You don’t necessarily be a programmer to play with microcontrollers. Simply grab some pre-made firmware from someone else, and use it on your microcontroller - done!
Overview
Using firmware that was made by someone else obviously puts someone else in full control: the firmware you choose does whatever its author programmed it to do.
However, that’s by far not as limiting as you might think:
- Special Purpose Firmware: Firmware like WLED is highly specific and controls LED strips. If you wanted your microcontroller to do something different, then you are out of luck. But: the author tailored such as great and versatile firmware that you can manage it via web interface and adapt it to all kinds of LED strips and LED devices. If controlling LED is your thing, then even if you invested months in writing your own firmware, you’d probably not outperform WLED.
- Adjustable Firmware: Firmware like ESPEasy and EspHome takes care of all the hard stuff like implementing a web interface or sending over-the-air updates (OTA). The firmware isn’t tailored to a specific action or task. Instead, you can program it graphically or via yaml files. This way, you can create very specific solutions without touching C++. ZeroCode is another example presented below that shows how the industry tackles the problem: by clicking, you compose firmware that is matter-compliant and can be controlled by smartphones.
- Interpreters: If you are fundamentally into programming but using the very low level language C++ is a bit over your head, then upload one of the many Interpreter firmwares. They let you program your microcontroller via scripts. Whether you prefer LUA, Basic, Python, JavaScript, or whatnot, the Interpreter firmware does the hard part and translates your script into assembly language that the microcontroller can understand.
Uploading New Firmware
There are a variety of awesome projects and services that all provide you with ready-to-run firmware. They use two separate ways of uploading the firmware to your board:
- WebSerial: firmware can be uploaded directly from within a Chrome browser - no special tools or prerequisites needed. You just need a USB cable to connect your development board to your computer.
- Manual Upload: download a firmware file from its author, and flash it to your microcontroller manually. This requires quite a lot know how and also the proper tools for the microcontroller platform you use.
Special Purpose Firmware
Special Purpose Firmware targets a highly specific use case. Within this use case, the firmware let you customize and tailor the solution to your needs using a variety of web interfaces and/or smartphone apps.
WLED LED Controller
WLED is an open source project for controlling LED Strips. You can get ready-to-go firmware for ESP8266 and ESP32 microcontrollers.
All you need to do is wire up the LED Strip to the microcontroller.
Next, [upload the firmware](fromsomeoneelse/](https://install.wled.me/)(software) to the microcontroller. This can be done right from within your browser.
CO2 Sensor
CO2 Gadget turns a CO2 sensor into a smartphone app. It runs on any ESP32 microcontroller, and it comes with a web browser-based firmware flashing tool.
The hardest part often is finding the correct links: the authors’ web page is huge and not structured too well. Links to the browser-based firmware uploads can be found somewhere in the middle of it.
There are different firmware versions, targeting ESP32 microcontrollers with different displays attached to them.
Source code is hardware neutral. Once it gets compiled into a binary by an IDE, it is converted into a hardware-specific firmware. This firmware can now only be used on the particular hardware (microcontroller board) that was specified during compile time. When you take the shortcut and directly upload pre-fabricated firmware, you must be certain that it was indeed made for your particular microcontroller and board. Else, the firmware will not run (correctly).
Adjustable Firmware
This type of firmware provides just a basic framework that lets you manage your microcontroller.
The specific work you want your microcontroller to do for you can be programmed in various ways. You don’t have to be a programmer for this nor do you need to write a line of code (if you don’t like).
ESPEasy
ESPEasy supports ESP32 microcontrollers only. It supports a wide range of sensors and components and adds all the default code that is typically required to remote control a hardware device or integrate it into home automation frameworks like ioBroker, openHAB, Domoticz, FHEM.
Know Your Microcontroller
Since firmware is always hardware specific, you need to know a few things about your microcontroller board:
- Type: What type of microcontroller are you using? Is it a ESP32, a S2, a C3, or maybe an ESP8266?
- Memory: How much flash memory do you have? Most typical ESP32 microcontrollers come with 4MB. If in doubt, in the article about the boot loader you learned how you can use esptool to query the memory size.
- Libraries: What do you intend to do with the microcontroller? Is there any specific library support you may need?
Regardless of how you want to program a microcontroller, the questions above need to always be answered. Don’t be put off by them. If you used an IDE to write your own firmware, it would be no different, just happening at later steps in the process. Don’t worry too much. Just play with ESPEasy a bit. If a firmware doesn’t work out, you can always try another one.
Web Downloader
Navigate to https://td-er.nl/ESPEasy/ in a Chrome browser (other browser types do not support connecting to microcontrollers via USB).
In the combo box, select the firmware image you want to use. This list is huge, but here are the steps to tackle it:
- I want to upload firmware to a ESP32-C3 Mini. Each entry in the combo box lists the microcontroller type in square brackets at the end. So I can choose any firmware image that lists the C3.
- All images are grouped by available memory size. Since my ESP32-C3 Mini has 4MB flash memory, I can use any firmware image in groups that show 4MB.
