I just received a ESP32 board today and found your video. You answered a TON of questions I had and helped me on my path to MicroPython greatness! Thanks!
I stumbled across MicroPython when I got a Micro:bit so I could introduce my grandson to with electronics. What a revelation! I've barely used the Arduino IDE since. Great video. I'm looking forward to increasing my skills along with you.
Thonny now supports the Micropython interpreter and direct connection to the board. You can even flash the firmare to the board over thonny. However, thank you for the great video! :) Just wanted to let you guys know.
Thanks, was trying to get started on my first micropython board and you were the only one that I found with full instructions on how to connect to the board. Thank you!
Ok, here's a confession - I think it was almost a year ago when I saw Andreas Spiess' video about MicroPython, but I was like "meh, microcontrollers need to use C code, period." ... but this video caused me to second guess myself.
Yeah, those days are long gone I think... sure, MP is only available and useful on bigger MCs - But it's fast and intuitive, and not only can leverage C and ASM modules for speed, but can also now do inline C and ASM :)
Really awesome tutorial. Will definitely be following the series. My only complaint is that there’s too much screen being shown at once which makes the font very difficult to read. Thanks for the effort!
If anyone is using windows the screen command won't work as it relates to mac and linux. *On Windows you'll want to use a tool like PuTTY to connect to the serial port. Download and run PuTTY, then configure it to use a serial connection to the board's COM port at 115200 baud.*
Great video Seon! I've been coding in Python for a while now and hesitated because of a lack in libraries for the ESP-series. But there are a lot of them out there now and I think this is the time to go for it ;)
@@UnexpectedMaker I installed it from Windows 10 onto a Sparkfun ESP32 Thing, which was pretty easy. It is a nice little environment. Thanks for the tutorial to get me started.
I first tried micropython (really circuitpython, because Limor Fried) on a circuitplayground express. Which is an ARM-based toy. Which has native USB. So when you plug it into the computer, it mounts like a thumb drive. You can write a python file in whatever text editor you want (Idle, Gedit, Notepad, cat and echo, whatever) and just drag and drop it. Then I tried it on my Sparkfun Thing Plus. I was able to get a repl via Screen, but it didn't want to mount as a (teeny tiny) mass storage device. How to get code onto it? Well, amusingly, Mu is able to read and delete but not edit files on an ESP32, but Thonny can.
Great video thanks mate. If I can confirm that ESP-NOW can work and deepsleep does everything I need then its by by Arduino. I have never typed a single line of python but I can google and youtube like an expert. :)
ESP-NOW support isn't in mainline yet but I know of folks who've used it with a custom module. Shouldn't be difficult to add! Deep sleep is identical to Arduino in terms of power use.
Looking forward to the development of ESP-NOW to get the silly little window/door/etc sensors out of my IP address pool and to make better use of battery power.
Oh I so want to learn Python and micro Python, I mean, I REALY want too, but this was my first ever intro into it and I'm quite frankly lost. I'm comfortable with the Arduino IDE and understand the small amount of C that I no, and am growing with confidence with every project and my sketches are getting longer and more complex and I can look at some of my work and think " that was quite elegant " but I didn't understand a word of what was said here (gonna go over vid a few times) this tells me that I need to start further back still... I dont believe I am just incapable of learning this stuff, in fact I believe that I am capable of learning and doing anything if I want to. I need to start somewhere else than here, so I can catch up and go on a journey with you guys but I need to have a moment when it clicks into place and I can begin. Sadly I dont no where that is, what I need is a real "Janet and john" book or tutorial that literally spells it out for me and I get that "click" then I will invest and tend to move at a good pace. I did Assembler and Machine code at school and at home and loved it and my grades reflected that, so my question to you and the rest of your followers is where can I start? is there a book in the "dummies" series? (will look in a moment) or has any other member of our little community got any pointers to a book or a person that may help me? anything at all just to get me going, as an example a year and a half ago I had never even seen CAD software but have always loved making my own PCB's, so I had a crack at EasyEDA and loved it and I thought I'm gonna learn Kicad now, although a difficult start I quickly had my "click" now I'm moving speedily along at a reasonable pace...So in a nutshell I need the tutorial before this one (and maybe the one before that too!) any thoughts on where I should start?...of course I shall be watching and listening to you and the guys and gals I wouldn't miss a thing and gonna get a Pico to train on!...….just one more thing, (in true Columbo style) anybody else as backward as me when it comes to Python?
