For Josh: How to program your FIRST microcontroller with ease!

How to program an ESP32 microcontroller from scratch, with all steps included. For my book on ASD, check out amzn.to/3Q0wKKb
The M5 Stick C Plus on Amazon: amzn.to/43vIQ0O
The board manager URL that I used was:
espressif.github.io/arduino-esp32/package_esp32_index.json

[@elisha9876]

Josh is my little brother and this video means the world not only to Josh but to our entire family! Even our 80 year old grandma who can barely work her iPhone knows about you and your videos as you are so important to Josh. You have been so inspirational to Josh and so many others with ASD, and for that I truly thank you.

[@DavesGarage]

Thanks! Glad to hear he's seen it! Hope it was a cool surprise when he saw the title :-). The M5 should go out today so should be there in a week, I expect!

[@epicethereallord2977]

⁠​⁠​@DavesGarage Hi Dave, thank you so much for sending the M5 and for the super cool surprise. This video means a lot to my whole family! I loved watching the video! I’m looking forward to seeing more of your videos and to code a thank you letter on the M5. Lastly, I’m looking forward to trying to code this using the visual studio code platformIO extension because that is my goal. Thank you so much Dave, Josh.

[@teunisvaandering3103]

@@epicethereallord2977 Enjoy your gift from Dave's garage, programming it with your imagination will make magical things happen. Thanks @DavesGarage, we need more of those inspiring videos and stories on this world. Thumbs up!

[@epicethereallord2977]

@@teunisvaandering3103 thanks for your kind words

[@masternobody1896]

@@DavesGarage epic video thanks. bro you should play empire earth

[@JCWren]

I'm impressed that a modern 8 (or 10) year old is willing to hand write and mail a letter. I'm less impressed that the Arduino IDE programmers appear to never have heard of a sort function.

[@ThePC007]

If you mean that the Arduino framework doesn’t come with a sort function - well, that’s on the Arduino framework developers, not on the IDE developers, if anything. The ESP32 does support C++ vectors, though, which already come with a built-in sort function, so I’m not sure why you’d need an Arduino-specific one in the first place.

[@JCWren]

@@ThePC007 No, I meant exactly what I said. Why in Dog's name would the board list NOT be sorted? With 100+ boards in the list, having to read each and every name trying to find the one you want because they're not in a sorted list is insane.

[@ThePC007]

@@JCWren Ah, makes sense, yeah.

[@criptych]

At least as of 2.1.0, it looks like the board list is now sorted by default.

[@amcluesent]

Blinking an LED is a right-of-passage for real coders. Around 1985 I was coding real-time controls systems on 68000 and we blinked two LEDs to show the kernel hadn't locked-up

[@DavesGarage]

My PDP-11 has a cool KnightRider style display it makes by blinking the address LEDs to show how busy the CPU is. I love daskblinkenlights.

[@joelstyer5792]

It certainly is. Forst thing I did on my home bult and designed 8080A "system" in the 70s. Every product and project I design has a heartbeat LED. I can't even count the times it helped catch an issue. For the small cost (about 1 cent in parts for the resistor and LED, it is worth it.

[@grahambourne1]

You are a good man Dave. I will try and keep this short but have a bit too say. I am 47 years old with a successful electronic security industry background of 20 years. I have struggled all my life with feeling different, frustrated etc. Recently diagnosed with ASD2 (old Asperger's) and ADHD. I have always loved electronics and learning. I love your channel and think it is important that people like yourself who are so successful show all the young people like josh that ASD is a super power!. It has its moments but gives us a drive and skill set that is invaluable. To Josh, If you like electronics and Micro controller's I have been watching a KZbin channel by Top Tech Boy for years. his lessons can be long but start with blinking an LED on an Arduino to very advanced programing of high powered Jetson Nanos that use AI and neural networks to recognse objects. The world is your play ground josh. Have fun! (Sorry Dave to advertise another channel 😇)

[@DavesGarage]

I found being diagnosed to be really valuable because suddenly I was able to look at myself through the lens of what's typical with ASD, and then see "Oh yeah, I guess I do do that..." and I think I've become a much better person since understanding. Or easier to get along with and live with, anyway! And yet at the same time while I'm more aware of certain shortcomings, I don't feel bad about them or view them as defects, just ways in which I'm different from most. But there are millions of people are are different just like me!

