ESP32 Forum

@Leitukey
I would suggest you to buy any development board and try to actually do something with it.
This whole discussion does not make much sense.

I'm confused by the whole ESP32 vs ESP32S vs ESP-WROOM-32 thing, but as far as I know these are not ESP32S. Or at least they weren't when I bought them - they might be now though.

I also was (and still am) confused about the ESP32 vs ESP32S vs ESP-WROOM-32.

To clarify this:

• ESP32 is the chip family produced by Espressif.
• ESP-WROOM-32 is a module (ESP32 chip + supporting components) produced by Espressif. Overview here. This module is a development aid for third parties producing products or development boards using ESP32. The "WROOM" naming scheme follows on from other WROOM modules based around the ESP8266 chip.
• ESP32S was a different but pin-compatible module produced by a third party (Ai-Thinker). Unfortunately Espressif was not consulted over their choice of name. As far as I know, Ai-Thinker has stopped selling modules named ESP32S.

There is also a new WROOM32 clone module called ESP-32F which may be using one of the newer reference designs.

This whole discussion does not make much sense.

Then why are you engaging in this discussion? Feel free to disengage.

@Leitukey
I would suggest you to buy any development board and try to actually do something with it.

That is obviously foolish advice.

I would suggest you refrain from adding opinions that detract from this discussion. Thus far your opinions have generally detracted from this discussion.

I have read many accounts of developers who experimented with ESP32 development boards who dealt with unnecessary frustrations due to glitches or other hardware flaws. I would like to avoid the problems others have made.

Just because you have apparently not had any problems does not necessarily indicate other people have not. Your advice seems to boil down to, "Just do it man! I haven't had any problems therefore no one else has either."

To be fair, on a personal note, your suggestion that our CEO step down over (seen from the big picture, as silicon company) something trivial as the fact that not all devboard makers decide to use the same naming and board quality is somewhat inflammatory as well; in general, it paints you as someone who'd rather stir up the forums than buckle down and make something. Not saying that's your actual intention, I'm sure you'd much rather develop stuff than post on the forums, but that's the impression you tend to give with that.

If you want high-quality devboards guaranteed to be supported by Espressif, we have a source for that, namely the boards we ourselves make and use. At the moment, we sell the DevkitC and the Wrover-Kit. We cannot say anything about third-party boards, because we do not make them.

(Also fwiw, with my limited experience reading up on the forum posts here, there don't seem to be many really bad hardware designs out there. Most hardware weirdnesses I've seen seem to stem from bad USB cables or power supplies, not the boards themselves.)

To be fair, on a personal note,

Let's be clear and honest. Ok? This is not personal. It is business. Attempting to bring "a personal note" into this is inappropriate.

your suggestion that our CEO step down over

That is not what I suggested. You seem to have either misunderstood or intentionally misrepresented my suggestion.

(seen from the big picture, as silicon company) something trivial

In this thread please stick to the topic I introduced instead of meandering off into disingenuous non-sequitors.

as the fact that not all devboard makers decide to use the same naming and board quality is somewhat inflammatory as well;

That is incoherent English. More importantly, you seem to have failed to grasp the fundamental criticisms I proffered in this thread.

in general, it paints you as someone who'd rather stir up the forums than buckle down and make something.

Coming from someone who has misunderstood and/or misrepresented what I asserted, failed to address my fundamental criticisms, and communicated in broken English, I must say your remarkably subtle attempt to deftly assassinate my character will likely cause me no end of sleepless nights.

Not saying that's your actual intention, I'm sure you'd much rather develop stuff than post on the forums, but that's the impression you tend to give with that.

Although I am sure you would rather engage in honest, direct, and constructive discourse the impression you tend to give off is that of a foolish sycophant who tends to evade, misdirect, and misrepresent.

If you want high-quality devboards guaranteed to be supported by Espressif, we have a source for that, namely the boards we ourselves make and use. At the moment, we sell the DevkitC and the Wrover-Kit.

I have supplied a link previously in this thread to Amazon.com for those boards (built by Espressif and sold by Olimex) that have a too many negative reviews.

By the way, I dealt with Olimex in the past (about ten years ago). They made some PCBs for my company. The PCBs they made were good but their customer service was abysmal. I hope never to deal with that company again. After dealing with Olimex I ordered PCBs from CustomPCB in Malaysia and PCBcart in China. I had very good experiences with both of those companies: the PCBs were always at least good and usually at least very good, and their customer service was always at least good and usually at least very good.