MicroPython is just a very different way of thinking... in Arduino land, you compile and flash just 1 program on your micro every time. Where in MP, you flash MP on there once... and then you have *like* a little OS on there with a file system, that you can put your code on, and run, and put as many different MP scripts as you like. If there is a script called main.py, it will be loaded on boot... but at anytime you can rshell (or any other tool like screen etc) to it and break the running code with CTRL+C and go into the REPL and type code in, or run other MP scripts on the device.
@@UnexpectedMaker Cheers, I think this sounds great, gonna start digging on u-tube and the usual suspects while watching your channel even more closely, the whole platform sounds very exiting!
Thanks for the clear introduction to microphyton. I’m a lecturer and think about using your tutorials as an introduction for the students. Question: The TinyPICO has PSRAM (4MB), but I saw in your tutorial, when the board boots up, that SPRAM is not available! I’m confused: is PSRAM same as SPRAM? Why is the additional PSRAM not available? It makes a huge difference to have ‘2MB or 120Kb' memory for programming, especially for micropython. Thanks for your reply.
The board I used in the first video didn't have the extra ram on it...I'm sure I mentioned that in the video. I just pulled it from a pile I was in the middle of assembling :-) With the PSRAM on in MicroPython you have 4091600 on the heap!
Thanks for clarifying. Good news! I probably missed the spoken line. Anyway, if you could show, accidently, the result of "gc.mem_free()” all could see what memory is really available? (4MB is theoretical). Looking forward to your other videos and the availablity of TinyPICO.
not sure if you are aware but the tiny pico code examples don't seem to work properly with the latest MicroPython build 1.15 (at least on my v1 board). I refreshed with the OLDEST available at this time (1.12) and the example codes from tinypico-micropython-master work again. for noobs like me who are used to using Circuitpython this was pretty discouraging and I almost just threw the board in a drawer. it would be helpful if the example code was updated to work
It’s great for a beginner that doesn’t know how to program and wants todo somethings that move something or such stuff. But getting a Embedded job with micro python pay’s less and is not common. Also i didn’t find Freertos with arduino extensions any harder. One thing i can say we tried it for Automotiv and that didn’t meet the requirements in speed and robustness and maintainability.
If you copy the py file over, where is it stored? Is it written to the µC's flash, is there an EEPROM, or is it just RAM and lost when power is disconnected?
It's copied to flash. MicroPython presents itself as a file system, so you can store as many python files and libraries on it as you like, make folders, and keep stuff nice and tidy. Only limitation is the size of the flash.
Anyone have instructions how to install rshell on windors? At the moment I have no way of putting py files to my wemos and I struggle to find instructions online for how to do it. I would love to use python on my micro controller, but at the moment setting it up is a real struggle
Hello with respect I created a device control program for thonyide for esp32 devkit using station and access point modes. I send commands using the udp connection from the mobile application and I also control the devices every three seconds of the application using an api. I'm worried that after making it, when the device is used, there will be a problem in the program and it will not work properly. Is it possible to trust esp32 and micropython language and build a product with many customers?
Thanks for the video I have joined your channel as I am new to all this and think that esp8266 should be programed without the Arduino IDE so perhaps this is the way to go?