[@grahambourne1]

@@DavesGarage I bought your book last night and started to read it. Its really good..

[@cherrymountains72]

You're a good man, Dave. Thank you.

[@RFLTools]

I recall when my son was about Josh's age (22 now) he was showing interest electronics. Raspberry Pi was new on the scene and I thought about going that route but wanted to be a little more basic - I had recently discovered Arduino and thought this would be much better to learn as a start. I got him a breadboard and access to my stash of basic components. One night I heard him awake far after his bed time so I went in to check up on him (and give him crap for being up so late on a school night). I went in and he was messing with the Arduino - he looked up and asked "Dad, why are the LEDs burning out?"... So much for giving him crap - spent the next hour explaining a bit of basic electronics and why the need and how to calculate a resistor in the mix.

[@sandwich5344]

Not quite that late at night kinda guy, but the same way how i - now 22 years old Ended up as one of the few engineers that ate the electrical glue! My work is much different from setting pin 13 to HIGH though ;)

[@DavesGarage]

One of my favorite memories was tinkering in the shop with my own boys when they were that age. We had a small motorcycle battery and we were lighting up 12V lamps and so on when the youngest accidentally/curiosly touched the wire to the negative post. It instantly welded in place, and started to glow red hot, smoking the insultation off the entire wire in a big cloud. I pulled him back from it in case he tried to grab it (or in case the battery failed), and the wire soon burned through and it was over. Gave them all real respect for short circuits!

[@RFLTools]

@@DavesGarage I'm guessing that most of the people watching our channel have similar experiences - someone in their lives that sparked interests. Mine was my grandfather (my mom was a single mom through my early years - I think I'm about your age). My grand parents were dirt poor with no education, but my grandfather really encouraged my inquisitive mind. One of my earliest memories was asking him "what does popcorn look like when it pops?" - back in those days you used a super big soup pot on the stove with corn and oil, I pulled up a stool (I was 4 I believe) and we both watched the pot with no lid. Then the corn started popping we must have looked ridiculous trying to get the lid on just as my grandmother walked into the kitchen.

[@thecomputerguy777]

@@RFLToolsI bet your grandmother remembered you two doing that and got a laugh out of it. I was always asking my grandpa things like that, and it was great to have someone in my life who was so willing to be patient and explain so well.

[@thevideoman12]

Thank you Dave, I would have loved all these cool mikrocontrollers and IDEs when I was a child. I am on the spectrum as well and chips and code have been closer friends to me than some people have. Thank you for helping those kids that really have a passion for what they are doing. You are an inspiration.

[@DavesGarage]

Thanks! Although I never had a real knack for it like some kids do, I had the Radio Shack 150-in-1 electronics kit and had a ton of fun with that!

[@thecomputerguy777]

@DavesGarage Those RadioShack kits were great to learn and tinker with as a kid. I’m probably on the spectrum myself but never officially been tested, but as @thevideoman12 said, electronics and all were there for me when others gave me a rough time. Arduinos and raspberry pi’s seem to be the “new generation” of those kits we used a decade or so ago.

[@paulomigueldias1111]

@@thecomputerguy777 those kits where 4 decades ago...

[@NeverlandSystemZor]

I love that you did this for Josh and helping inspire and teach the next generation of coders!

[@thebeeamberheardsdogsteppe6368]

I love how Dave cares about his Viewers

[@novamaster0]

As someone else who also is named Josh, I appreciated the personal attention in this video....now I'm 33 not an 8 year old and have never written Dave a letter....but man I felt valuable for a few moments here :D

[@anon_y_mousse]

That is a cool gift. I wish I could get any of my nieces or nephews interested in programming. I don't know if any of your kids are into computers, but I sure hope they are.

[@jaap7374]

Hi Josh, Thank you for asking your questions and giving us a nice video ❤

[@epicethereallord2977]

Thank you so so much for the video. It means a lot. I am the Josh who visited your house. FYI my age is actually 13

[@Steph.98114]

The esp32 has quickly become my favourite Arduino replacement.

[@ansiviewer]

Dave, you are an OUTSTANDING American! With style, you have made Josh better, and all who know you will feel proud to be your friend!

