#339 The new ESP32-S2: How relevant is it for the Makers? First tests

when the ESP 32 came to the market it was well equipped Wi-Fi Bluetooth to fast course and ultra-low power core lots of pins etc etc one thing however was lacking native USB support like the Sam D processors for example this changed with the new SP 32 the ESP 32 s2 here I have two development ports let's look if it is the same killer as the first ESP 32 was Ritchie youtubers here is the guy with a Swiss accent with a new episode and fresh ideas around sensors and microcontrollers remember if you subscribe you will always sit in the first row in this video we will compare the features of the old and the new ESP 30 to set up the Arduino IDE to flash the ESP 32 s to check if our existing projects still compile and see if it is already time to start with the s 2 as a maker first a list of the features I concentrate on the main differences and leave out the commonalities first things first wife I did not change a lot still only 2.4 gigahertz at 150 megabits maximum but the S to cut a toe 2.11 MC fine timing measurement like that it should be capable of measuring the distance to the access point the maybe most interesting thing I found in the small print the Wi-Fi connection can stay active during light sleep that could be a game-changer for our low power project because the current ESP 32 loses lots of time and energy if it wakes up time will tell how power consumption is influenced by this mode the processor got an upgrade from the LX 6 to the LX 7 architecture which is probably faster not so important for a 2 pickle maker more important is that the s2 only has one core so if you want to have your own core for your application you have to stay with the old ASP 32 the ULP is still there and now it has a risk 5 instruction set interesting and it got a sibling who understands finite state machine instructions as a fan of state machines I hope we will be able to use it also in the Arduino IDE s RAM and ROM are smaller now but I'm not sure if this influences our regular work the RTC RAM size stayed the same and the flash still is external the ESP 32 anyway you had much much more memory than the chips we used before so the s2 still should be ok for most of our needs the s2 has nine more GPIO pins and most offered interfaces stay the same it only has two instead of three you arts no built-in hull Center no canvas and no SD card interface all things most of us anyway never used but it got two sorts of LCD interfaces we will see what port manufacturers will do with these interfaces I would expect we get fast LCDs primarily if they use the 24 bit parallel mode and they improved the security features very important for specific applications maybe not so critical for makers it still runs from 2.8 to 3 point 6 volts and is not 5 volt tolerant this fact is no more significant these days because most of the newer sensors anyway run on 3.3 volts its power consumption is definitely smaller about 20% during Wi-Fi traffic and 33% on receiving nothing to write home about but at least something light sleep is 50 percent down to 450 mic ramp this with Wi-Fi still connected this is more than 2 fifty days on a 3000 milliamp per hour battery I for sure will try out this feature in the future it has lots of potential the price of the chip should be lower maybe also not too relevant for us shipping fast becomes more expensive than chips maybe the logistics industry will become more profitable than the chip industry but does this bug really work on our trusted Arduino IDE if you expect that you just connect a new board and flash your existing sketch you are wrong of course as always they want to separate the brave from the boosie's yes I look this word up after the discussions about the word I used last time I assume we are alone now brave women and men so let's continue there are two ways to go if you have parallel projects running with your ESP 32 and just want to play with one of the new s 2 boards I suggest you install a new Arduino IDE at a different place because currently only the s 2 or the old ESP 32 is supported not both together this for sure will change over time or you prepare your standard IDE to work only with the s 2 you can always go back of course anyway I assume you have a working Arduino IDE with ESP 30 to support installed with a standard procedure using a JSON file in the preferences tab the first step is to go to preferences and click on this link a folder should open with all the IDE stuff go to packages ESB 32 Hardware ESP 32 1.03 or 1.04 here you find the files we have to change close the Arduino IDE now you can open the boards dot txt file here you find all the information about the boards you find in the IDE in the current file you find no ESP 32s to F port for example only the standard ESP 32 F port that's why we delete all these files our sketches or libraries should not be affected by this move now we go to the github repository of the expressive Arduino ESP 32 project here you see master which contains the files you just deleted to get the s2 support you have to change to the ESP 32 s2 branch hit clone or download and download zip the zip file contains lots of files and directories we only need the ones we deleted before but to make it easy we copy all into the empty directory now we go to tools and click get dot exe maybe the Mac and Linux guys have to use get dot P Y your computer downloads now the tools you see that you also get support for the ESP 32s - that's it if you now open the arduino ide you should see the ESP 32s - def module you also see all others but they do not work at least not with a current version select the s2 dev port and the respective port if you selected the blink sketch you get an error message because LED built-in is not defined define it and now it uploads to one of the new expressive ports these ports have a neopixel and no LED so I have to connect an external LED the upload still is done via the standard USB to serial adapter later the native USB interface should enable the chip to appear as a regular flash drive if you insert it into a USB connector of your computer the word uploading will probably be a word of the past then as soon as we copy the new bin file to this device the s2 should reboot and use the new version like the Sam deborde's used for video number 240 because this Drive is a combination of program storage and spiffs it should be more comfortable in addition to your sketch you can copy all sorts of images HTML or WAV files with a movement of your mouse and of course these boards can be used as a keyboard a mouse or any other hid device a whole new range of projects become possible with the ESP 32 processors - and always we have Wi-Fi not as the STM s the Sam DS etc etc summarized the ESP 32 s - is not an ESP 32 killer maybe it kills the esp8266 in some low-cost applications it has fewer features but not important ones and only one core but it has USB support as its biggest plus always connected Wi-Fi during I'd sleep might also become a game-changer the two ultra-low-power CPUs understanding risk five and state machine instructions might become a playing field for students and nerds maybe the additional pings will be used by board manufacturers to provide us with very fast LCDs the arduino ide is still supported i was able to compile one of my more complicated sketches without any errors if you want you can start now digi-key sells board for eight dollars and the arduino ide can be used for experiments but for the moment without the native USB support I hope we will get it soon Adafruit is working on porting circuit Python on this platform and maybe also micro Python will follow if you want to play with USB for the moment you have to go with the ESP IDF it already took expressive a long time to get this chip ready and there is still lots of work to do so there is no hurry for a typical maker if you want to program a keyboard or a mouse you can still go back to the Arduino Pro Mini or Sam D boards as always you find all the relevant links in the description I hope this video was useful or at least interesting for you if true please consider supporting the channel to secure its future existence thank you bye

Channel: Andreas Spiess

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Keywords: arduino, arduino project, beginners, diy, do-it-yourself, eevblog, electronics, esp32, esp32 datasheet, esp32 project, esp32 tutorial, esp32 weather station, esp8266, esp8266 datasheet, esp8266 project, greatscott, guide, hack, hobby, how to, iot, lorawan, nodemcu, project, simple, smart home, ttgo, wemos, wifi, esp32-s2, esp32-s2 tutorial, esp32-s2 project, esp32-s2 board, esp32-s2 dev board

Id: L6IoSVdKwNM

Length: 11min 31sec (691 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 14 2020