YOU can Learn the ESP32 in 15 Minutes: Hello World! 

Start with python, C++ is much harder, and at this point it is a boutique language. BTW I started with C++ but I don't advise that for anyone starting these days

@@steveb7600 i have hard time believe these easy to use languages don't use more ram. why isn't windows 12 in python? i was told REAL men\woman program in raw machine code?

@@cdoublejj no operating system is written in a high level language, but writing an OS isn’t a typical programming job. Also RAM really isn’t an issue anymore with languages but compile/transpile speeds and code size are. If you are really curious as to why you wouldn't write an OS in a high level language I can explain that, just let me know.

@@steveb7600 i believe the high level answer is that drivers in python aren't a thing lol. though while i tease and challenge your word there actually puts perspective as far as task at hand vs languages used.

@@cdoublejj People who started back in the late '70's or '80's would probably have programmed their home computer in BASIC. To turn on a relay we would have used the POKE command and to take a sensor reading we would have used PEEK. The advantage of BASIC is that the programs run straight away, there is no compiling or downloading. You simply save your work when you reach a good stage. Using C++ puts some massive steps between you and the result. Dave makes it look easy here but home computers were much easier than this except more limited. You could do worse than go back to the place we started but use an emulator. I'm using XRoar to emulate my old Dragon 32 machine but there are ones for Commodore 64 and Sinclair Spectrum. You may quickly grow out of it, the whole scene back then was about 6 years in total and about 2 years per machine. Use this as a learning experience to give yourself confidence in BASIC the same way we did. Then move on to C or a higher level language. High level languages with the right librarys when correctly chosen make writing programs easier and faster. However C is probably 40 times better performance and Assembler 40 times better than C. But when your computer is a million times more powerful than in the 1980's it matters a lot less how fast it run than how easy it is to write.

... sorry, forgot to add. Any stuff on tasks on the ESP32 you wish to share would be great. I must admit my implementations thus far do not include any sort of locking or semaphores. I just deal with that in code - dont use the same LED (pin) in two different tasks. Hope you are having a good day :)

Its likely the same chip, ESP Wroom. They haven't added many pins to the newer chips

What borad did you buy which includes the oled?

still too expensive when compared to the I2c OLED with he ssd1306's

Arduino not only has access to, but executes entirely under the FreeRTOS kernel. It's integral to the core Arduino header, and the obligatory setup() and loop() functions are simply a priority zero task created inside a hidden main(). Everyone's already using FreeRTOS whether they know it or not. My discovering vTaskCreate() years ago was a giddy moment.

Makes sense that it would be just a layer on top of the esp-idf ot give arduino compatibility. I'm guessing. I doubt that they would have re-implemented everything for Arduino. Most devices I've used with ArduinoIDE has been without threads. Only one was Teensy with FreeRTOS and that was just ported outside Arduino so nothing else supported it so it was bit sketchy to use, but it did it's job. On esp-idf I've enabled C++ support so I can use std::thread and other standard C++ library stuff and no need to directly use FreeRTOS API. Makes life a little bit easier.

I had the same problem but I slowed down and researched how libraries and the platformio.ini file worked and now I love it. Also previous extension issues were fixed.

A little bit - I've been using the RemoteSSH extension to debug in VSCode and that's very cool. Then I tried the RemoteWSL extension and its even faster and snappier. So they both run under HyperV but the WSL integration seemed faster somehow!

I wish there was a good C64 emulator like that!

shift-clover-P brings up the menu you were using ....

Been using it for 3 years already!

A "Rover"? Like the Mars Rovers? If so, I can tell you now, that you don't need to be an engineer person to learn how to work with Arduinos (and now, ESP32s). As a science person, you already have a base of logic down and these platforms are easy to learn and there's soooo much information out there as well as tutorials and such. Literally everything you'd want to do, you can find videos on how to do whatever it is you need. From servo motors, to regular motors to robotic arms and hands/graspers... whatever sensor you need, there's a video on it. LOL

Yeah but I also like how much easier it is to test using { an } on seperate lines too.. so basically an if statement will execute 1 line of code... unless you use { and }.. however, if the next line is a { it does the whole block"... so if you wanna comment out an if statement and run it if the condition is false.. u can just comment out the if statement and leave the { and } for scope purposes.

Thanks! I'll try the header thing, that seems a lot easier!

Seconding this

@@DavesGarage I too will upvote this

Also, don't forget the gigabytes of bloat, unnecessary long compiling times and the dependency/versioning hell[1] that you get for free with PlatformIO. Yes, all the things we love and like when working with MICRO controllers (!ironic!). [1] What they force you into, their package dependency system ... they seem to forgot within the build system: Dependency checking. What a botch-up, lol. Setting up a build system with a compiler and thinking about libraries before using them won't hurt anyone. In contrary, you learn more about the inner workings of the build system, think BEFORE making avoidable errors and wasting time over your project, and learn more about the architecture you are working with. All for free. You even don't have to give up editing a fancy magic text file. Just call it "notes";)

I’d love to see more about the ESP-Prog. I’ve used it and it’s saved me lots of headaches, but it’s also fickle to set up, and there are some sketches where it simply will not work at all. I’d love for someone more knowledgeable than me to explain some of the voodoo, the limitations, etc.

They should line up vertically I figure so you can read which is which!

Yeah, I noticed that. I've trained myself not to care so now my code looks really messy with different styles everywhere.

@@DavesGarage People put them up like that to hide it and save a line. If compilers worked by indentation you'd not even need them.

I loved the reference to PDP 11. I used the first Unix/C systems as a programmer at bell labs.

@@diggee172 Likewise here. I started fixing PDP11 and VAX 11/780 "mini"computers back in the late 70's and early 80's at what was then Pacific Northwest Bell, then learned shell programming and C (Still have my K&R C book!). Amazing that these little beasts are 500 times faster than a PDP11. (PDP11/70?)

Wait, what do you mean? If I have a IRQ triggered by a contact closure or hall effect sensor (like at the crank), what's the delay before my IRQ is satisfied? Is it not possible to have an IRQ at a higher level of precedence than the task switch?

@@DavesGarage yeah I tried setting the priorities, it didn't work. You are welcome to try. It's an easy setup, just have an external interrupt that turns a gpio on then turns it off. Then trigger the interrupt externally and look at the input and output on the scope. Trigger on the input and watch the output jump around inconsistently. I did all of the recommended things and espressif support was not able to help me with the problem either.

Well, a switch comes in handy should you have many on-board peripherals though.

So you’re saying that the battery leakage (18650) rate is still even higher than the standby current? Good to know.

it's a Chinese company, which company from china has decent docs? The RTC Ameba would have killed Espressif before they ever got started but their documentation was even worse despite their amazingly cheap and advance WiFi chip

Thanks! Yup, I'd do a *LOT* better if I picked a theme and stuck with it!

@@DavesGarage actually I like the variety

Threw me off, too. To be fair, the core Arduino libraries are both C and C++, and the ESP compiler understands only some C++17 updates. Your username gave me a chuckle.

Yep, that often helps. I think I’ve just used 1μF, though. Keeps the EN pin low long enough for the programmer to set the IO0 pin (boot mode) to bootloader mode before it starts up.