[@GHHodges]

We’re pretty proud of Dave’s Canadian roots and will always claim him another as one of our great exports to the good ol’ USA! 🇨🇦

[@-validites-]

As a person with ASD and an addiction to computers, this video was very entertaining!

[@casperes0912]

Josh, if you read this, you’re awesome. You’ll achieve cool things if you keep this up. Nice of you to make this video Dave

[@XxXaRvoxXx]

Just brilliant! :D i think this is a great pilot for a whole series of tutorials that practically anyone can grasp! ;)

[@sparthir]

I love this. A series that introduces a topic from basic principles to get people started is super important.

[@PonderingJosh]

Seeing successful professionals with ASD is an inspiration to those of us with it, thank you so much for content like this!

[@ocpud2999]

My first experience with microcontroller programming was with the 8051 in assenbly . My dad was a professor and taught me. It's fun stuff

[@KwanLowe]

What a heartwarming video and story. I remember having a local mentor when I was a kid in the 80s. He'd worked at Gould in S. Florida and introduced me to programming. This channel reminds me of those days spent learning how to solder and write my first program (it printed ASCII triangles and squares).

[@corewarrior]

Definitely going to be looking into the M5. Thanks for helping the curious 8 year old too! So many people don't want to take the time to help. The flames of curiosity should always be fueled!

[@ulisesgonzalezhorta7197]

It IS VERY nice from you to inspire the young generations to learn something new, whether is to code, to build something with a hammer, or to connect an outlet. I want to thank you for this video, each time I can I do the same, I think it is very important for the future!

[@rogerp5816]

Thanks Dave, I think this level of explanation is very helpful to many of us.

[@joopterwijn]

Dave, the like 👍 is in this instance for Josh and you! And Josh, super that you stick to it! Remember, you learn more from researching and fixing your errors than from copying. Coping is a nice start, but research give you a wider view of possible solution, there are always more then one!

[@Pizza4eversf]

Very nice person to show this. And good luck for Josh. May the Force of the Pizza be with you both.

[@konradkubit6525]

Nice Job Dave I remember being about 8 when I got interested in computers and what makes them tick . Nice job Thank you

[@SimonWahlin]

Great video! I would love a continuing series.

[@morekaccino]

this is so freaking sweet! thanks for doing it for ma man Josh

[@jacoblf]

Where the LOL imoji. loved the entire presentation. Laughing and chuckling throughout. Thanks Dave.!

[@heisenberg4249]

Just started working with the Doit Devkit1 a couple days ago and Dave uploads this, excellent timing

[@smartups1]

One thing how cool is you modify windows according to your needs . Awesome . ❤

[@govcorpwatch]

Did anyone else notice the "My Social Battery" pin Dave has on his shirt? nice. Great idea!

[@KegRaider]

I saw it, but had no idea what it was. Gonna go looking for my son now! Seems like a great idea.

[@govcorpwatch]

@@KegRaider It looks like it has a slide-able "energy" indicator.

[@guatagel2454]

That Arduino thing is addictive. I have esps all over my house, measuring sensors and turning things on and off.

[@GingerJohnnyOR]

time for me to show this to my 9yo grandson! You are a beautiful person Dave! Thanks

[@Vampirat3]

Dave , you are kust awesome , and a great example for us all to follow. Well done.

[@SoulcatcherLucario]

you're an amazing person, dave. you are a modern inspiration to people in our situation

[@user-jm8ho2hy8g]

Awesome video. Love that you took the time for this.

[@scottcopus]

Tip: Make sure your USB cable supports DATA and that it's not just a POWER cable. When I first got into microcontrollers I stumbled into this pitfall a few times. I even started labeling my cables with a "P" or "D" so I know which is which, lol.

[@Badsniperarmy]

Thank you for this!! I've been looking for this!!

[@wxfreak]

Thanks for making a video for Josh. That's a nice thing to do 👍.

[@joshismyhandle]

Thanks Dave, great stuff.

[@casperghst42]

Both informative and entertaining. Thanks.

[@hessex1899]

Go Josh! You'll be writing exploits for Windows in no time. :)

[@djlalorocks]

Awesome step by step!

