ESP32 Forum

as the tittle imply i am very new to the esp32.

a long time ago i was heavy into using ardunos for projects. i know how to code an arduno. made an nrf24 powered RC "tank" with a working nerf missile turret. i have made an MP3 player out of an arduno. so yes i can totally load up arduno IDE whip up a program and toss it on. well kinda i don't have any ardunos to load software onto. a few years ago i lost all my development stuff (cables computer dev boards all of it) so i am basically starting from scratch(my iron is still in the box) however i have returned to making stuff with a goal in mind. i already have a few projects they i have been laying out the pen and paper for and now comes the time to break out the bread boards.

i have never used an esp32 however from all i have learned about them they will be serving projects better then an arduno. which means it is time to learn. before i unwrap the esp32s however i need to figure out how to actually prepare my computer with the necessary software to write programs for the esp32. i tryed looking around for a guide and feel blind because i cant even find the IDE, or i have found it and know so little about esp32s that i didn't recognize it.

my programing teacher always said "first you begin with a question then you find the answer" except i have realized i don't know enough about the esp32 to know the question.


my first goal is to get everything onto my laptop that i need whip up a simple program to make a few LEDs blink throw it on the bread board and get it to make the LEDs blink. this goal will yield me everything i need to test the board and get me a starting point.

i did find a few things but i found the information too confusing compared to what i know for example i found something called ESP-IDF and an IDE that goes with it but i have no clue what that is yet. it seems too advanced for my current stage but again i could be totaly wrong and that IDF stuff is exactly what i am looking for.

i will happily take links to reading materials that provide the information i am looking for as at the end of the day the reading materials is what i am looking for.

i have a feeling i have already looked at what i am looking for i just didn't recognize it cause i don't know enough or i didn't read far enough in.

If you're used to Arduino, you can still use it on ESP32 chips, we support that. Our official docs on this are here. I'd suggest you try that first, then you can always branch out to ESP-IDF if you need or want to do that.