main processor
  • It uses the same protocol that runs on top of SPI
  • But not all messages are implemented, and has some limitations:
    • Only Bluepad32 features are implemented
    • Bluepad32 logs cannot be seen
    • Bluepad32 console not supported
    • WiFi API is NOT supported
    • BLE API is NOT supported (but BLE controllers ARE supported)

Warning

WiFi and Bluetooth APIs are not supported in NINA-W10 boards.

Option A: Flashing pre-compiled Bluepad32 firmware

To flash Bluepad32 firmware, you have to:

Download the latest pre-compiled Bluepad32 firmware for NINA-W10

Download latest binary from here: https://github.com/ricardoquesada/bluepad32/releases

  • Download the file with "nina" in its name. E.g: bluepad32-nina-x.y.z.tar.gz
  • Uncompress it using 7-zip, or from command line (cmd.exe):
tar -xf bluepad32-nina-x.y.z.tar.gz
cd bluepad32-nina-x.y.z
dir
  • And you should see a file named bluepad32-nina-x.y.z.bin (or similar). You will use it later. Keep reading.

uncompress

Download arduino-fwuploader

Download the latest binary from here: https://github.com/arduino/arduino-fwuploader/releases

Select correct board name

  • arduino:samd:mkrwifi1010 for Arduino MKR WiFi 1010
  • arduino:samd:nano_33_iot for Arduino NANO 33 IoT
  • arduino:samd:mkrvidor4000 for Arduino MKR Vidor 4000
  • arduino:megaavr:uno2018 for Arduino Uno WiFi Rev2
  • arduino:mbed_nano:nanorp2040connect for Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect

You can see all boards names by doing:

$ arduino-fwuploader firmware list

Flash it

Windows

You have to know:

  • COM port: If you don't know which one it is, open Arduino IDE, and go to Tools -> Port: It should be something like COM3.
    • VERY IMPORTANT: Close Arduino IDE after that. The COM port must be "free". Nobody should be using it to flash the firmware.
  • The board name: Choose the correct one from the list above
arduino-fwuploader firmware flash -b arduino:mbed_nano:nanorp2040connect -a COM3 -i PATH\TO\bluepad32-nina-full.bin

screenshot_flashing

Linux & macOS

# Replace name and address with the correct ones
export BOARD=arduino:samd:nano_33_iot
export ADDRESS=/dev/ttyACM0
arduino-fwuploader firmware flash -b $BOARD -a $ADDRESS -i bluepad32-nina-full.bin

Verify

To verify that the flash was successful, do:

$ arduino-fwuploader firmware get-version -b $BOARD -a $ADDRESS

And you should see:

...

Firmware version installed: Bluepad32 for NINA v3.6.0-rc0

Option B: Flashing self-compiled Bluepad32 firmware

Note

If you already installed the pre-compiled firmware, skip this step

To flash self-compiled firmware, you should do:

  1. Put the Arduino board in "pass-through" mode
  2. Compile it yourself and flash it.

1. Put Arduino board in "passthrough" mode

Before flash Bluepad32 firmware, you have to put the Arduino board in "pass-through" mode:

  1. Open Arduino IDE
  2. Install the WiFiNINA library (just do it once)

  3. And finally open the SerialNINAPassthrough sketch:

  4. File -> Examples -> WiFiNINA -> Tools -> SerialNINAPassthrough

Compile it and flash it to the Arduino board.

2. Compile it yourself and flash it

Install the requirements described here: README.md.

Chose nina as the target platform:

cd ${BLUEPAD32}/src

# Select Nina platform:
# Components config -> Bluepad32 -> Target Platform -> Nina
idf.py menuconfig

# And then compile it!
idf.py build

On Nano 32 IoT / MKR WIFI 1010, doing idf.py flash will just work.

# Only valid for:
#   * Nano 33 IoT
#   * MKR WIFI 1010

# Port might be different
export ESPPORT=/dev/ttyACM0

idf.py flash

But on NANO RP2040 Connect and UNO WiFi Rev.2, you have to flash it using the --before no_reset option, and NOT --before default_reset. E.g:

# Only valid for:
#   * Nano RP2040 Connect
#   * UNO WiFi Rev.2

# Port might be different
export ESPPORT=/dev/ttyACM0

esptool.py --port ${ESPPORT} --baud 115200 --before no_reset write_flash 0x1000 ./build/bootloader/bootloader.bin 0x10000 ./build/bluepad32-airlift.bin 0x8000 ./build/partitions_singleapp.bin

Install Arduino Library

You need to install the Bluepad32-arduino library:

From Arduino Menu do: Tools -> Manage Libraries... -> Search for "bluepad32" and install it.

bluepad32_arduino_library_image

Example

After choosing your board, from Arduino Menu do: File -> Examples -> Bluepad32 -> Controller

bluepad32_arduino_example

Compile it and flash it. Done! 😄

Note

The board must be the regular Arduino board. E.g.: "Arduino Uno WiFi Rev2". And NOT any of the "esp32 + bluepad32" boards.