[@RufusVidS]

Succinct yet comprehensive. I'd love to see, as other's have suggested, you do a video on "upgrading" from Arduino IDE to VSCode/PlatformIO. Same target, mostly the same application code, to show what Arduino hides and what professional programmers have to "deal with" regularly wrt libraries, linking, c startup code, etc.

[@Renegade605]

When I first started trying out advanced stuff with Arduino I found the default setup to be running me into a wall quite quickly. Luckily, although the Arduino IDE abstracts much of the advanced compile time tasks, they keep very good documentation of what it's doing and why. Switching over to manually handling library imports and writing my own libraries was quite trivial with that information. I even leveraged what the Arduino IDE is doing with .ino files in a non standard way to make one project be able to upload to multiple different boards with similar but different code in only a few clicks, without maintaining multiple copies of the code base. It's a pretty cool platform for beginners and advanced programmers alike.

[@ThePC007]

“deal with”, haha. I find PlatformIO to be much more user-friendly than the Arduino IDE. No messing around with additional board manager URLs, a very user-friendly library manager which even lets you define installed libraries in the platformio.ini file (I don’t think the Arduino IDE has an equivalent to that), and it even allows you to compile and run code on your PC, which is amazing for unit-testing purposes. I’ve never had to deal with linking or c startup code. You can just choose the Arduino framework as your framework of choice and you’re golden. Not to mention you get to use a “real” text editor.

[@Renegade605]

@@ThePC007 real time debugging is definitely something that Arduino lacks and is tough. That said, I learned a *ton* about memory management when debugging data structs by dumping the raw stack/heap to serial and figuring it out myself. xD

[@godfreypoon5148]

0:33 Josh clearly knows where it's at.

[@philsbbs]

great support and great video.

[@jaredlozano1692]

Great video, just found the tiki fire umbrella series and got inspired to try, would love more videos on the subject

[@ceuabara159]

Good man Dave. Thanks for that.

[@HBrooks]

culture the young in tech, they can learn faster than adults and will end up being the key to our future. thanks again for your videos!

[@COMATRON.]

finally a video that even i can follow. 43yo german dude here :D nice video dave!

[@tenktorypisze]

Just when i bought few of them for DIY projects :) Thank You.

[@ScottPlude]

Way to go Josh! We hope you enjoy the video!

[@stevegelnett4469]

This is a great idea. I dig it.

[@paulomigueldias1111]

I think It's wonderful that you can help this kid and all of us. When I started coding I was 11 and I had a computer club at school with a Pet and an Apple 2. My first computer was a ZX 81 and when I started asking questions at the computer shop some guys saves a tape with an assembler program and I learned how to make fast code with the Z80 CPU. 1981, no internet but I was lucky in having older people helping me learn how to code. I later had a 32 Kb RAM expansion and I had to sell everything to buy the ZX Spectrum. Again a friend of my father gave me a BBC model B and I was amazed with it, it is my favorite machine of all time, I learned how to connect the computer with external hardware and finally understood the "Computer controlled" sentence I heard a lot in the news. (how does the computer control whatever ... ?. Nowadays I am an avid micro controller programmer and I find wonderful what I can make using IO to control my electronics. If it wasn't for guys like you I would never had learned how to code. Thank you. Keep up the good work.

[@OldePhart]

Love that badge you are wearing. If you watched the latest Westworld series there was a big guy in it that wore a shirt that reflected his mood in words, Anxious, Excited, angry etc. That would be such a timesaver :)

[@Jamesninja99]

I've never been formally diagnosed, and if I am autistic I'm low on the spectrum, but my friend is a savant, not rainman level but he got a free ride to college for math, we played far too many video games when he should've been studying and I've always wondered if I held him back, in any case I'm considering buying your book for him as a belated birthday gift, the pile of chicken nuggets made me hungry and I like the way you think. Hope you have a good day Sir. Also subbed.

[@DavesGarage]

Does Kirk hold Spock back? Maybe, but in exchange, he teaches Spock a great deal about how "humans" do things, why they do them, how to understand them, and so on. I'm sure the social education of just hanging out was a fair exchange for that!