We cannot say anything about third-party boards, because we do not make them.

Frankly, your failure to address my suggestions seems to speak to a desire, perhaps subconscious and unbeknownst to you, to deflect the straightforward and legitimate criticisms I have launched instead of engaging in reasonable discourse.

In this thread I repeatedly suggested a way for Espressif to certify third-party boards but, surprise, surprise, you failed to respond to that suggestion.

I suppose the Chinese history books teach a different history than American history books about what happened when the Middle Kingdom began to engage with red haired barbarians from the West starting almost exactly half a millennium ago. Maybe you might ask the Chinese emperor about how Westerners reacted to his failure to engage in reasonable discourse. Oh wait a minute! You cannot because the Chinese emperor no longer exists.

(Also fwiw, with my limited experience reading up on the forum posts here, there don't seem to be many really bad hardware designs out there. Most hardware weirdnesses I've seen seem to stem from bad USB cables or power supplies, not the boards themselves.)

I see.

I have spent around ten hours researching this subject because I have worked with faulty hardware many times in the past. It can be a remarkably frustrating and time consuming process.

I have read reviews about ESP32 developer boards on the Internet generally and have combed over sites such as Banggood, AliExpress, Amazon.com, SparkFun, Reddit, HackerNews, and YouTube.

The variety of problems I read about were varied and concerning. Feel free to read the information I linked to previously in this thread.

Frankly, I look forward to a competitor coming along that will launch hardware that is at least as good as Espressif's and will offer proper support to third party developers both with readily available, high quality development kits as well as thoughtful and helpful forum moderators.

This exchange has strengthened my belief in the veracity of my previous criticisms in this thread about the fitness of the Espressif CEO. Although chip design companies need excellent engineers to succeed excellent engineering alone is not enough for a them to succeed in the long run.

I would guess that maybe some managers from a company like Intel will secure VC (venture capital) funding, and create a fabless chip company in or around Silicon Valley that will compete with Espressif by offering hardware that is at least as good a value as Espressif's, and third-party developer support that vastly exceeds that of Espressif.

Leaders of Silicon Valley companies probably firmly grasp the importance of third-party developer support because they have seen what happens to those companies that fail to provide it. Like the Emperor of China, most of those companies no longer exist.

Okay, seemingly you have no need of my advice. I wish you the best of luck finding a development board with either our chip or that of a competitor then.

You can check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O_vrKAmshA&t=0s

This whole discussion does not make much sense.

Then why are you engaging in this discussion? Feel free to disengage.

It's a very amusing thread.

To summarize:
Leitukey:

• I want to develop applications for ESP32, but I've never tried because I can't find the development board with stellar reviews.
• I've looked at several board available, but none of them suits my needs:
  • board_a: too big
  • board_b: too small ("I prefer larger printed circuit boards because I suspect they will be more reliable")
  • board_c: does not have stellar reviews
  • board_d: it is too new
  • board_e: it has battery connector and "I neither want nor need the capability for a battery."
  • board_f: too wide
  • board_g: has too small components and "I want to use a larger printed circuit board with larger components because it allows for high quality printed circuit board assembly with less precise machinery."
  • board_h: made by Adafruit ("The lady with pink hair who runs Adafruit seems to expect customers will pay a premium price for the products her company sells...")
• I don't need advice from Esspresif developers, they communicate in broken English
• Espressif CEO has to be fired and get the job at McDonalds because he/she cannot find me the suitable development board.
• I want to start developing on the ESP32, but it is simply impossible, I'll wait until some managers from a company like Intel will secure VC (venture capital) funding, and create a fabless chip company in or around Silicon Valley that will compete with Espressif by offering hardware that is at least as good a value as Espressif's, and third-party developer support that vastly exceeds that of Espressif.

I'm impatiently waiting for more...

Okay, seemingly you have no need of my advice. I wish you the best of luck finding a development board with either our chip or that of a competitor then.

Please escalate this issue (thread) to your boss immediately. As this thread clearly documents, except for strengthening my sense that Espressif is a poorly managed organization, the advice you offered me has wasted my time.

I do not want any more your ridiculous advice nor do I need luck. Instead, I want help from someone who is competent and interested in helping me. It is ludicrous that Espressif has failed to provide a link to at least one high quality, standard sized ESP32 developer board with rev 1 of the silicon.

Espressif must enable third party developers to easily purchase such product.