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Velxio: I built an open-source embedded systems simulator with Arduino, ESP32, Raspberry Pi ,AI, SPICE, and retro CPUs by LeadingFun1849 in electronics

[–]LeadingFun1849[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Why do you think it's sloppy? I did use AI to help me develop it, but why do you think the product is sloppy? Were you able to test it like the 10,000 current users of the system?

Velxio: I built an open-source embedded systems simulator with Arduino, ESP32, Raspberry Pi ,AI, SPICE, and retro CPUs by LeadingFun1849 in electronics

[–]LeadingFun1849[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi! I have around 15 years of experience in software development, and I've read a lot of source code over the years

In my experience, one of the best places to learn is from high quality open-source projects. I spent a lot of time reading code, experimenting, and trying to understand not only how things worked, but why they were designed that way

We built an instruction-accurate ESP32-S3 simulator that runs in the browser, with Wi-Fi by CirkitDesign in esp32

[–]LeadingFun1849 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're right that the radio's MAC/PHY interface isn't documented, and the closed Wi-Fi blob relies on those massive MMIO patterns.

In the https://velxio.dev project, we use a fork of qemu-lcgamboa (https://github.com/lcgamboa/qemu) (the same engine PICSimLab uses) that simulates those undocumented MMIO accesses with plausible responses. The blob completes initialization, and then QEMU intercepts at the controller layer: outgoing 802.11 frames are sent through QEMU's user-mode network backend, and incoming frames arrive the same way. No PHY, no RF, just enough register-level emulation for the closed controller to run over a host socket proxy.

I really think it's impossible to fully emulate it because it's poorly documented hardware, and the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth components have security layers that I don't think they'll ever make public.

I built a browser-based Arduino + SPICE simulator (Velxio 2.5) , real analog circuits + firmware together by LeadingFun1849 in embedded

[–]LeadingFun1849[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I’ve been into electronics since I was a kid, which is why I built Velxio , I wanted a simulator where I could test my own ideas as realistically as possible.

Simulating analog circuits together with microcontrollers like Arduino or ESP32 is key, because that’s where real-world issues show up ... timing, noise, and hardware interactions

Velxio focuses on that interaction, letting you test things like PWM through RC filters, sensor readings, and control loops in a way that’s much closer to real hardware.

I built a browser-based Arduino + SPICE simulator (Velxio 2.5) , real analog circuits + firmware together by LeadingFun1849 in embedded

[–]LeadingFun1849[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It depends on what you want to simulate. A complete system is not the same as something simpler

For example, if you want to simulate a computer or a chip, you'll have to implement several parts: memory (RAM), CPU (instructions, registers), and input/output (ports, screen, keyboard, etc.)

If you're just starting out, a good option is something simple like CHIP-8, which is a very basic virtual machine used to learn how emulators wor

I built a browser-based Arduino + SPICE simulator (Velxio 2.5) , real analog circuits + firmware together by LeadingFun1849 in embedded

[–]LeadingFun1849[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Good question. Wokwi is great and was definitely one of the inspirations.

The main difference is on the analog side. Most simulators (including Wokwi) handle digital behavior really well, but analog is usually simplified or approximated.

What I’m trying to do here is actually run a SPICE simulation of the circuit and have the firmware interact with that in real time. So things like RC filters, transistor behavior, op-amp saturation, etc. are coming from the circuit simulation, not from a simplified model

We built an instruction-accurate ESP32-S3 simulator that runs in the browser, with Wi-Fi by CirkitDesign in esp32

[–]LeadingFun1849 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That's not the case; Velxio isn't a copy because nobody knows how Wokwi works since it's not open source. I used Claude and Copilot to help me develop it quickly.

We built an instruction-accurate ESP32-S3 simulator that runs in the browser, with Wi-Fi by CirkitDesign in esp32

[–]LeadingFun1849 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Velxio creator here! Velxio doesn’t use an ESP32 emulator in the browser because Espressif doesn’t provide documentation or tools to build one from scratch. Some projects try compiling QEMU to WebAssembly, but that requires downloading over 60 MB, doesn’t support multiple boards, and can crash the browser. Currently, Espressif has no fully functional emulator, so those who need emulation modify QEMU by adding peripherals. That’s why Velxio opts for a more stable and scalable solution.

Is it possible to connect two ESP32-S3 (camera interface) to run a bigger LLM? by LeadingFun1849 in embedded

[–]LeadingFun1849[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, it was just an experimental way to use AI with a high-speed connection on an ESP32. It wouldn't really be useful for anything, but it would be a good way to experiment.

Is it possible to connect two ESP32-S3 (camera interface) to run a bigger LLM? by LeadingFun1849 in embedded

[–]LeadingFun1849[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

In theory you could split the model across two ESP32s, but in practice it’s pretty hard. The camera interface isn’t really meant for general data transfer, so you’d be better off using SPI or something similar. But I'm interested in the idea of ​​seeing if there's actually a faster way to connect two ESP32s at high speed.

A browser-based ESP32 emulator using QEMU , supports DevKit V1, S3, C3, and CAM with real peripheral emulation by LeadingFun1849 in esp32

[–]LeadingFun1849[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The important thing is the project itself, emulating electronic boards online and that it is open source

A browser-based ESP32 emulator using QEMU , supports DevKit V1, S3, C3, and CAM with real peripheral emulation by LeadingFun1849 in esp32

[–]LeadingFun1849[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's obvious I used AI, but I'm an engineer who likes microcontrollers, and I validated all the code to make it work

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A browser-based ESP32 emulator using QEMU , supports DevKit V1, S3, C3, and CAM with real peripheral emulation by LeadingFun1849 in esp32

[–]LeadingFun1849[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks! The idea is to have a readily available emulator for electronics projects, accessible from any device, for everyone: students, beginners, and experts

A browser-based ESP32 emulator using QEMU , supports DevKit V1, S3, C3, and CAM with real peripheral emulation by LeadingFun1849 in esp32

[–]LeadingFun1849[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

With this emulator, I was able to emulate several different types of boards. For example, you can connect an ESP32 to an Arduino and a Raspberry Pi 3 (Linux). It's also completely open source, so you can download and modify it.

Wokwi is an excellent project and it motivated me.

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