[@Jamesninja99]

@@DavesGarage I'd never really thought about it like that as we're both pretty socially awkward, but it heartens me to hear that from you. I only hope we don't end up in a deathmatch like Kirk and Spock did, he's recently used his superpowers to get in shape and would handily kick my ass now lol. Thank you for the kind reply and words of encouragement, I'll continue my endeavor to be the best teacher/student I can be to him. P.S. my dad actually does call him Spock in real life and we got a big kick out of your analogy. You've made a lifelong fan outta me.

[@spasm]

my favorite channel ever

[@viperjay1]

Thanks Dave and Josh!

[@unrealminigolf4015]

Thank you Josh. 🙏🏼 ❤

[@ike45mc]

Have fun Josh!

[@roblatour3511]

Well done Dave!

[@ophawku]

Dave, Very Cool. Good programming, Josh. Catch you, next time. Dale

[@3Dgifts]

Awesome and inspiring!

[@rodneysmith1750]

Good luck and best wishes Josh, don't loop forever...

[@johnbryant9079]

Sir, you are a legend!

[@gazzacroy]

bless him :) a good place to start your in good hands here :) good luck

[@kolobcreek]

Hey Josh! Check out the Node-MCU builds! You can flash it to the esp8266. Then get the util to upload files. Node-MCU was designed just for you. It is a basic programming language. It is interpreted language which means no compiling or messing around with pointers. Though I'm not a Genious like Dave I have 20yrs of programming experience. And I use it regularly. It's an option. I explore you to learn c and c++. I'm still an novice at C++ and do mostly C#, Java, and nodejs. NODE MCU will get your projects done fast. The Arduino system may be better. Try both. See which one you prefer.

[@RufusVidS]

Got any tutorial links? Presumably this works with the ESP32 family as used in this video?

[@superslammer]

Do they still make these? I have one and the website on the silkscreen doesn't work.

[@kolobcreek]

@@superslammer not sure what you mean.

[@superslammer]

@@kolobcreek The website printed on the board doesn't work for me.

[@DouglasHeyen]

Wow!! Never knew anyone with an 8 ball deluxe pinball. “Quit talking and start chalking”😃. Never forget it. One of my dad and I favorite game we’d play for high score. Also had a marble queen Xeon and a shuffleboard. He had quite the man cave. Its where I learned from apple 2e, 8088-486dx2. Def gave me quite a ton of opportunities learning with all his toys. Great vid!!

[@DavesGarage]

I don't actually have an 8 Ball Deluxe, I just remember it well from the arcades in the 80s/90s! I do have a Black Knight 2000 though, and I hand restored every part. Here's a tip: ramps melt in the dishwasher. But I got it fixed...

[@jasonrubik]

@@DavesGarage That reminds me of the time that I learned that Lego Technic bricks melt when boiled in water. I had to mockup a false bottom for a brewing mashtun, and for some reason had to the bright idea to clean the parts from my Lego 8865 Test Car by getting them hot on the stove. Then I forgot to turn the fire off, and they were a bad warped mess. Thankfully, BrickLink had replacement parts. Thanks for the awesome content, and for being so inspired by Brian Patmore and the TRS-80 !

[@TheSilent333]

Good luck, Josh!

[@epicethereallord2977]

Hey, thanks! I use C++ mainly

[@UndiagnosedGenXer]

Outstanding!

[@GHHodges]

“….good luck buddy”. ❤

[@muddyexport5639]

Good job! Thanks!

[@buleini]

Thanks Josh!

[@FlyNavy1271]

Dave your videos are always fun to watch and you seem like such a cool guy. I even give you a pass for having worked for the devil MS

[@PatrioticGestalt]

Very timely for me. Thanks. Now, can you do a video of the ESP-IDF way of programming? Please. 😅

[@guilherme5094]

Really nice👍!

[@MASSTERZINGER]

You're the best.

[@macdaddyns]

Nice 8all Deluxe reference!

[@DavesGarage]

You know it!

[@An.Individual]

Nice video.

[@jdlives8992]

rock on dude!

[@franciscovarela7127]

Great work...but where were you when I was ten years old? Just kidding, when I was ten AM transistor radios were the hot new tech. Old and retired software developer now and still code for fun. Freaked when I got my hands on neopixel strips.

[@solidsteal]

You're a good egg, Dave.

[@kf5tqnkf5tqn36]

+1 For a great how-to Hey Dave, where'd you get that cool pin from?

