M5UnitModules
Drivers for M5Stack Unit peripheral modules, for use with Tactility OS on ESP32 devices.
Available drivers
| Header | Unit | Interface | Address |
|---|---|---|---|
Unit8Encoder.h |
8Encoder - 8 rotary encoders + LEDs | I2C | 0x41 |
UnitByteButton.h |
ByteButton - 8 buttons + RGB LEDs | I2C | 0x47 |
UnitJoystick2.h |
Joystick2 - XY joystick + button + LED | I2C | 0x63 |
UnitScroll.h |
Scroll - single encoder + button + LED | I2C | 0x40 |
UnitPaHub.h |
PaHub - TCA9548A 6-channel I2C mux | I2C | 0x70 |
UnitLcd.h |
LCD Unit - 135x240 IPS display (ESP32-PICO) | I2C | 0x3E |
UnitDualButton.h |
Dual Button - 2 GPIO buttons | GPIO | - |
UnitCardKB2.h |
CardKB2 - QWERTY keyboard | I2C | 0x5F |
UnitMidi.h |
MIDI Unit / Synth Unit - SAM2695 synth | UART | 31250 bps |
UnitRfid2.h |
RFID2 - WS1850S/MFRC522-compat RFID reader/writer | I2C | 0x28 |
Usage
Without CMake component
Source files are compiled directly into your app (same pattern as TactilityCpp and SoundEngine). In your app's main/CMakeLists.txt:
file(GLOB_RECURSE SOURCE_FILES
Source/*.c*
../../../Libraries/M5UnitModules/Source/*.c*
)
idf_component_register(
SRCS ${SOURCE_FILES}
INCLUDE_DIRS
../../../Libraries/TactilityCpp/Include
../../../Libraries/M5UnitModules/Include
REQUIRES TactilitySDK
)
Then include headers as:
#include <UnitByteButton.h>
Standalone (direct I2C)
All I2C units take a Device* from device_find_by_name("i2c1"). External peripherals are on i2c1; i2c0 is reserved for internal device-tree hardware.
#include <tactility/device.h>
#include <UnitByteButton.h>
Device* i2c = device_find_by_name("i2c1");
UnitByteButton bb;
if (bb.begin(i2c)) {
uint8_t mask = bb.readButtons(); // bitmask, bit i = button i
bb.setLed(0, 0x00FF00); // set button 0 LED to green
}
Through PaHub (I2C multiplexer)
When multiple units share the same I2C address, or more than 6 units are needed, connect them via a PaHub. Select the channel before each operation:
#include <UnitPaHub.h>
#include <Unit8Encoder.h>
Device* i2c = device_find_by_name("i2c1");
UnitPaHub hub;
Unit8Encoder enc;
if (hub.begin(i2c)) {
hub.select(0); // channel 0
enc.begin(i2c); // device on channel 0 is now reachable
}
// In your poll loop:
hub.select(0);
int32_t deltas[8];
uint8_t buttons[8];
enc.readAll(deltas, buttons);
GPIO unit (DualButton)
UnitDualButton uses the Tactility GPIO controller rather than raw ESP-IDF GPIO:
#include <tactility/device.h>
#include <UnitDualButton.h>
Device* gpio = device_find_by_name("gpio0");
UnitDualButton db;
if (db.begin(gpio, GPIO_NUM_36, GPIO_NUM_26)) {
bool a = db.isButtonAPressed();
bool b = db.isButtonBPressed();
}
UART unit (MIDI / Synth)
UnitMidi uses the uart_controller kernel driver. Pass a Device* from device_find_by_name() to begin():
#include <tactility/device.h>
#include <UnitMidi.h>
Device* uart = device_find_by_name("uart1");
UnitMidi midi;
if (midi.begin(uart)) {
midi.programChange(0, 0); // channel 0, program 0 (Grand Piano)
midi.noteOn(0, 60, 100); // middle C, velocity 100
midi.noteOff(0, 60);
}
CardKB2 in UART mode
After switching the CardKB2 to UART mode (Fn+Sym+2), use beginUart() instead of begin():
#include <tactility/device.h>
#include <UnitCardKB2.h>
Device* uart = device_find_by_name("uart1");
UnitCardKB2 kb;
if (kb.beginUart(uart)) {
// Poll at ~50ms; returns ASCII of last pressed key, 0 if none
char c = kb.getKey();
}
The driver tracks Aa (caps lock / one-shot shift), Sym (symbol mode), and Fn internally. Switch back to I2C mode on the keyboard with Fn+Sym+1.
UART mode: Fn+1 (Esc = 0x1B) and Fn+D/X/Z/C (cursor up/down/left/right = 0x1E/0x1F/0x1D/0x1C) are fully supported - the firmware sends the raw KEY_ID in the UART frame and the driver translates it.
I2C mode: Fn+1 and Fn+D/X/Z/C produce no output. The firmware's I2C slave queue only holds regular ASCII; the Fn-combo branch routes directly to BLE HID and does not push to the I2C queue.
BLE HID mode: Standard USB HID keycodes are sent (ESC=0x29, Up=0x52, Down=0x51, Left=0x50, Right=0x4F). The Tactility BluetoothHidHost maps all five to the correct LV_KEY_* values.
I2C protocol note
Most M5Stack Units use an STM32 microcontroller internally. These require a STOP condition between the register-pointer write and the data read (STM32 HAL populates the tx buffer after STOP, before the next START). Using a repeated-START causes bus errors.
UnitCommon.h provides unitReadReg which implements the required STOP + 2ms delay pattern automatically. All STM32-based drivers use this helper.
