GP2040-CE Binary Tools

Tools for working with GP2040-CE binary dumps.

Dependencies

While not necessary for most tools, you may want picotool as an alternative way to dump binary data from the board. These dumps can be created with gp2040ce-binary-tools natively, but having an alternative way to create a binary dump can be helpful, as these tools work as well (or better) with a binary dump as over USB.

Protobuf Files

All tools take -P PATH flag(s) in order to import Protobuf files (either precompiled Python files or raw .proto files) if you have them locally, in order to work with the latest (or development) version of the configuration. That said, this tool also includes a precompiled fallback version of the config structure if you cannot supply these files. Be aware, however, that they are a point in time snapshot, and may lag the real format in undesirable ways. Supply the latest Protobuf files if you can.

An example of this invocation is:

visualize-storage -P ~/proj/GP2040-CE/proto -P ~/proj/GP2040-CE/lib/nanopb/generator/proto --filename memory.bin

Installation

% pip install gp2040ce-binary-tools

Development Installation

% git clone [URL to this repository]
% cd gp2040ce-binary-tools
% python -m venv venv
% source ./venv/bin/activate
% pip install -e .
% pip install -Ur requirements/requirements-dev.txt

Tools

In all cases, online help can be retrieved by providing the -h or --help flags to the below programs.

Config Editor

A terminal UI config editor, capable of viewing and editing existing configurations, can be launched via edit-config. It supports navigation both via the keyboard or the mouse, and can view and edit either a binary file made via picotool or configuration directly on the board in BOOTSEL mode over USB.

Simple usage:

Key(s)	Action
Up, Down	Move up and down the config tree
Left, Right	Scroll the tree left and right (when content is long)
Space	Expand a tree node to show its children
Enter	Expand a tree node, or edit a leaf node (bools toggle)
Tab (in edit popup)	Cycle highlight between input field and buttons
Enter (in edit popup)	Choose dropdown option or activate button
S	Save the config to the opened file
Q	Quit without saving

A quick demonstration of the editor is available on asciinema.org.

concatenate

concatenate combines a GP2040-CE firmware .bin file (such as from a fresh build) with:

• a GP2040-CE board config, in the form of
  • a config section .bin (with footer) (optionally padded) (--binary-board-config-filename) or
  • a JSON file representing the config (--json-board-config-filename)
• and/or a GP2040-CE user config, in the form of
  • a config section .bin (with footer) (optionally padded) (--binary-user-config-filename) or
  • a JSON file representing the config (--json-user-config-filename)

...and produces a properly-offset firmware file suitable for flashing to a board with the provided config(s). This may be useful to ensure the board is flashed with a particular configuration, for instances such as producing a binary to flash many boards with a particular configuration (specific customizations, etc.), creating a file suitable for the initial install of a fresh board (a "board config"), or keeping documented backups of what you're testing with during development.

The --...-board-config-filename flags allow for shipping a default configuration as part of the binary, replacing the need for generating these board configurations at compile time. This allows for more custom builds and less dependency on the build jobs, and is a feature in progress in the core firmware.

The produced firmware + config(s) can be written to a file with --new-binary-filename FILENAME or straight to a RP2040 in BOOTSEL mode with --usb. The output file is a direct binary representation by default, but if FILENAME ends in ".uf2", it will be written in the UF2 format, which is generally more convenient to the end user.

Sample usage:

% concatenate build/GP2040-CE_foo_bar.bin --binary-user-config-filename storage-dump.bin \
    --new-binary-filename new-firmware-with-config.bin

dump-config

dump-config replaces the need for picotool in order to make a copy of the GP2040-CE configuration as a binary file. This could be used with the other tools, or just to keep a backup.

Sample usage:

% dump-config `date +%Y%m%d`-config-backup.bin

dump-gp2040ce

dump-gp2040ce replaces the need for picotool in order to make a copy of a board's full GP2040-CE image as a binary file. This could be used with the other tools, or just to keep a backup.

Sample usage:

% dump-gp2040ce `date +%Y%m%d`-backup.bin

visualize-storage

visualize-storage reads a GP2040-CE board's configuration, either over USB or from a dump of the board's flash storage section, and prints it out for visual inspection or diffing with other tools. It can also find the storage section from a GP2040-CE whole board dump, if you have that instead. Usage is simple; just connect your board in BOOTSEL mode or pass the tool your binary file to analyze along with the path to the Protobuf files.

Sample output:

% visualize-storage --usb
boardVersion: "v0.7.2"
gamepadOptions {
  inputMode: INPUT_MODE_HID
  dpadMode: DPAD_MODE_DIGITAL
  socdMode: SOCD_MODE_SECOND_INPUT_PRIORITY
  invertXAxis: false
  invertYAxis: false
  switchTpShareForDs4: true
  lockHotkeys: false
}
hotkeyOptions {
  hotkeyF1Up {
    dpadMask: 1
    action: HOTKEY_SOCD_UP_PRIORITY
  }
  hotkeyF1Down {
    dpadMask: 2
    action: HOTKEY_SOCD_NEUTRAL
  }
  ...[and so on]...
}
pinMappings {
  pinDpadUp: 19
  pinDpadDown: 18
  pinDpadLeft: 16
  pinDpadRight: 17
  pinButtonB1: 8
  pinButtonB2: 7
  pinButtonB3: 12
  pinButtonB4: 11
  pinButtonL1: 9
  pinButtonR1: 10
  pinButtonL2: 5
  pinButtonR2: 6
  pinButtonS1: 15
  pinButtonS2: 13
  pinButtonL3: 21
  pinButtonR3: 22
  pinButtonA1: 14
  pinButtonA2: 20
}
...[and so on]...
addonOptions {
  bootselButtonOptions {
    enabled: false
    buttonMap: 0
  }
  ...[and so on]...
  dualDirectionalOptions {
    enabled: true
    upPin: 23
    downPin: 27
    leftPin: 26
    rightPin: 24
    dpadMode: DPAD_MODE_DIGITAL
    combineMode: 3
  }
  ...[and so on]...
}
forcedSetupOptions {
  mode: FORCED_SETUP_MODE_OFF
}

Miscellaneous

Version information

The GP2040-CE configuration is still changing, so the tools are changing accordingly. This project doesn't currently make a huge effort to be backwards compatible, so instead, refer to this:

• gp2040ce-binary-tools >=v0.5.1 supports GP2040-CE >=v0.7.5.
• gp2040ce-binary-tools <=v0.5.0 supported GP2040-CE <v0.7.5.

Dumping the GP2040-CE board with picotool

Some of these tools require a dump of your GP2040-CE board, either the storage section or the whole board, depending on the context. The storage section of a GP2040-CE board is a reserved 16 KB starting at 0x101FC000. To dump your board's storage with picotool:

% picotool save -r 101FC000 10200000 memory.bin

And to dump your whole board:

% picotool save -a whole-board.bin