General questions for esp32 newb

Duhjoker
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Joined: Mon Mar 20, 2017 8:09 am

General questions for esp32 newb

Postby Duhjoker » Mon Apr 03, 2017 10:08 pm

Hi guys

I am a newb to ESP but a novice with arduino and teensy. I've been trying to develop an arduino compatible handheld console with an easy to learn gaming library that allows ANY ONE to easily make games for a handheld console you build your self. I've been using a teensy but they are a lil problematic. So I was looking around and found the ESP32 board on the EBay and was given some info but I need to ask for some clarifictations.

First how do you power the board for portability. I saw something on a site that said the ESP32 should be powered directly from a lipo battery but the smallest voltage is 3.7v and can't figure out how to get it with in the 3.3v to 3.6v parameters for voltage.

Also..... Am I correct that they come with an onboard flash of 4mbytes?

And what about digital inputs? I would need at least 12.

I'm using an ili9341 TFT screen for my project for now since they are so common. I see in the libraries that paulS and KurtE added ESP8266 capability but I don't see the esp32 listed. how hard would it be to add the esp32 to the code library.
Fear is the mind killer.......

GameR the DIY iot gaming device that does more......
https://github.com/Duhjoker/GameR-Iot_ESP

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kolban
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Re: General questions for esp32 newb

Postby kolban » Tue Apr 04, 2017 5:14 am

Howdy and welcome to the community. Some boards such as the Sparkfun ESP32 thing https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13907 have battery connectors already attached. I suspect that if we look at the schematic, we will find a voltage regulator.

The current modules do indeed have 4 MBytes of flash.

There are well over 30 digital inputs/outputs. Unlike other devices, no pins are "fixed" on the ESP32 and almost any pin can be used for any function.

Most displays have libraries available.

See for example this post. The NES game system has been made to run on the ESP32.

https://esp32.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=325
Free book on ESP32 available here: https://leanpub.com/kolban-ESP32

Duhjoker
Posts: 85
Joined: Mon Mar 20, 2017 8:09 am

Re: General questions for esp32 newb

Postby Duhjoker » Tue Apr 04, 2017 7:11 am

Ok here is the dev board I'm looking at......

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vi ... ID=EBAY-US

So I can power the board using a 3.7v battery?

Wow I like the any pin can be any thing idea. That will allow me to even up the wiring out for the prototype console.

I am trying to play around with my gaming library and adding the if defined stuff to the esp8266 so it would compile with the esp32 but I'm having a problem getting the extensa-esp32-elf-g++ file. When I click on the get.exe it adds stuff to my folder like the sdk for sure but no elf file.

My computer is Windows 7 64bit.
Fear is the mind killer.......

GameR the DIY iot gaming device that does more......
https://github.com/Duhjoker/GameR-Iot_ESP

Duhjoker
Posts: 85
Joined: Mon Mar 20, 2017 8:09 am

Re: General questions for esp32 newb

Postby Duhjoker » Wed Apr 05, 2017 2:31 am

I googled the elf fole that it says its missing above but that particular elf file doesnt show up on any search.

Im using this guide for the espressif stuff

https://www.espressif.com/sites/default ... ide_en.pdf

I will be using the esp i linked to earlier but i was using this turorial for the arduino stuff.


https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/es ... okup-guide
Fear is the mind killer.......

GameR the DIY iot gaming device that does more......
https://github.com/Duhjoker/GameR-Iot_ESP

schufti
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Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2017 12:55 pm

Re: General questions for esp32 newb

Postby schufti » Wed Apr 05, 2017 10:48 am

in the directory where you clicked on the get.exe there should appear a subdirectory "xtensa-esp32-elf" with a subdirectory "bin" where you should find the ominous "extensa-esp32-elf-g++" (the compiler).
If not, then try a new clean installation like mentioned here:
http://www.esp8266.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=14222

copercini
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Joined: Wed Dec 21, 2016 4:44 pm

Re: General questions for esp32 newb

Postby copercini » Wed Apr 05, 2017 1:11 pm

Duhjoker wrote: When I click on the get.exe it adds stuff to my folder like the sdk for sure but no elf file.

My computer is Windows 7 64bit.
Try click on get.py instead of get.exe...

Duhjoker
Posts: 85
Joined: Mon Mar 20, 2017 8:09 am

Re: General questions for esp32 newb

Postby Duhjoker » Thu Apr 06, 2017 3:13 am

Ok so I had python 2.7 already installed so that made that part easier. I then did a fresh install of the the 8266 and 32 libraries. Doing both get.py and get.exe seems to have fixed that problem but now I'm having a different sort of problem I guess. Both my gaming library and the ili9341 library use AVR/sleep.h to help kill energy theft when buttons or tasks aren't being used.

And of course there is no AVR in the libraries that I could find so I'm wondering how to fix this since a lot my cores use ARM and Arduino.

I checked out the NES emulator and I actually know some one who is on the verge of mass production of some thing like that and what I'm doing. Mine will be all DIY though.

Thanks guys for the help
Fear is the mind killer.......

GameR the DIY iot gaming device that does more......
https://github.com/Duhjoker/GameR-Iot_ESP

Duhjoker
Posts: 85
Joined: Mon Mar 20, 2017 8:09 am

Re: General questions for esp32 newb

Postby Duhjoker » Tue Apr 11, 2017 8:35 am

Ok so i have a library now for the ESP32 and most of the common 340x220 resolution tft's.

I found adafruits driver library for the ili9341 which now works with esp32 and added a ton of graphics functions to it incliding a tile map function that lets you store your bitmaps once in progmem then use a json type file to print it out in arrays of integers. I also added collosion detection.

The graphics part all works but some optimizations are needed.

In a couple libraries i was working with had a call to use eagle_soc.h with 8266 but i found a version in a sdk that was written for esp32. Do i have to install all the sdk's contents or can i simply place the file in the same ditectory for the esp32 as it resides in the 8266 sdk
Fear is the mind killer.......

GameR the DIY iot gaming device that does more......
https://github.com/Duhjoker/GameR-Iot_ESP

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