[Info] Using Raspberry Pi as a development environment
Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2016 9:34 pm
When we build solutions using the ESP32, we need a development environment on which to build those solutions. We also need some infrastructure for testing. For example if we are using I2C, SPI, UART or other protocols, we may wish to test that those are working. In the current DevKitC I have, it doesn't automatically cause the ESP32 to enter flash mode when I wish to flash. I also like to watch my serial console during development. And of course, the ESP32 needs to be powered.
With these thoughts in mind, I wondered if we could use a Raspberry Pi 3 to assist with some or all of these tasks. The result is a bread-boarded DevKitC connected to the Pi as shown in the following picture:
The Pi can now control all aspects of I/O on the ESP32 ... including serial access and reboots into different modes. From there, we have a lot of choices. Here is a screen shot of a simple browser based app connecting to a Node.js server running on the Pi that is controlling boots and console output:
We can also run the full compile tool-chain on Pi including the Espressif IDF. So in principle, no need for any desktop PCs. I'm working with some folks on porting software to ESP32 and those folks don't yet have ESP32s ... so now we have a "cloud hosted" environment ... and when all is said and done, they could even write their code, perform their compiles, flash to ESP32 and see the console ... all from a browser ... anywhere on the Internet.
Notes on using the Raspberry Pi as a development environment can found in a free downloadable PDF available here:
https://leanpub.com/ESP8266_ESP32
A download of a compressed tar file containing the binaries of a build of the Xtensa tool chain for the ARM processors (specifically the Raspberry Pi 3) can be downloaded here:
http://www.neilkolban.com/esp32/downloa ... elf.tar.gz
I recommend the content be extracted to the /opt directory.
A YouTube video illustrating the story is available here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt0aaMQD1WI
*** this post contains some edits made over time ***
With these thoughts in mind, I wondered if we could use a Raspberry Pi 3 to assist with some or all of these tasks. The result is a bread-boarded DevKitC connected to the Pi as shown in the following picture:
The Pi can now control all aspects of I/O on the ESP32 ... including serial access and reboots into different modes. From there, we have a lot of choices. Here is a screen shot of a simple browser based app connecting to a Node.js server running on the Pi that is controlling boots and console output:
We can also run the full compile tool-chain on Pi including the Espressif IDF. So in principle, no need for any desktop PCs. I'm working with some folks on porting software to ESP32 and those folks don't yet have ESP32s ... so now we have a "cloud hosted" environment ... and when all is said and done, they could even write their code, perform their compiles, flash to ESP32 and see the console ... all from a browser ... anywhere on the Internet.
Notes on using the Raspberry Pi as a development environment can found in a free downloadable PDF available here:
https://leanpub.com/ESP8266_ESP32
A download of a compressed tar file containing the binaries of a build of the Xtensa tool chain for the ARM processors (specifically the Raspberry Pi 3) can be downloaded here:
http://www.neilkolban.com/esp32/downloa ... elf.tar.gz
I recommend the content be extracted to the /opt directory.
A YouTube video illustrating the story is available here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt0aaMQD1WI
*** this post contains some edits made over time ***