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ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin compatible with ESP8266

cnx-software.com

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Re: ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin compatible with ESP8266

#21

Post by 4778468d »

nrp wrote: post #17

Espressif is no longer alone in the ultra low cost hobby WiFi SoC space. Pine has started working with the Bouffalo BL602 which seems to be a fairly similar RISC-V powered part: https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/10/28/the-quest-for-a-blob... It will be interesting to see which one gains critical mass in community use.

It’s all about the software & documentation.

There’s lots of “competitors” to esp32, pretty much none of them except STM have the software for developers, which makes their offerings close to useless.

The only way to gain critical mass is relentless deep commitment to developer tools/libraries and documentation.

In many cases these competitors actually try to hide their documentation and keep secret how their chips work.

I’d be interested to hear if there’s other chip vendors with software/documentation as impressive as Espressif but I haven’t heard any, except as I said STM.

Re: ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin compatible with ESP8266

#22

Post by londons_explore »

4778468d wrote: post #21
nrp wrote: post #17

Espressif is no longer alone in the ultra low cost hobby WiFi SoC space. Pine has started working with the Bouffalo BL602 which seems to be a fairly similar RISC-V powered part: https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/10/28/the-quest-for-a-blob... It will be interesting to see which one gains critical mass in community use.

It’s all about the software & documentation. There’s lots of “competitors” to esp32, pretty much none of them except STM have the software for developers, which makes their offerings close to useless. The only way to gain critical mass is relentless deep commitment to developer tools/libraries and documentation. In many cases these competitors actually try to hide their documentation and keep secret how their chips w…

It just means it isn't made for hobbyists... Hardware companies don't care about the lack of good software - they just pay some embedded code monkey a lowish salary to 'just make it work'.

Re: ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin compatible with ESP8266

#23

Post by azdle »

meekrohprocess wrote: post #2

Nice. The XTensa cores always felt weird. Too bad they only included the I/M/C extensions - no floats, vectors, or atomics. And USB would be nice (nevermind, it has USB :D). But it's still very exciting. Maybe there'll be less conflict between ARM/XTensa/PIC32/etc. cores in the coming years.

> And USB would be nice.

The block diagram show "USB Device" in the peripherals block.

Re: ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin compatible with ESP8266

#24

Post by stefan_ »

Scaevolus wrote: post #10
meekrohprocess wrote: post #2

Nice. The XTensa cores always felt weird. Too bad they only included the I/M/C extensions - no floats, vectors, or atomics. And USB would be nice (nevermind, it has USB :D). But it's still very exciting. Maybe there'll be less conflict between ARM/XTensa/PIC32/etc. cores in the coming years.

Why do you need atomics on a single core device?

Because you are likely still running a preemptive multitasking operating system.

Re: ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin compatible with ESP8266

#26

Post by meekrohprocess »

azdle wrote: post #23
meekrohprocess wrote: post #2

Nice. The XTensa cores always felt weird. Too bad they only included the I/M/C extensions - no floats, vectors, or atomics. And USB would be nice (nevermind, it has USB :D). But it's still very exciting. Maybe there'll be less conflict between ARM/XTensa/PIC32/etc. cores in the coming years.

> And USB would be nice. The block diagram show "USB Device" in the peripherals block.

Oh yeah, cool - I missed that.

Finally! An Espressif chip with WiFi, Bluetooth, and USB!

Re: ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin compatible with ESP8266

#27

Post by ducktective »

londons_explore wrote: post #22
4778468d wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s all about the software & documentation. There’s lots of “competitors” to esp32, pretty much none of them except STM have the software for developers, which makes their offerings close to useless. The only way to gain critical mass is relentless deep commitment to developer tools/libraries and documentation. In many cases these competitors actually try to hide their documentation and keep secret how their chips w…

It just means it isn't made for hobbyists... Hardware companies don't care about the lack of good software - they just pay some embedded code monkey a lowish salary to 'just make it work'.

"embedded code monkey"

Is this really the case? :(

Re: ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin compatible with ESP8266

#28

Post by taf2 »

nrp wrote: post #17

Espressif is no longer alone in the ultra low cost hobby WiFi SoC space. Pine has started working with the Bouffalo BL602 which seems to be a fairly similar RISC-V powered part: https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/10/28/the-quest-for-a-blob... It will be interesting to see which one gains critical mass in community use.

Agreed having recently bought an esp32 s2 board it does not yet have platform io support so I put the board aside and figure I’ll come back to it in 6 months and see if that is updated.

Re: ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin compatible with ESP8266

#29

Post by nrp »

4778468d wrote: post #21
nrp wrote: post #17

Espressif is no longer alone in the ultra low cost hobby WiFi SoC space. Pine has started working with the Bouffalo BL602 which seems to be a fairly similar RISC-V powered part: https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/10/28/the-quest-for-a-blob... It will be interesting to see which one gains critical mass in community use.

It’s all about the software & documentation. There’s lots of “competitors” to esp32, pretty much none of them except STM have the software for developers, which makes their offerings close to useless. The only way to gain critical mass is relentless deep commitment to developer tools/libraries and documentation. In many cases these competitors actually try to hide their documentation and keep secret how their chips w…

Bouffalo apparently has been giving Pine64 the necessary documentation access to make their initiative for a full open software stack workable: https://www.pine64.org/2020/10/28/nutcracker-challenge-blob-...

Edit: a better reference is Bouffalo’s GitHub org showing the docs and mostly open code: https://github.com/bouffalolab

Re: ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin compatible with ESP8266

#30

Post by AlotOfReading »

ducktective wrote: post #27
londons_explore wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It just means it isn't made for hobbyists... Hardware companies don't care about the lack of good software - they just pay some embedded code monkey a lowish salary to 'just make it work'.

"embedded code monkey" Is this really the case? :(

It's a pretty uncharitable description, but yeah. There are only two types of companies that do this though: companies where they're working at such a scale that spending a few extra months to years of developer time doesn't make a dent compared to the BOM savings. You're more likely to get vendor support by name recognition at these kinds of companies, so it's not as bad as the hobbyist experience. The second kind is where either the project or the company can't afford the capital outlay for better documented chips (or support packages). Stay the heck away from these if you value your sanity or know your own worth.
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