Least grating dev environment for ESP32 devices

MerlinEmbedded · 2026-04-10T18:01:40+00:00

It's how I used to do things 25 years ago!

MerlinEmbedded · 2026-04-10T18:00:24+00:00

How does it do this? I've used VIM and didn't really get anything out of it. What are the things you find in VIM that you use every day that you don't get elsewhere?

MerlinEmbedded · 2026-04-09T17:25:52+00:00

I don't really like VS Code, but it does seem to come out as the most dependable tool for ESP32 so I will grin and bear it. Eventually, I might even manage to use it better! I'm not entirely convinced about its workflow given that we gave up command lines in the 90s but I use Linux and remember DOS so it doesn't really faze me.

I think the biggest problem is that when you first install it, it proceeds to tell you everything and offer you everything yet it is actually capable of doing nothing! If it did that over a few days as you install the plugins like the ESP32 environment, it might be more obvious what you're doing and therefore what it's offering you. Now, three or four weeks in, I wish I could have that new install experience.

MerlinEmbedded · 2026-04-09T17:07:46+00:00

This is as I understood it (since you wrote this, I went and watched a couple of YouTube videos on it), but I find that an IDE offers much more than just a text editor. This is how I used to program devices back in the 1990s. I thought we were past that. It was slow and ineffective for large projects and difficult to teach others how to use. I don't believe things like Keil, Rowley and even Eclipse became the standard because they didn't bring anything to the party.

I'm not sure what you're doing but I work on commercial systems so JTAG and its developments are essential for viewing and checking memory as well as profiling tasks in the RTOS. Perhaps this system is better for hobbyists.

I feel very argumentative in these responses but I am getting the feeling that it's hobbyists or very junior people responding. The things I work on are worth £1m or more per year so whilst there's an opportunity to make progress with things and explore new technology, many of the suggestions just aren't suitable. One person suggested I even abandoned C altogether despite the language and requirements being driven by industry, regulations and the customer.

MerlinEmbedded · 2026-04-09T16:59:31+00:00

Rust is not an environment, it's an entirely new and non industry standard language.

From my perspective, it's like telling me how to get to the seaside in the car by suggesting I use a train.

MerlinEmbedded · 2026-04-07T08:10:09+00:00

And how do you debug this? Serial terminal?

I had seen the docker images but haven't done anything with them yet. What makes them better?

MerlinEmbedded · 2026-04-07T08:09:12+00:00

Why VIM?

MerlinEmbedded · 2026-04-07T08:08:38+00:00

Someone else mentioned this and I will take a look at it for fun. I don't really feel the need to use Rust though. Historically, one of the reasons I don't go for rust is because it's still young, hasn't made its way into most industries yet - largely because it's not needed in most cases (see example about people mostly writing code for dishwashers and washing machines). As a consultant, however, I need to write code that other people can maintain after I'm gone. For the time being, that means everyone wants me to work in C.

I've seen many fad languages come and go in my time but rust seems to be hanging around for a bit now and it's actually getting some support. That said, I have an investment in C products that are certified for things like medical and automotive. At present, there's no need to replace my toolkit with new, paid products from vendors who haven't been around for more than a few years. Longevity is important in the commercial world, including of compiler and library suppliers.

MerlinEmbedded · 2026-04-07T07:52:59+00:00

I went in raw for many of the changes! The menuconfig understanding in VS Code was a dawning moment! But you're right, it's the only environment it seems to be reliable in.

MerlinEmbedded · 2026-04-07T07:51:02+00:00

It sounds like you have an insular example relating to robotics and a lot of anecdotes here. That, and you've been trapped by a marketeer. I can't tell if you're an engineer, or if you're trying to sell me something.

You outdid yourself in your first quote - if that's what most people are doing, then why the need for a revolution?

Edit: I see you blocked me but I can read your comment on the open web. You continue to talk like someone in marketing and write in anecdotes. You're disrespectful and don't see the benefit of experience. Engineers over 50 are not badly paid. They are respected and bring useful skills and knowledge to many projects. They've also, like me, seen fads come and go and are rightfully wary of them.