Hey Seon, I am currently trying to install Micropython on an esp 32 that I have, but I am having trouble finding the device path of my device when it is plugged into my computer. I am running windows 10 using Windows command prompt, and I can't seem to find a Windows equivalent for the unix command ls /dev/tty.* I want to move forward but I can't until I can find the correct device path to enter in and erase the flash on my esp 32. I tried downloading and using an application called USBView but that still didn't work, do you have any suggestions? Thanks!
You access it via comX - If you have the correct drivers installed for the USB chip on it, then it will appear in device manager on a com port... like com3 or com7 etc.
Aidan I want to thank you for asking this question. The instructions for Windows really could be improved. Anyway, after you get Python, pip & esptool installed, you'll need to check the COM port the chip is running from (using Device Manager), then open cmd from the search bar to get a command prompt. Afterward, you will have to enter this command to erase what's on the chip (assuming that it's connected on COM3 and is a esp32 board): python esptool.py --chip esp32 --port com3 erase_flash.
I'm using a PyBoard v1.1. Cannot acess it with /dev/tty... Any tips? Also screen doesn't work. The error 'Cannot exec '/path/to/file': permission denied.'
I've been meaning on using Python and learning its syntax and structure. I should have a look at it, just hate learning a new language and all the time it takes. Also will it be worth my time if i'm only to use it for specialty projects. *_Cheers_*
I had the same reservations... it's why I took a look time to start learning Python and now MicroPython, but it's such a fantastic language and my plan is to move as much of my development to MP as I can.
You can download this jupyter file and test the code: github.com/labF212/ESP32/blob/master/teste.ipynb How to use Thonny: github.com/labF212/ESP32/blob/master/Thonny%20MicroPython%20ESP-32.pdf
I have to say I prefer Lua to Python. Check out the following video, which shows how you can use Lua on the TinyPICO board: th-cam.com/video/S_C9794aPro/w-d-xo.html
Thanks mate, I can also fix audio here, but YT has no way to swap the audio our or the video, so I'd have to pull this video down and re-upload as a new one, so going to just leave it and make sure it's better for ep2! Cheers Travis.
I just received a ESP32 board today and found your video. You answered a TON of questions I had and helped me on my path to MicroPython greatness! Thanks!
Awesome, glad to hear, thanks for letting me know!
I stumbled across MicroPython when I got a Micro:bit so I could introduce my grandson to with electronics. What a revelation! I've barely used the Arduino IDE since. Great video. I'm looking forward to increasing my skills along with you.
Great to hear mate! I hope I can do MicroPython justice with this series.
Thonny now supports the Micropython interpreter and direct connection to the board. You can even flash the firmare to the board over thonny. However, thank you for the great video! :) Just wanted to let you guys know.
Better than most of the other micropython tutorial videos i've seen. thank you
Cheers!
Looking forward to the rest of this series. Thanks.
Cheers paul!
im working on a project of making a stick pc with the raspberry pi pico and this video is perfect. Thanks!
Thanks, was trying to get started on my first micropython board and you were the only one that I found with full instructions on how to connect to the board. Thank you!
Wish I watched this video first playing around with your new devices! Totally RTFM Trev haha!
Thank you for this video series! Just started with ESP32 board and being a little familiar with Python it makes so much more sense than Arduino IDE.
I'm a simple man. Seon posts a video, I click like. Then I watch it.
LOL, pretty much the same :)
Cheers Mike!
Ok, here's a confession - I think it was almost a year ago when I saw Andreas Spiess' video about MicroPython, but I was like "meh, microcontrollers need to use C code, period." ... but this video caused me to second guess myself.
Yeah, those days are long gone I think... sure, MP is only available and useful on bigger MCs - But it's fast and intuitive, and not only can leverage C and ASM modules for speed, but can also now do inline C and ASM :)
Really awesome tutorial. Will definitely be following the series. My only complaint is that there’s too much screen being shown at once which makes the font very difficult to read. Thanks for the effort!
Cool..nice and Clear...
If anyone is using windows the screen command won't work as it relates to mac and linux.