[@alliwantedisapepsi1492]

Thanks for helping Josh. BTW, I don't know him. Nice gesture though.

[@hepticftw]

Thanks

[@TheKenken2001]

Josh is so lucky.

[@Pizza4eversf]

Oot question: how about some words on Netmeeting? Or IP stack pieces of SW that WFW3.11 was "using" ? Thanks, great videos. Ciao

[@kyleolson8977]

While the Arduino IDE is easier for basic functions, programmers who get serious will be better off moving to the PlatformIO extension for VS Code. It's more powerful and customizable, and you'll be working in a more real C environment, and you can more easily work with multiple boards and microcontrollers in one project. Some older ESP32 boards get a little bit picky when you try to program them and you'll have to hold a button. Also, there are some more basic ESP32 boards (or some of the simpler old ESP8266 boards) that don't have a USB to UART chip so you have a cheap programmer board to upload to them. I even have some with a USB port that don't have this chip, oddly enough.

[@hayleyxyz]

Yep I use PlatformIO and would highly recommend it. The arduino IDE is fine for blink.cpp, but it's lacking for full projects. I've coded for both ESP32 and ESP8266, and I've found 32 far more fickle about the libs you link against - I had to work through a bunch of kernel panics before I found a set that played nice with the board I have. I would've just used 8266 but I needed BLE, so 😅

[@Smaxx]

Don't write off the lack of an USB port as a kind of minor inconvenience. Compared to the whole processor, these programmers/USB interfaces can take quite a bit of power on their own. It's certainly not as convenient to work with them, but based on the project you might get way better battery time by doing so.

[@kyleolson8977]

@@hayleyxyz While there are some really tiny 8266 devices I like (particularly those too small for a USB/UART chip), I think the advantages of the 32 chips keep getting bigger and bigger. With the wide variety of ESP32 chips available, I think if you're not already invested in the ESP8266, it's best to not get invested. And I would argue that if you start targeting only one of the platforms then the lib fickleness isn't so bad. I personally find the 8266 libs to be more likely to be a problem, and I think that's because I'm usually starting from the ESP32.

[@kyleolson8977]

​@@Smaxx I believe the UART is usually cut for the cost. A sleeping UART will run under 200ua, while the ESP32 chip will likely be taking 90ma up to 250ma. I'm not saying that's nothing, but on a dev board it is not worth it. In the cases that are the most odd the boards are already more expensive and power hungry, which is why I'm surprised.

[@Smaxx]

@@kyleolson8977 I think I was once reading about 5V ~50-75mA on USB+UART for some of the combined prototyping boards (that's excluding the ESP32, e.g. when in deep sleep). Obviously depends on how much is connected and how its wired.

[@ezrakoper]

Hello Dave. On one of your videos you covered how you do pcb layout and order it assbeled. I can't find it with all the videos available. Can you please comment back where I can find it or even better make a dedicated video just on this matter (from esp32/Arduino evb to my own HW already assembled on my ocb layout) thanks

[@pskry]

I recommend platformio!

[@DavesGarage]

Me too! But for single source file development, the Arduino IDE is a bit simpler. If you need more, PlatformIO is the way to go!

[@andreroy55]

It's like The Friendly Giant took up hacking! LOL Awesome. I'll call Rusty.

[@mobslicer1529]

i wish arduino ide would allow you to write normal c++ without weird folder structure. i recently had to do some arduino programming for school. i made some pretty neat stuff, such as a morse code program and a robot that could avoid obstacles, but i chose to use some c++ features like structs and header files that arduino ide and the vscode arduino plugin i used don't support in a sane way.

[@DavesGarage]

If you need more than one source file, I'd strongly suggest moving to PlatformIO. It's really well done, quite simple, and handles larges projects logically and easily.

[@daveruble5150]

oh yeah! My channel! lol

[@mrrobert462]

Project question. I have about 800 leds in a project i am working on. I also have 9 buttons. Does it matter if i use the power ground for my buttons or should i run a separate ground wire to another ground pin just for the buttons?

[@joshuamichael1232]

Thx m8

[@Nikola_Bojinovic]

Hello Dave, Do you know port manipulation for programming Arduino, if You do, can You make a video where You can teach us about that. I tried to learn it on other tutorials but it was a bit confusing. Thank You.