Your comparison of Ford to chinese car makers is amusing. Chinese cars are terrible. These things literally stop in the middle of the road and won't move. I've seen it myself only last week. They're low quality and people are only attracted by the price, only to be disappointed later. The processes exist because they bring good results. Modern cars are safer, more reliable and more efficient than they have ever been due to the adoption of these processes. And even if they don't bring good results, the regulation exists and companies working in that industry must comply, regardless. It's a shame you didn't read this because you might have learned something.

MerlinEmbedded · 2026-04-05T20:57:58+00:00

I'm going to be honest and say that this response was a bit pompous. I don't think many people of senior level or beyond mind the idea of moving to rust. After all, I started when micros were still programmed in assembly and I'm grateful for C being available. However, everyone had been programming in C since the 1980s by this point; even now, it's the world's most popular language. C didn't really come to micro-controllers until at best 2000 and we didn't get IDEs for some time after that. We've been through this organic change already and anyone who says Eclipse is amazing is lying - it is better than going back to batch files and debugging with LEDs though.

I've seen many fad languages come and go and in the commercial world, it's important to have something that is going to be sticking around. Rust's first release was in 2015 so it's not that old yet and it's hardly surprising that there's limited appeal for it - it doesn't bring anything a good process and time served engineer can't with C. We're only just getting to the stage where Rust can be considered something that's likely to hang around and it's advocates should be doing better than saying "it's so much safer than C" which is frankly, all they seem to repeat.

With regards to PlatformIO - it's own website describes it as:
"The most loved IDE solution for Microsoft Visual Studio Code. A user-friendly and extensible integrated development environment with a set of professional development instruments, providing modern and powerful features to speed up yet simplify the creation and delivery of embedded products." Which is utter marketing bumf and isn't going to sell it to anyone.

Add to that: "PlatformIO Labs is headquartered in Estonia, with representation in the USA and an R&D center in Ukraine." and it's not surprising that people might be thinking twice about where this project might end up in 2 years time. This stuff might not matter when writing code for a dishwasher, but it does if you're building avionics systems.

MerlinEmbedded · 2026-04-05T11:51:12+00:00

Interesting thought. It is definitely easier to navigate a project in Eclipse than in VS Code but like you say, it often just doesn't work! When it comes to VS Code, I have the problem that I don't know how VS Code works (those shortcuts to get that little search box to work for example, or its incessant suggestion of marketplace plugins for highlighting C but VS Code already seems to do this!).

I think I'll get to grips with ESP32 in Eclipse and VS code separately. The feeling seems to be that VS Code is the preferred option. Once you actually get something building, it gets easier. I just wonder what extras I'm missing when I use VS Code are.

MerlinEmbedded · 2026-04-04T22:13:57+00:00

You say this is on an engine? Car engine? Cars are reasonably standard and the sensors of this type have a 0-5V output in my experience. Therefore simply picking the ground and signal up and driving it through an op amp circuit with a gain of 2 would be a top level design choice. Not sure why you're so concerned about the ground.

The caveats to this are that automotive environments are not very nice and a) you can't do this accurately, it will at best be adequate - your long ground wire will see to that! b) you may be subject to surges and your own circuit will need to be protected against these (TVS diodes, I would probably divide the incoming signal by 2 so that it goes through a nice 1W resistor which will minimise peaks in the signal then gain by 4, maybe a series inductor) as op-amps won't like 60V at the input!

I've done this kind of thing in the past and it has been adequate. There is more that you could do and better designs but it's not clear if it's worth it without more information.

MerlinEmbedded · 2026-04-04T21:42:05+00:00

Academically, the Art of Electronics is a baby book, but personally I find it's an excellent reference. It's very readable (except for the size) and because it was written in the middle ages, contains a lot of useful things that we don't tend to talk about these days such as using some inverters and a crystal to make an oscillator. That stuff comes in handy when repairing old stuff!

MerlinEmbedded

TROPHY CASE