Welcome to ESP32 & microcontrollers
This is the home for anything with GPIO pins and a bit of code behind it: ESP32 boards of every flavour, Arduino Uno and Nano, the Raspberry Pi Pico, STM32 boards, ATtiny chips and whatever odd board turned up in a starter kit. Blinking your first LED or building a weather station with a colour display, it all fits.
How this forum is organised
Threads live in the subforums rather than here, so pick the one that fits:
• General discussion: news, setups, tool choices, opinions and chat
• ESP32 projects: show your ESP32 builds, from displays and sensors to LEDs and games
• Arduino & Pico: Arduino boards, the Raspberry Pi Pico and other microcontrollers
• Help & troubleshooting: stuck on wiring, uploads or code? Ask there
Neighbouring boards
• Linux single-board computers such as the full-size Raspberry Pi: Raspberry Pi & SBCs
• Designing your own board in KiCad: Electronics & PCB design
• Home Assistant and ESPHome automations: Smart home & IoT
• Handheld consoles built around a microcontroller: DIY handhelds & portables
• Finished gadgets that do not fit anywhere else: Custom tech & builds
Choosing a board, in general terms
• Arduino Uno and Nano style boards are simple, well documented and forgiving. The classic ones use 5 V logic. Great for learning.
• ESP32 boards add Wi-Fi and, on most variants, Bluetooth, with far more speed and memory. They use 3.3 V logic. You can program them with the Arduino framework, ESP-IDF, MicroPython or ESPHome.
• The Raspberry Pi Pico is inexpensive, quick and nicely documented, with MicroPython and C/C++ support and the handy PIO blocks for custom timing. Despite the name, it is a microcontroller, not a small Linux computer. It also uses 3.3 V logic.
Things that catch everyone out
• 3.3 V and 5 V do not mix freely. Feeding 5 V signals into a 3.3 V pin can damage it. Use a level shifter or a voltage divider where needed.
• Connect the grounds. Every part of a circuit that talks to another part needs a common ground.
• Size your power supply. Motors, servos and LED strips draw far more than a USB port or a board's regulator can give. Power them separately and join the grounds.
• Some USB cables are charge-only and will never show a serial port.
• Handle bare boards with ESD in mind.
Rules for the whole forum
• Share code freely, credit the libraries and projects you build on, and respect their licences.
• No malware, no tools aimed at networks or devices that are not yours, no jammers, and nothing piracy-friendly.
• No selling and no paid services.
• Safety warnings about mains, lithium batteries and high current are part of the rules. Anything involving mains voltage should be wired by a qualified person.
The house rules apply here too: be kind, English only (other languages are translated automatically), no spam, no keyboard mashing and no self-promotion spam. Use Report if you see a problem. This thread is locked, so jump into a subforum and start your own thread.
Dexter
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