# First boot

Turn a Kode Dot on for the first time: what the buttons do, how it charges, how to find it from a computer, and the one reset that fixes a boot loop.

## What it is

A Kode Dot arrives assembled and charged enough to start. There is nothing
to solder and nothing to install: hold a button, and it boots into what it
shipped with. This page is the ten minutes after that: turning it on and
off, charging it, and finding it from a computer, which is the one thing
every later page assumes.

## How to turn it on

1. Hold the **bottom side button** for two to three seconds. The screen lights.
2. Or plug in **USB-C**. The Kode Dot starts on its own, and charges while it runs.
3. To turn it off, use the power option of whatever it is running. There is no off button: power off is a firmware action that cuts the battery.

## Specifications

| Thing | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Power on | Bottom side button held 2 to 3 s. It is the charger's own power-on line, so it works from a fully off device. USB-C plugged in also starts it |
| Power off | A firmware action. kodeOS's Turn off card puts the board in deep sleep, and BOT held about a second wakes it. Ship mode, only from the console verb `ship_mode`, opens the battery switch and nothing is preserved (`internals/power-and-sleep`) |
| Top side button and the pad | Whatever the running app makes of them |
| Charging | USB-C. The Kode Dot runs while it charges |
| From a computer | The USB-C port is a USB serial port and a JTAG debugger at once, on macOS `/dev/cu.usbmodem*`. The path changes on every reconnect |
| Magnetic connector | Charges the Kode Dot, or powers something from it |
| In the box | **TBD**: whether a cable or a microSD card ships with it |

## Gotchas

> **DANGER**
>
> **It reboots over and over after a flash, and erasing the flash did not
> help.** A watchdog loop that hangs early in hardware init is a bad state in
> the display or the I2C parts, which stay powered from USB through a reset
> and through an erase. Unplug USB, hold the bottom button about 3 s to open
> the battery switch, wait 10 to 15 s, plug USB back in.

> **WARNING**
>
> **The computer does not see it.** The cable carries charge only, or the port
> path changed since you last looked. Use a cable you have moved data with,
> and list the ports again.

> **NOTE**
>
> **The port appears and the screen stays dark.** You have power and a
> firmware problem, not a dead device. Flash it again from `build/flash`, or
> install an app from `start/first-app`.