Getting Started With a Blank Board
Use this page once — the first time you set up a brand-new, never-flashed Papilio Retrocade. Everything happens in this browser tab over USB and your home WiFi. Nothing is installed on your computer, and your WiFi credentials never leave your machine except to the board itself.
Already set up? Come back here only to re-flash a board back to a blank state. For everyday use — JTAG SRAM, recovery mode, or OTA firmware updates — use the full Papilio Loader — Web Edition instead.
Serial log
Flash ESP32 Firmware (USB)
We've bundled the latest official FPGA-Companion release (checking…) right here — just plug your board in over USB and flash, no download needed. The board reboots itself automatically once flashing finishes — no button press needed.
Use a different firmware file instead
Connect to Your WiFi
Sent directly to the board over the still-open USB connection — never over the internet. Already flashed and connected to WiFi from a previous session? Plug it into USB, click Find My IP below, then press RESET — no need to resend credentials.
Flash FPGA Bitstream (WiFi or USB)
Sent directly from this browser tab to the board — over WiFi if the device's IP is known (fastest), or over the same USB connection from Step 1/2 as a fallback if it isn't. No cloud relay either way. Only Gowin's headerless .bin ("Binary File") bitstream export is supported for either target below — .fs exports aren't parsed by the firmware yet. Recovery requires a known IP (WiFi OTA only for now).