M5Stack ESP32-S3 kits

[espruino-discuss3]

Posted at 2024-11-22 by @joakim

How well does Espruino support M5Stack's ESP32-S3 devices like the fun little $30 CardPuter?

Processor

From ESP32-S3Fn8 (Datasheet):

• Dual 32bit Xtensa LX7 cores running up to 240Mhz
• RISC-V Ultra Low Power Co-processor
• ULTRA LOW Deep Sleep Current

Memory

• 128-bit data bus and SIMD commands
• 384 KB ROM - for booting and core functions
• 512 KB SRAM - for data and instructions, running at a configurable frequency of up to 240 MH
• 16 KB SRAM in RTC - can retain data in Deep-sleep mode
• 4 Kbit eFuse - reserved for user data, such as encryption key and device ID
• SPI, Dual SPI, Quad SPI, Octal SPI, QPI and OPI interfaces that allow connection to multiple flash and external RAM

Resources

• Bluetooth: 5.0, BLE + Mesh
• Wi-Fi: 802.11b/g/n 2.4Ghz
• Display: IPS LCD, 1,14", 240x135px
• Battery: internal 120mAh + 1400mAh (in the base) lithium battery
• TF-Card (MicroSD) slot
• 1 USB-C OTG in/out
• Keyboard: 56 keys, QWERTY type, ortholinear with tactile click switches
• Infrared ∠0° : 410cm, < 90° : 66cm, < 45° : 170cm
• Digital MEMS Microphone
• Sound: I2S-Speaker, 8Ω@1w
• 2 magnets on the back

Links

• Official website
• Documentation
• Community Wiki
• Subreddit
• Awesome M5Stack CardPuter
• Review

Edit:
Searching the forum, I found this discussion about a community fork of Espruino for S3, with an interesting exchange about the business side of Espruino, where I fully understand Gordon's position.

So the answer appears to be: it's not supported, and the S3 fork is still young but might work.

This quote gives me some hope though: "I really love the ESP32 chips - I think they're fantastic (especially the RISC-V ones), and I do want to find a way to support them properly."

[espruino-discuss3]

Posted at 2024-11-25 by @gfwilliams

So the answer appears to be: it's not supported, and the S3 fork is still young but might work.

Yes - there's a board file called ESP32S3_IDF4.py and if you build that then it should work - although you'd have to figure out how to access the screen/keyboard/etc directly from JS, but that's probably not the end of the world as it seems reasonably well documented

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Posted at 2024-11-25 by @joakim

Thanks for the pointers! The CardPuter is in the mail, so I'll give it a go when it arrives. If something comes out of it, I'll update here.

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Posted at 2025-01-26 by @joakim

I tried flashing the S3 firmware shared by rgomezwap to the Cardputer using esptool.py. The flashing was successful, but I get no response from the board when connecting, both with espruino and the IDE. "Unable to retrieve board information. Connection Error?" The IDE also prints out ";32mI (418) esp_image: segment 4: paddr=001a0e28 vaddr=4037ca".

I haven't succeeded in building ESP32S3_IDF4 from scratch, had some difficulties with the ESP32 tooling. Maybe it's best if I wait for it to get included in the official builds?

The Cardputer is a lot of fun though! Looking forward to running Espruino on it, and at least getting the display and keyboard to work. The goal is a tiny Espruino terminal :)

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Posted at 2025-01-26 by @MaBecker

it is now available via flash tool

https://forum.espruino.com/conversations/401440/#comment17639339

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Posted at 2025-01-26 by @joakim

Ah, I didn't catch that. Thanks for the heads up!

Unfortunately, it's the exact same result. Could be something with the Cardputer then.

Web IDE prints ";32mI (169) esp_image: segment 1: paddr=000534b4 vaddr=3fc9f9" this time, I don't know if that's saying something useful.

Edit: I also tried flashing after disconnecting the StampS3 from the Cardputer, that is, disconnecting all its peripherals. Still no response from board after a successful flash. Baud rate is set to 115200 in IDE.

I'm able to flash other firmware for the Cardputer and it works just fine, so I'm not sure what the issue is.

Any thoughts?