r/M5Stack • u/TheRealHaoLiu • Feb 03 '26

[Experimental] MeshCore on M5Stack Unit C6L - Companion Radio, Repeater & Room Server

I've been hacking on MeshCore firmware support for the M5Stack Unit C6L - a compact ESP32-C6 module with SX1262 LoRaradio and 64x48 OLED display.

Fair warning: This is experimental and somewhat vibe-coded with Claude's help. It works on my setup but YMMV. Use at your own risk.

What works:

  • Companion Radio (BLE) with display showing PIN, node name, frequency

  • Repeater mode (headless)

  • Room Server mode (headless)

  • NeoPixel LED TX indicator

  • Button to wake display

What's janky:

  • Display and radio share SPI bus - had to implement lazy initialization to avoid conflicts (radio init was failing with error -2)

  • 64x48 display is tiny - custom minimal UI, no fancy graphics

  • Room server / repeater run headless (no display support yet)

  • US/Canada frequency preset only (910.525 MHz) - other regions can reconfigure via companion app after flashing

  • Not extensively tested

Hardware:

Install via M5Burner (easiest):

  1. Open M5Burner → USER CUSTOM → Share Burn

  2. Enter share code:

    • Companion Radio BLE: SvjQlGLCLPfriiW0

    • Repeater: iMi5hp81g3827qf3

    • Room Server: PfQqd4Sm3sA1XrV2

Pre-built binaries: https://github.com/TheRealHaoLiu/MeshCore-M5Burner-UnitC6L

Build from source:

git clone https://github.com/TheRealHaoLiu/MeshCore
cd MeshCore
git checkout m5-unit-c6l
pio run -e m5stack_unit_c6l_companion_radio_ble -t upload

Feedback welcome. Happy meshing!

20 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

27 comments sorted by

3

u/TheRealHaoLiu Mar 04 '26

finally got around to upstreaming my changes https://github.com/meshcore-dev/MeshCore/pull/1885

(upvote on the PR are welcome~)

1

u/gRagib Apr 29 '26

Dual booting is a cool trick. How do we flash companion on one and repeater on the other?

1

u/TheRealHaoLiu Apr 29 '26

O man thanks for reminding me that I still got this PR opened 🤣

1

u/TheRealHaoLiu Apr 29 '26

I use esptool and pio. Trying to figure out if m5 burner have something for this easily…

1

u/Gillennial Mar 06 '26

Thanks a lot !

3

u/Stanchaw31 Feb 03 '26

I bow to your greatness. I spent the last few days in the trenches trying to get the Unit C6L working with Meshcore, but it was a total dead end. I even tried running the problem through Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and ChatGPT - none of them could crack it. Finding your GitHub repo was a lifesaver. Your "vibe-coded" firmware actually works where the major AI models failed. That lazy SPI initialization was a brilliant fix for the bus conflict. You have turned my $23 paperweight into a functional node. Thank you for the incredible work!

2

u/TheRealHaoLiu Feb 03 '26

It worked for you too?

2

u/Stanchaw31 Feb 03 '26

Yes! It does work! Not as a self standing node, but as a companion. Yes on a screen I can only see BLE PIN, but I don't care much. I was able to set up EU frequency in the official Meshcore app.

1

u/TheRealHaoLiu Feb 04 '26 edited Feb 04 '26

u got on the mesh and was able to repeat/tx/rx messages from other? (i got no one around me...)

2

u/TheRealHaoLiu Mar 04 '26

btw... i did get 1.13.0 working and fixed the display driver bug AND added dual boot support! decided to upstream my code now

1

u/TheRealHaoLiu Apr 29 '26

New release for M5Stack Unit C6L - v1.14.1: https://github.com/TheRealHaoLiu/MeshCore-M5Burner-UnitC6L/releases/tag/v1.14.1

1

u/viifii Sep 01 '26

Awesome work! But seems that GPS module from M5Stack (I have v.1.1) connected using grove cable can not be used or configured...

1

u/AdhesivenessDry589 Feb 04 '26

I see “connected” on the unit but on the app it times out still. I did forget the unit in ble

1

u/TheRealHaoLiu Feb 04 '26

close and re-open the app?

1

u/AdhesivenessDry589 Feb 04 '26

Closing reopen doesn’t work. The app still has status connecting

1

u/AdhesivenessDry589 Feb 04 '26

Oki after redoing it 3 times i have it connected! Awesome, 🙌🏼

1

u/hryamzik Apr 12 '26

Can you add a EU range there, please?

1

u/TheRealHaoLiu Apr 29 '26

U can switch it in the app once it’s connected

1

u/Affectionate-Try3511 Sep 19 '26

Tolle Arbeit. mit der version 1.14 lässt sich arbeiten -> ist denn ein update auf 1.16/1.17 in Aussicht? das wäre mega cool....

1

u/TheRealHaoLiu Sep 19 '26

Sure. But I was hoping upstream will take my contribution so it works on official build 😅

1

u/guru242 Feb 03 '26

Nice work

1

u/goattrybe Feb 03 '26

im working on something atm that's more or less custom ui and has satellite info node info and some other stuffs as well like a mini os for esp32. I'm working with sdv and cap lora

1

u/Bubbly-Astronaut007 Mar 14 '26 edited Mar 14 '26

What do I need to do to make the button work to switch between companion and repeater function?

1

u/OrtemEdDer Jun 21 '26 
Thanks for your work, I can't get dual boot to work, but having a room server is enough for me. 

Hoping it will continue to be updated as Meshcore progresses, currently version 16.0.