I assumed that my desk was a kind of a mess... but now I realize it's just average!

Hi all,
I tried to get FOTA working two times before, and I was about to give up a third time as I had always the same problems:

• After programming the MYSBootloader I loose the ability to do upload sketches via FTDI (with both pro-mini, nano's and barebones 328P)
• With MySController I could not upload any new FW, even a simple reboot command make the arduino to lock hard and it had to be powered down.

I tried the oficial github firmwares , the ones from GuilleBot I played with fuses, boards.txt, platformio.ini setting, different GWs, etc, etc, etc....
Last night I found this issue in github that gave me the detail that was missing. Just do not upload a sketch to the board, only program the MYSBootloader and wait until it asks the FW to the controller!

Another source of confusion, at least for me, was that I did not knew what to expect of the whole process. What where the different steps and the expected duration of the upload. I will try to describe my setup and how I could finally get it working.

MySetup

• Controller: HomeAssistant
• GW:MQTT GW using ESP8266
• Portainer from the HomeAssistan AddOns
• MQTT from the HomeAssistan AddOns (mosquitto)
• FW Controller - MYCONTROLLER.ORG using MQTT GW.
  Follow this post instructions
  I installed it with docker in the same machine as HA using Portainer and cdrocker's image
• Platformio.org for building sketches and programming bootloaders
  Out of scope of this post, but way better than using Arduino. Totally worth the pain of learning it's basics.
• A MQTT Gui to see what is happening between the node and the controller
  I'm using MQTT EXplorer
• An Arduino UNO as an ISP
• Sensors: A big mess of half working handmade boards, EasyPCB and SlimNode Sensors.

Steps

• Get the correct MYSBootloader for your setup
  Check GuilleBot repository if you are using another nfr24 channel or want to play with different radio power

• Modify boards.txt or your platformio.ini to add the bootloader
  In my case, for the nano:

[platformio]
default_envs =  MYSBootloaderNano

[env]
platform = atmelavr
framework = arduino
upload_protocol = stk500v1
upload_port = /dev/ttyACM0      
upload_speed = 19200
upload_flags =
     -v
     -e
     -P$UPLOAD_PORT
     -b$UPLOAD_SPEED
lib_deps =
  MySensors
  MySensors NodeManager
  
[env:MYSBootloaderNano]
board = nanoatmega328new
board_bootloader.file = bootloader/MYSBootloader_16MHz.hex

The important bits, the upload_flags specially the -e to erase the memory and the board_bootloader.file

• Program only the bootloader (and the fuses if necessary), for platformio:

$ platformio -f -c vim run --target bootloader

• Build the FW of your node, and copy the .hex somewhere on your PC. Again for platformio:

$ platformio -f -c vim run --target run

Look in .pio/build/<board>/

• Add the FW to MyController.org following the product manual

• Build your HW if needed, plug the radio, etc

• Be sure to keep the MQTT Explorer and MyController.org to see some feedback of the whole process

• Powerup the sensor

• You will see a new node with ID 1 in MyController.org, if you look in "Status -> Resources logs" or in the MQTT Explorer you should see the node asking for a new FW.

• In MyController.org assign the FW to the new node with ID 1 and upload it.
  Check the manual if in doubt.

• You will see in MQTT Explorer that the controller and the node get very chatty. The node will ask for each piece of the HEX in small batches.

• You have some time now, get up and make yourself a cup of coffee and prepare a small celebration.

• Check the MQTT Explorer, the FW is still uploading... go and get some confetti.
  

• Check Mycontroller.org or HomeAssitant, the FW is uploaded and a new node just popup!
  

Enjoy!

@NeverDie I can give my thoughts here, and we can move it later to another thread if necessary.

The bigger selling points, at least for me:

• Every project is a self contained directory, even the boards configuration, bootloaders, libraries, code and build procedure
  I have a project template for mysensors (mainly a platform.ini) that I copy for each node that I create.
• I can manage everything with my known tools (vim, make, git, etc)

I like to play with arduino and electronics, but have other interests (Family, friends and 3 small kids...) so I usually have little time to spent in my hobbies. Platformio allows me to just have all the configuration in code and know 6 months ahead that I can do a "make clean && make upload" for a particular node without issues, even if I lost my PC, as everything is in my gitlab account.

Also the FW of my 3dprinter must be complied and uploaded with platformio (marlin 2.0) so I can have only one tool for both hobbies.