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Katapult (formerly known as CanBoot)

Bootloader for ARM Cortex-M MCUs

This bootloader was initially designed for CAN nodes to be used with Klipper. The bootloader itself makes use of Klipper's hardware abstraction layer, stripped down to keep the footprint minimal. In addition to CAN, Katapult now supports USB and UART interfaces.

Currently lpc176x, stm32 and rp2040 MCUs are supported. CAN support is currently limited to stm32 F-series and rp2040 devices.

Katapult is licensed under the GNU GPL v3.

Note: References to CanBoot remain both in the source of this repo and in related projects such as Klipper. Some of these must remain indefinitely for compatibility. Documentation and source code references that do not break compatibility will be updated over time.

Building

Katapult also uses Klipper's build system. The build is configured with menuconfig. The steps to fetch and build are as follows:

git clone https://github.com/Arksine/katapult
cd katapult
make menuconfig
make

The menuconfig will present the following options:

Once configured and built flash with a programmer such as an ST-Link. If you don't have a programmer available, it should be possible to flash STM32F103 devices via UART and STM32F042/72 devices over DFU. ST's STM32CubeProgrammer software can facilitate all of these methods, however there are also other tools such as stm32flash (UART) and dfu-util (USB DFU).

NOTE: Prior to flashing Katapult it is recommended to do a full chip erase. Doing so allows Katapult to detect that no application is present and enter the bootloader. This is required to enter the bootloader if you have not configured an alternative method of entry.

NOTE RP2040: To flash rp2040 targets mcu should be rebooted in system boot mode (usually with BOOT button pressed). After that make flash command could be used. You could also use rp2040 specific mass storage device drag-and-drop method to flash katapult.uf2 from out folder. Flashing Katapult will erase main application (i.e. klipper), so it should be uploaded with Katapult again.

Uploading Klipper

  1. Make sure the klipper service stopped.

  2. Build Klipper with CAN support and with the a bootloader offset matching that of the "application offset" in Katapult.

  3. Enter the bootloader. This will occur automatically if no program is detected. If you built Katapult with an alternative method of entry you may use that. If upgrading from a currently flashed version of Klipper the flashtool.py script will command the device to enter the bootloader (currently for CAN devices only).

  4. Run the flash script: For CAN Devices:

    cd ~/katapult/scripts
python3 flashtool.py -i can0 -f ~/klipper/out/klipper.bin -u <uuid>

    Replace <uuid> with the appropriate uuid for your can device. If the device has not been previouisly flashed with Klipper, it is possible to query the bootloader for the UUID:

    flashtool.py -i can0 -q

    NOTE: A query should only be performed when a single can node is on the network. Attempting to query multiple nodes may result in transmission errors that can force a node into a "bus off" state. When a node enters "bus off" it becomes unresponsive. The node must be reset to recover.

    For USB/UART devices: Before flashing, make sure pyserial is installed. This step only needs to be performed once:

    pip3 install pyserial

    python3 flashtool.py -d <serial device> -b <baud_rate>

    Replace <serial_device> the the path to the USB/UART device you wish to flash. The <baud_rate> is only necessary for UART devices, and defaults to 250000 baud if omitted.

Flash Tool usage

Run scripts/flashtool.py -h to display help:

usage: flashtool.py [-h] [-d <serial device>] [-b <baud rate>] [-i <can interface>]
                    [-f <klipper.bin>] [-u <uuid>] [-q] [-v] [-r]

Katapult Flash Tool

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -d <serial device>, --device <serial device>
                        Serial Device
  -b <baud rate>, --baud <baud rate>
                        Serial baud rate
  -i <can interface>, --interface <can interface>
                        Can Interface
  -f <klipper.bin>, --firmware <klipper.bin>
                        Path to Klipper firmware file
  -u <uuid>, --uuid <uuid>
                        Can device uuid
  -q, --query           Query Bootloader Device IDs
  -v, --verbose         Enable verbose responses
  -r, --request-bootloader
                        Requests the bootloader and exits (CAN only)

Can Programming

The -i option defaults to can0 if omitted. The uuid option is required for programming. The -q option will query the CAN interface for unassigned nodes, returning their UUIDs.

The -f option defaults to ~/klipper/out/klipper.bin when omitted.

Serial Programming (USB or UART)

The -d option is required. The -b option defaults to 250000 if omitted.

Request Bootloader (CAN Devices Only)

When the -r option is supplied in addition to -u (and optionally -i) the script will request that the node enter the bootloader. The script will then immediately exit, no attempt will be made to upload a new binary over the canbus. This is particularly useful for Klipper devices running "USB to CAN bridge mode". These devices upload firmware using DFU and/or Katapult-USB. This option allows the user to enter the bootloader without physical access to the board, then use the appropriate tool (dfu-util or flashtool.py -d) to upload the new binary.

Katapult Deployer

WARNING: Make absolutely sure your Katapult build configuration is correct before uploading the deployer. Overwriting your existing bootloader with an incorrectly configured build will brick your device and require a programmer to recover.

The Katapult deployer allows a user to overwrite their existing bootloader with Katapult, allowing modification and updates without a programmer. It is strongly recommended that an alternate recovery (programmer, DFU, etc) method is available in the event that something goes wrong during deployment. If coming from a stock bootloader it is also recommended that the user create a backup before proceeding.

To build the deployer set the Build Katapult deployment application option in the menuconfig to your existing bootloader offset. The additional settings apply to the Katapult binary, configure them just as you would without the deployer. Save your settings and build with make.

This will result in an additional binary in the out folder, deployer.bin. Flash deployer.bin with your existing bootloader (SD Card, HID, an older version of Katapult, etc). Once complete, the deployer should reset the device and enter Katapult. Now you are ready to use Katapult to flash an application, such as Klipper.

Contributing

Katapult is effectively a fork of Klipper's MCU source. As such, it is appropriate to retain similar contributing guidelines as Klipper. Commits should be formatted as follows:

filename: brief description of commit

More detailed explanation of the change if required.

Signed-off-by: Your Name <your email address>

All commits must be signed off with a real name and email address indicating acceptance of the developer certificate of origin.

Notes