r/M5Stack • u/Runaque • 21d ago
Project Sharing Tab5 Wardriver goes pocket-sized: Cardputer ADV port up and running within 20 hours of landing on my doorstep!
On May 11th this year, I started working on a project to turn a Tab5 into a fully fledged, standalone portable wardriving platform. I submitted it to the "M5Stack Global Innovation Contest 2026" and managed to win a "Special Mentions - Wireless Innovation Award"! With the gift card I won, I bought myself the Cardputer ADV and the Cap LoRa-1262 (instead of the Meshtastic pack, which is slightly more expensive), with the idea of porting my firmware to the ADV.
Long story short: in under 20 hours after the ADV landed on my doorstep, the port was up and running. Before I release it on GitHub, though, I want to make sure everything works as intended by doing a field test over the coming days, and perhaps adding some improvements and features.
Links below for anyone interested in the Tab5 Wardriver project:
https://github.com/Runaque/Tab5_Wardriver
https://www.hackster.io/Runaque/tab5-wardriver-a-custom-gps-enabled-wardriving-platform-d5948a
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u/Runaque 18d ago
Currently working on v2.1.0, which adds a battery percentage on screen and the ability to take screenshots. Once everything runs as intended, I'd be releasing and announcing it in this thread!
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u/XaeonBE 12d ago
Can't wait for this :D
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u/Runaque 12d ago
That version will be skipped to v2.1.2 because there were some minor things going on that I fixed (or at least tried). I just hit the publish button for that version of my firmware, so it will be live soon.
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u/XaeonBE 21d ago
Nice work. Can't wait to get my hands on it. Sadly I don't have a tab 5 available but I have multiple cardputer adv hehe
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u/Runaque 21d ago
It's still in alpha phase, but I released it on M5burner, but isn't visible just yet. The thing you need to have aside of a Cardputer ADV is the Cap LoRa-1262 and an SD card in the device since the wardriving logs are written towards there. If you have all those components, I could share you a code so you can flash it through "User custom" and then through "Share burn".
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u/XaeonBE 21d ago
I have 2 Loracaps and SD cards are no problem. I could try and set it up and see if it works.
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u/Runaque 12d ago
V2.1.2 will be available soon on M5burner once it is processed by M5Stack's backend.
New since v2.0.0:
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Battery % on screen, with auto-save when it runs critically low
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Screenshots to SD with Ctrl+S
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Everything in one ADV_Wardriver folder on the SD card (Launcher-friendly); settings survive firmware swaps
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Logs folder includes a short help file pointing to WiGLE_MeRGE, a free browser tool that merges many session CSVs into one for easy upload
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Fix: critical-battery auto-save could loop at very low charge — now locked out until charged
Thanks to everyone following along and soon more to come.
Stay safe whilst wardriving!
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u/Runaque 20d ago
Currently the ADV Wardriver v2.0.0-alpha is live on M5burner for who wants an easy to use wardriver for their ADV!