*On Windows you'll want to use a tool like PuTTY to connect to the serial port. Download and run PuTTY, then configure it to use a serial connection to the board's COM port at 115200 baud.*
In windows command prompt you can use the rshell
but you need to pip install rshell
If your a newbie i got no chance in this lifetime, again superb.
Great video Seon! I've been coding in Python for a while now and hesitated because of a lack in libraries for the ESP-series. But there are a lot of them out there now and I think this is the time to go for it ;)
Thanks Dustin. Yeah. it's getting better and better all the time. @Matt Trentini has put a lot of time into the ESP32 docs too.
Thanks for this, I will certainly install MicroPython on a spare ESP32, now that I understand how this all works
Awesome to hear! Once MP is on your ESP32, it's super easy to play around with!
@@UnexpectedMaker I installed it from Windows 10 onto a Sparkfun ESP32 Thing, which was pretty easy. It is a nice little environment. Thanks for the tutorial to get me started.
@@Stuart-AJC Nice! I hope you have fun in MP land :-)
I first tried micropython (really circuitpython, because Limor Fried) on a circuitplayground express. Which is an ARM-based toy. Which has native USB. So when you plug it into the computer, it mounts like a thumb drive. You can write a python file in whatever text editor you want (Idle, Gedit, Notepad, cat and echo, whatever) and just drag and drop it. Then I tried it on my Sparkfun Thing Plus. I was able to get a repl via Screen, but it didn't want to mount as a (teeny tiny) mass storage device. How to get code onto it? Well, amusingly, Mu is able to read and delete but not edit files on an ESP32, but Thonny can.
Thanks so much! For Windows PuTTY is a nice alternative for screen.
Great video thanks mate.
If I can confirm that ESP-NOW can work and deepsleep does everything I need then its by by Arduino.
I have never typed a single line of python but I can google and youtube like an expert. :)
Deepsleep works great, ESP-NOW, no idea mate, I don't use it, sorry.
ESP-NOW support isn't in mainline yet but I know of folks who've used it with a custom module. Shouldn't be difficult to add!
Deep sleep is identical to Arduino in terms of power use.
Looking forward to the development of ESP-NOW to get the silly little window/door/etc sensors out of my IP address pool and to make better use of battery power.
Oh I so want to learn Python and micro Python, I mean, I REALY want too, but this was my first ever intro into it and I'm quite frankly lost. I'm comfortable with the Arduino IDE and understand the small amount of C that I no, and am growing with confidence with every project and my sketches are getting longer and more complex and I can look at some of my work and think " that was quite elegant " but I didn't understand a word of what was said here (gonna go over vid a few times) this tells me that I need to start further back still... I dont believe I am just incapable of learning this stuff, in fact I believe that I am capable of learning and doing anything if I want to. I need to start somewhere else than here, so I can catch up and go on a journey with you guys but I need to have a moment when it clicks into place and I can begin. Sadly I dont no where that is, what I need is a real "Janet and john" book or tutorial that literally spells it out for me and I get that "click" then I will invest and tend to move at a good pace. I did Assembler and Machine code at school and at home and loved it and my grades reflected that, so my question to you and the rest of your followers is where can I start? is there a book in the "dummies" series? (will look in a moment) or has any other member of our little community got any pointers to a book or a person that may help me? anything at all just to get me going, as an example a year and a half ago I had never even seen CAD software but have always loved making my own PCB's, so I had a crack at EasyEDA and loved it and I thought I'm gonna learn Kicad now, although a difficult start I quickly had my "click" now I'm moving speedily along at a reasonable pace...So in a nutshell I need the tutorial before this one (and maybe the one before that too!) any thoughts on where I should start?...of course I shall be watching and listening to you and the guys and gals I wouldn't miss a thing and gonna get a Pico to train on!...….just one more thing, (in true Columbo style) anybody else as backward as me when it comes to Python?
