Where to start?

Scotty2541
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2021 3:04 am

Where to start?

Postby Scotty2541 » Tue Nov 30, 2021 3:39 am

Hello,
I have some getting started questions, these should be easy, but I can't find any answers...

I am brand new (complete newbie) to this ecosystem.
But I am not new to the development world. I've coded for Windows, MicroChip, TI, (BeagleBone, TIVAC, MSP... ), PI, Quartus, etc... So this type of material is not new to me...

I have a ESP32-S2-DevKitC-1 (it was about the only one that wasn't a 6 week back-order).
How do I made the LED light up? The schematic shows some "smart" led that I cannot find ANY documentation on. It's called "SK68xx..." But doesn't say who the manufacturer is. Does it use PWM? I2C? SPI? I have no specs on it.
(All other demo boards actually tell you those parts, and have a real BOM... this schematic and hardware page isn't giving a clue)

Semi-hardware issues:
Is there some reason this board (ESP32-S2-DevKitC-1) is not listed under version 4.3.1 in the online doc?
I go to the home page https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp ... index.html
And on the left side I can select the ESP-S2, and version 4.3.1... My board is NOT listed under Getting Started.
And those selection options on the left are now GONE. There is no way to change your selection once you've made it...

So I reload from my bookmark, and can find my board under the selection ESP-S2, and version "Master".
But nothing compiles, a bunch of symbols are undefined. (Because I have v4.3.1 - obviously)

Software:
I installed the entire package on Windows, using " ESP-IDF Tools Installer for Windows".
Okay so far.
Question: how do I get that esp-idf folder OFF my desktop?
(I prefer to be able to organize my file system the way I want. Especially when my system has several other development environments)
I can't just move it, because something in the Eclipse environment is setting the include paths, and I can't find what/where?
All the includes are:
-IC:/Users/scott/Desktop/esp-idf/components/newlib/platform_include
-IC:/Users/scott/Desktop/esp-idf/components/freertos/include
-IC:/Users/scott/Desktop/esp-idf/components/freertos/port/xtensa/include
-IC:/Users/scott/Desktop/esp-idf/components/esp_hw_support/include
...

Is there a way to run the monitor in Eclipse? Rather than shelling out to a prompt and manually entering it?
And is there a page explaining how to use a debugger?
As I am doing things now, I build, load, run, then execute idf.py monitor and debug by print statements.
That locks the COM port as well, so I have to terminate the monitor in order to reload from eclipse.

The API page defining the Timer Config and Channel Config structures are lacking some details in their explanations for a newbie to understand this device. Took a lot of trial and error so stop the error messages from the monitor. However, going back to the first question, I still don't know what it takes to operate the LED, since it's not a simple light.

Any newbie oriented advice is appreciated.

Baldhead
Posts: 433
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2019 5:16 am

Re: Where to start?

Postby Baldhead » Tue Nov 30, 2021 5:43 am

Hi,

I dont know eclipse.

why don't you install visual studio code and after that install the espressif extension for visual studio code ?!

regarding the led:
just type on google sk68xx datasheet.

cgandrewdev
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:38 pm

Re: Where to start?

Postby cgandrewdev » Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:48 pm

The LED is a digitally controlled device that you write bits to to set the colors. Datasheet Here.
There is also an Arduino library on GitHub for it (or a similar unit) here.

Scotty2541
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2021 3:04 am

Re: Where to start?

Postby Scotty2541 » Tue Nov 30, 2021 2:00 pm

Thanks.
I was searching for that LED on normal sites (DigiKey, Mouser, Adafruit...), somehow came up with a 6812 part number, because the 'xx' looked like wildcards. So I wasn't coming up with anything. Google was giving me sites in Chinese. But I think I found something written in both. Thanks.

Eclipse was part of the big master installer I used. I figured is that was what Espressif was distributing, it was the 'preferred' IDE.

I also have VSCode installed, but I find it lacking compared to real Visual Studio, Eclipse, Android Studio, etc. Plus the desire of these IDE creators to just reinvent the wheel gets rather annoying. Everyone has to use different shortcut keys (and define with with conflicting functions).

Anyway, the issue would be the same: Where are those 100+ include paths defined in VSCode? So I can move the folder off my desktop, and stick in a subfolder somewhere more organized.

Scotty2541
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2021 3:04 am

Re: Where to start?

Postby Scotty2541 » Tue Nov 30, 2021 9:04 pm

cgandrewdev wrote:
Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:48 pm
The LED is a digitally controlled device that you write bits to to set the colors. Datasheet Here.
There is also an Arduino library on GitHub for it (or a similar unit) here.
Cool. Thanks. That's a bit better than the data sheet I found with Google.
http://www.normandled.com/upload/201804 ... asheet.pdf

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