The LCD Unit is an exception - it contains an ESP32-PICO and uses a command-based I2C protocol without the STOP+delay requirement.
UnitRfid2 - RFID2 Unit
The RFID2 Unit uses a WS1850S chip (drop-in MFRC522 replacement) operating at 13.56 MHz. Read range is under 20 mm.
Supported card types
| Card | SAK | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| MIFARE Classic Mini | 0x09 | 5 sectors, 20 blocks |
| MIFARE Classic 1K | 0x08 | 16 sectors, 64 blocks |
| MIFARE Classic 4K | 0x18 | 40 sectors, 256 blocks |
| MIFARE Ultralight | 0x00 | 16 user pages |
| NTAG213 | 0x00 | 45 pages; CC byte 0x12 at page 3 |
| NTAG215 | 0x00 | 135 pages; CC byte 0x3E at page 3 |
| NTAG216 | 0x00 | 231 pages; CC byte 0x6D at page 3 |
Basic usage
#include <UnitRfid2.h>
Device* i2c = device_find_by_name("i2c1");
UnitRfid2 rfid;
if (rfid.begin(i2c)) {
UnitRfid2::Uid uid;
if (rfid.readCard(&uid)) {
auto type = rfid.getCardType(uid);
// ...
rfid.haltCard();
}
}
readCard() runs the full ISO 14443-3 anticollision/SELECT sequence (including 7-byte and 10-byte cascaded UIDs) and uses WUPA so cards in HALT state are re-detected without needing to be removed.
MIFARE Classic
uint8_t block[16];
// Read with default key (0xFF×6)
rfid.mfReadBlock(4, uid, UnitRfid2::KEY_DEFAULT, block);
// Read trying both Key A and Key B
rfid.mfReadBlockKeyAB(4, uid, UnitRfid2::KEY_DEFAULT, block);
// Read trying all 15 built-in common keys automatically
UnitRfid2::MifareKey keyUsed;
rfid.mfReadBlockAuto(4, uid, block, &keyUsed);
// Write a block
rfid.mfWriteBlock(4, uid, UnitRfid2::KEY_DEFAULT, block);
// Read a full sector (4–16 blocks × 16 bytes; sectors 0-31 = 4 blocks, 32-39 = 16 blocks)
uint8_t sectorBuf[16 * 16]; // max 16 blocks for 4K large sectors
uint8_t blockCount = 0;
rfid.mfReadSector(1, uid, UnitRfid2::KEY_DEFAULT, sectorBuf, &blockCount);
KNOWN_KEYS[15] contains 15 widely-used default keys. mfReadBlockAuto tries each as Key A then Key B, which recovers data from most factory-default or commercially-programmed cards.
Sector trailers (block index % 4 == 3 for sectors 0-31; block index % 16 == 15 for sectors 32-39) contain key and access-condition data; they require the correct key to read and should not be blindly overwritten.
MIFARE Ultralight / NTAG
uint8_t page[4];
rfid.ulReadPage(4, page); // pages 0-3 are UID/config - skip for user data
uint8_t pages[16];
rfid.ulReadPages(4, 4, pages); // 4 consecutive pages starting at 4
rfid.ulWritePage(4, page); // pages 0-3 blocked (pass force=true to override)
Use ultralightPageCount(type) to get the number of user pages for a given NTAG variant. The first user page is always 4.
NDEF write (NTAG)
Write a URI NDEF record starting at page 4. The driver in TestUnitRfid2 handles the full TLV framing, URI abbreviation prefix table (http://, https://, mailto:, tel:, etc.), and page-aligned writes via ulWritePage.
Magic card UID clone (gen1a)
// Clone the UID from `sourceUid` onto a gen1a magic MIFARE Classic card
rfid.mfWriteUid(sourceUid.bytes, targetUid);
mfWriteUid uses the gen1a backdoor sequence (0x40 7-bit frame + 0x43) to open direct write access to block 0, then builds the block with the new UID, computed BCC, and the original SAK/ATQA bytes. Only works on magic gen1a cards - regular MIFARE cards protect block 0 at the chip level.
NTAG21x UID bytes are read-only at the hardware level and cannot be cloned.
M5UnitTest app
Apps/M5UnitTest/ is a hardware test app that provides a live interactive test view for each unit. It auto-detects whether a unit is connected directly or via a PaHub, and scales its UI for both portrait and landscape orientations across all supported screen sizes.
| Test view | Unit tested | Notes |
|---|---|---|
TestUnit8Encoder |
8Encoder | Live delta/button readout; LED colour cycling on encoder press |
TestUnitByteButton |
ByteButton | 8 button indicators; tapping a button lights its LED |
TestUnitCardKB2 |
CardKB2 | Keystroke echo in both I2C and UART modes |
TestUnitDualButton |
Dual Button | Configurable GPIO pin picker; red/blue circle indicators |
TestUnitJoystick2 |
Joystick2 | XY position bar graphs + button state + LED colour picker |
TestUnitLcd |
LCD Unit | Displays a colour gradient and version info on the unit's screen |
TestUnitMidi |
MIDI / Synth | Channel + program picker; Note On/Off for middle C |
TestUnitPaHub |
PaHub | Per-channel I2C address scanner with periodic re-probe |
TestUnitRfid2 |
RFID2 | Card detection with UID, type, SAK/ATQA display; Clear to re-scan |
TestUnitScroll |
Scroll | Encoder delta counter + button state + LED colour |
The RFID2 test view (TestUnitRfid2) shows a pulsing green circle while waiting, then displays card info on tap. Tapping Clear returns to idle.