MicroPython is just a very different way of thinking... in Arduino land, you compile and flash just 1 program on your micro every time. Where in MP, you flash MP on there once... and then you have *like* a little OS on there with a file system, that you can put your code on, and run, and put as many different MP scripts as you like. If there is a script called main.py, it will be loaded on boot... but at anytime you can rshell (or any other tool like screen etc) to it and break the running code with CTRL+C and go into the REPL and type code in, or run other MP scripts on the device.
@@UnexpectedMaker Cheers, I think this sounds great, gonna start digging on u-tube and the usual suspects while watching your channel even more closely, the whole platform sounds very exiting!
Thanks for the clear introduction to microphyton. I’m a lecturer and think about using your tutorials as an introduction for the students. Question: The TinyPICO has PSRAM (4MB), but I saw in your tutorial, when the board boots up, that SPRAM is not available! I’m confused: is PSRAM same as SPRAM? Why is the additional PSRAM not available? It makes a huge difference to have ‘2MB or 120Kb' memory for programming, especially for micropython. Thanks for your reply.
The board I used in the first video didn't have the extra ram on it...I'm sure I mentioned that in the video. I just pulled it from a pile I was in the middle of assembling :-) With the PSRAM on in MicroPython you have 4091600 on the heap!
Thanks for clarifying. Good news! I probably missed the spoken line. Anyway, if you could show, accidently, the result of "gc.mem_free()” all could see what memory is really available? (4MB is theoretical). Looking forward to your other videos and the availablity of TinyPICO.
I wrote it above... 4091600 is what's reported back from gc.mem_free() or micropython.mem_info(). Should be enough for most things ;)
Thanks again. That’s very good to hear. Yes, more than enough memory!
not sure if you are aware but the tiny pico code examples don't seem to work properly with the latest MicroPython build 1.15 (at least on my v1 board). I refreshed with the OLDEST available at this time (1.12) and the example codes from tinypico-micropython-master work again.
for noobs like me who are used to using Circuitpython this was pretty discouraging and I almost just threw the board in a drawer. it would be helpful if the example code was updated to work
I like your funny words, magic man.
It’s great for a beginner that doesn’t know how to program and wants todo somethings that move something or such stuff. But getting a Embedded job with micro python pay’s less and is not common. Also i didn’t find Freertos with arduino extensions any harder.
One thing i can say we tried it for Automotiv and that didn’t meet the requirements in speed and robustness and maintainability.
Thanks for your effort, I have a question how I can install machine library?
sorry I am a beginner at this. want to ask. can we still use the C programming language after installing micropython on the board?
Thanks, very useful. I found that the sound during the instruction is quite poor and difficult to understand, in the outro the sound if fine :D
Do I need to download different software for different boards? Please reply with explanation.
rshell is a great tool for those who prefer to use command line
Good one.. easy to understand..
Will this work on NodeMCU??
Sure, MicroPython works on ESP8266 & ESP32 boards.
Thank you for detailed information.
If you copy the py file over, where is it stored? Is it written to the µC's flash, is there an EEPROM, or is it just RAM and lost when power is disconnected?
It's copied to flash. MicroPython presents itself as a file system, so you can store as many python files and libraries on it as you like, make folders, and keep stuff nice and tidy. Only limitation is the size of the flash.
Anyone have instructions how to install rshell on windors? At the moment I have no way of putting py files to my wemos and I struggle to find instructions online for how to do it. I would love to use python on my micro controller, but at the moment setting it up is a real struggle
rshell just requires Python 3.x to be installed. You could also use Ampy or mpfshell on Windows to do the same things.
Hello with respect
I created a device control program for thonyide for esp32 devkit using station and access point modes. I send commands using the udp connection from the mobile application and I also control the devices every three seconds of the application using an api. I'm worried that after making it, when the device is used, there will be a problem in the program and it will not work properly. Is it possible to trust esp32 and micropython language and build a product with many customers?
