Install the system on the cube.

Got a C6L?

Two different antennas with bands. L is the long-range radio. W is labelled WiFi, but it is the 2.4 GHz antenna — in our system it works for the cube's Wi-Fi, the phone link. Screw both on and match the bands to the markings by the sockets.

The usual culprit is a cable that only charges and carries no data. Try another one. Then use installation mode — described in the note under the Flash step.

On Windows 10/11 and on a Mac, no driver is needed: the cube announces itself to the system on its own. On Linux your account has to belong to the dialout group (one command, sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER, then log out and back in).

Nothing is lost. Unplug the cable, plug it in again and install once more; the same file can be installed as many times as you need. When the cube does not respond at all, enter installation mode by hand with the note below.

Yes. The cube is not a USB stick — there is no safe-removal procedure. The only moment the cable has to stay in is the installation itself. Outside of that, unplug and replug freely; the cube simply starts fresh every time it gets power.

Hold the side button for about three seconds, until the light turns from green to red. The description comes from the manufacturer's documentation (on the cube's underside: “PRESS:RESET, HOLD:BOOT”); you will rarely need it, because the installer switches the cube into installation mode itself.

We install the Biper system: a status screen, the LED, the buzzer, and a panel the cube serves from its own memory over its own Wi-Fi — no app store, no account. Underneath runs open MeshCore, the same network everybody joins.

We say plainly where this stands: the system passes our gates, is verified byte for byte on every install, and on 20 August a pair of cubes installed entirely through this page talked in both directions, with delivery receipts. Field range and current draw are still ahead. You are installing a development version and we want you to know that.

1. Gesture Hold the button for three seconds

   The network name and an eight-character password appear on the screen. The password is fixed for your cube — the phone remembers it after the first join.

2. Wi-Fi Join the cube’s network

   In your phone’s Wi-Fi settings pick the “Biper-…” network and copy the password from the screen. Does the phone already know this network from an earlier install? Make it forget the network first — after a system install the password is new and the name stays the same.

3. Panel Open the panel

   The cube’s panel should open on its own. If it does not, type 192.168.4.1 into your browser.

4. Talk Write the first message

   The panel speaks Polish and English. The shared channel is the neighbourhood conversation, the contacts list shows your neighbours and private messages, and the SOS tab is the distress signal. The user guide is in the panel, inside the cube itself.

5. Second cube Repeat on the second one

   The radio settings are baked into the system file, so cubes from this installer transmit the same way. A cube in SIEC mode announces itself shortly after power-on — switch both on and you see each other within a minute. Manually: SETTINGS → ANNOUNCE TO NEIGHBOURS.

The cube’s Wi-Fi, not the internet. The phone joins the network the cube sets up itself — the name is “Biper-” plus a short word, for example “Biper-SOWA”. The word is fixed for your cube and shown on its screen, so with two cubes there is nothing to mix up — no internet is involved. The hotspot window closes after ten minutes with no phone connected — while you are connected, the network stays up. Another long press opens it again.

Network name (e.g. Biper-SOWA)

drawn from an identifier burned into the chip by default (like a serial number); since v0.8.7 you can set your own word in the panel (SETTINGS → CUBE’S WI-FI). A wipe or an install returns to the drawn one

Wi-Fi password

survives restarts; new after a wipe (10 s) and after every install — then make the phone forget the network and join with the password from the screen

Contacts and radio identity

survive restarts; a wipe or an install clears them completely — the cube comes back like new

SIEC/SAM mode

survives restarts; a wipe restores the default SIEC

Android can be stubborn about networks without internet. In order:

1. Pull down the notification shade — look for “Sign in to Wi-Fi network”. There? Tap it and the cube’s page opens.
2. No notification: tap the cube’s network in Wi-Fi settings and choose “Stay connected” / “Use this network as is”.
3. Turn mobile data off for a moment — with it on, the phone can route traffic over LTE instead of the cube’s Wi-Fi and 192.168.4.1 does not answer.
4. Open the browser and type 192.168.4.1.

If Private DNS (Settings → Network → Private DNS) is set to a named provider, switch it to “Automatic” — forced encrypted DNS breaks portal detection on networks without internet.

Since release 0.9.0 the Biper system carries no Bluetooth — the panel from the cube's memory is the whole interface. The cube is not locked, though: if you prefer the official app, flash stock MeshCore with the community flasher, pair the phone as the app instructs, and pick the EU/UK (Narrow) radio preset (values to check are in the table below). This installer will always bring the Biper system back in one click.

Android — Google Play iPhone — App Store

Frequency

869.618 MHz

Bandwidth (BW)

62.5 kHz

Spreading Factor (SF)

8

Coding Rate (CR)

5 (4/5)

Transmit power

22 dBm — with the bundled antenna

This is the EU/UK (Narrow) preset — the Biper profile for Poland, inside the European 868 band, baked into our system file. The public MeshCore network in Europe speaks the same profile; the community documentation recommends CR 8 — both variants hear each other, see the question below. Range measurements and the formal compliance review are still ahead — and outside Europe your region’s band applies.

No. The coding rate travels in the header of every radio packet, so the receiver decodes each packet with the CR it was sent at. What must match are the frequency, bandwidth and SF — and ours are identical to the EU/UK (Narrow) preset. A cube on 4/5 and a network node on 4/8 hear each other with no configuration at all — the Polish MeshCore community documentation describes it the same way. Our 4/5 keeps transmissions shorter; 4/8 adds slightly stronger error correction at the very edge of range.

You are. Neighbours only appear once some cube announces itself over the air. A cube in SIEC mode does that by itself about a minute after power-on; manually: SETTINGS → ANNOUNCE TO NEIGHBOURS (in the MeshCore app: Advert). In SAM mode the cube stays silent until you announce it yourself. Still empty after a while: check that the radio antenna is screwed on tight (band L) and mind the distance — a few floors can stop the very first hop.

What you see at first boot

The screen, the LED and the buzzer work from the first boot: on power-up the cube beeps once and the word BIPER drifts across the screen. Measured on our development cube.