Thonny ide makes it work so much easier.
screen connects to the pyboard but rshell gives errror Unrecognized connection type ?????
Thanks for the video I have joined your channel as I am new to all this and think that esp8266 should be programed without the Arduino IDE so perhaps this is the way to go?
Hey Seon, I am currently trying to install Micropython on an esp 32 that I have, but I am having trouble finding the device path of my device when it is plugged into my computer. I am running windows 10 using Windows command prompt, and I can't seem to find a Windows equivalent for the unix command ls /dev/tty.*
I want to move forward but I can't until I can find the correct device path to enter in and erase the flash on my esp 32. I tried downloading and using an application called USBView but that still didn't work, do you have any suggestions? Thanks!
You access it via comX - If you have the correct drivers installed for the USB chip on it, then it will appear in device manager on a com port... like com3 or com7 etc.
@@UnexpectedMaker Ok cool, so once I know what com number it is, that will be the path, ex: /dev/com?
No "/dev/" - just comX- It's just a standard windows serial com port.
Unexpected Maker I see, I know python but am very new to this sort of thing. Thanks for the help!
Aidan I want to thank you for asking this question. The instructions for Windows really could be improved. Anyway, after you get Python, pip & esptool installed, you'll need to check the COM port the chip is running from (using Device Manager), then open cmd from the search bar to get a command prompt. Afterward, you will have to enter this command to erase what's on the chip (assuming that it's connected on COM3 and is a esp32 board): python esptool.py --chip esp32 --port com3 erase_flash.
Wish I could click like more that once!
Hahaha!
I'm using a PyBoard v1.1. Cannot acess it with /dev/tty... Any tips? Also screen doesn't work. The error 'Cannot exec '/path/to/file': permission denied.'
I've been meaning on using Python and learning its syntax and structure. I should have a look at it, just hate learning a new language and all the time it takes. Also will it be worth my time if i'm only to use it for specialty projects. *_Cheers_*
I struggle with languages so always keep a notepad to had to record scraps of code.
I had the same reservations... it's why I took a look time to start learning Python and now MicroPython, but it's such a fantastic language and my plan is to move as much of my development to MP as I can.
Thanks!
You can download this jupyter file and test the code: github.com/labF212/ESP32/blob/master/teste.ipynb
How to use Thonny: github.com/labF212/ESP32/blob/master/Thonny%20MicroPython%20ESP-32.pdf
could you possibly do a quick video on i2c comms between esp32's or an esp32 and an arduino with micropython.
That's a bit more advanced that what I am planning for the series. Maybe once that's all done I can take requests :-)
Can you run python scripts directly from rshell?
Where do yo get screen from . . I am running Manjaro Cinnamon and dont see it
Hi, is there some Numpy package compatible with Micropython?
Hello. I have errors like attribute errors ' pin' object has no attribute 'on' or 'high'. please help
MicroPython is case sensitive.
@@UnexpectedMaker what does it mean? What to do?
I have to say I prefer Lua to Python. Check out the following video, which shows how you can use Lua on the TinyPICO board: th-cam.com/video/S_C9794aPro/w-d-xo.html
Audio too quiet....
Audio volume to be increased... Or your microphone is far from you
Yeah, I lowered it a bit because I was getting some clipping... will increase it for next time. Cheers :-)
Hi, I can process your audio and return a cleaned up, properly leveled video if you'd like. @@UnexpectedMaker
Thanks mate, I can also fix audio here, but YT has no way to swap the audio our or the video, so I'd have to pull this video down and re-upload as a new one, so going to just leave it and make sure it's better for ep2! Cheers Travis.
can i make os
too many 'I've already' shortcuts. If you do a walkthrough then DO A WALKTHROUGH not abridged highlights - which are worse than useless.
micropython app
basically just an advert... disappointing.
An advert for what? I go through what MP is, downloading it, flashing it on an ESP32 and using rshell and getting into the REPL.
troll?
Thanks!
Your'e welcome James!