- Each firmware image lists additional support, i.e. for climate sensors, energy meters, neopixel RGB LEDs, or specific library collections. Since I want to hook up an OLED display, I looked for images with display support. Eventually, I ended up with *20240414 Display 4M [ESP8266,ESP32,ESP32-S2/S3/C3].
- Connect the microcontroller board to the USB port of the computer, and click Connect. The typical WebSerial dialog opens and shows the connected microcontroller board. If the list is empty, check the USB connection as described in full detail in a previous article. Select your USB connection in the list, and click Connect.
- Once the connection is established, you can now upload the selected firmware image to your microcontroller board. Click Install Display 4M.
- The tool asks whether you want to erase the flash memory before proceeding. Check the option, then click Next.
- After a few warnings and confirmations, the memory is cleared. This can take up to a minute. Don’t worry: erasing the memory cannot damage anything. ESP microcontrollers keep their crucial boot loader in write-protected ROM.
- Once the memory is cleared, the firmware image is uploaded. All of this happens automatically, and you can lean back a while and watch.
- After a while, the installation is completed, and you see a confirmation message. Your microcontroller is now executing the new firmware. Click Next.
- You can now view the logs. When you click on Logs & Console, you see a detailed log of the installation process. You also see that your microcontroller is not yet connected to your WiFi. This is expected because it cannot know the logon credentials. Click Back.
- You now see a new option: Connect To Wi-Fi. Click on it to complete the configuration by adding your microcontroller to your WiFi Network.
If you do not see the option to connect to WiFi, you can always later configure it. Without access to your WiFi, the firmware will start its own WiFi access point named ESP_Easy_0. You can use any browser or even your smartphone to connect to it and complete the configuration.
- The tool searches for all available WiFi Networks which can take a couple of seconds. Then you can select the WiFi Network you want it to connect to, and enter the password for it.
- Now the microcontroller is connected to your WiFi. To test it, open the new web interface that the firmware added to your microcontroller by clicking Visit Device.
- A sophisticated web interface opens in your browser. Make a note of the IP address that was assigned to your microcontroller board. In my case it is 192.168.68.118. Via its web interface, you now can manage the microcontroller and tell it what to do.
Make sure you write down the assigned IP address. You’ll need it later to access the microcontroller web interface. If you forgot the IP address (or if it changed), you can always reconnect the microcontroller board to your computer USB and visit https://td-er.nl/ESPEasy/ again in Chrome. This opens a dialog with the option Visit Device which automatically figures out the current IP address, and opens the web interface again.
ZeroCode (Industrial)
Microcontroller manufacturers such as Espressif want to convince the industry that using their microcontrollers is the most cost-effective deal.
That’s why projects like ZeroCode exist: It targets industrial customers planning to develop smart devices. Hobbyists are not their target - but can use the same clever tools as well.
I include ZeroCode to provide a good picture of how modern firmware development has changed, and how our ecosystem of free tools will probably change in the future, too. In order to use ZeroCode, you need to sign up (free). ZeroCode is a work-in-progress: while some examples worked for me, others failed.
ZeroCode targets ESP32 microcontrollers and probably is one of the easiest and most amazing tool chains to program microcontrollers.
Once you registered for free and logged in, you click to Create a new product (aka create a new project), and assign it a name (i.e. test1).
Next, you can choose from a variety of template devices. For illustration, I choose a simple Plug that uses a GPIO as indicator:
Scroll to the bottom of the page, and click Next step>. Now you can select the microcontroller you want to use. I decided to use a ESP32-C3 DevKit M1:
Again, scroll to the bottom of the page, and click Next step>. The web page now illustrates the wiring of your board. In the bottom region, you can configure the active elements like Input Button, Output Relay, and Indicator LED.
Since I do not actually to plan soldering anything to my breakout board at this time, I only want the built-in LED to be remotely controllable. So I do not care much about the GPIO assignment for Input Button and Output Relais. What I want to set is the GPIO for the indicator LED. It is set to GPIO8 by default - which happens to be the correct Pin Assignment anyway. I have to adjust - nothing at all.
Again, scroll down to the bottom, and click Next step>.
To actually transfer and upload the firmware to my local ESP32-C3 board, click Evaluate now in ESP Launchpad.
After a few seconds, the firmware image is tailored to your needs and ready to be uploaded. Click Connect Your Device.
Now the exact same thing happens that was discussed in the Bootloader chapter: the webpage uses WebSerial to connect to the device on your USB port. Click on your board, and connect.
To access the new functionality in the firmware, the website displays a QR Code that you can scan with your smartphone. The left sidebar in the web page provides you with helpful hints on how to scan the QRCode in Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google, and RainMaker. The latter is a test app that you can use locally.
Some Conclusions
An interactive debug window shows you exactly what the firmware does while you are trying to connect it to your smart device. In my early experiments, I could get the firmware to work only with RainMaker, though. This may be due to the fact that ZeroCode is a test environment that is not meant to build firmware for production use. It is just targeting industrial customers that want to rapidly develop firmware. These industrial customers would then approach Espressif and order a couple hundredthousand microcontrollers that are shipped with a production-ready version of the firmware in place.
Interpreters
In the case of Interpreters, the firmware is not doing anything specific. Instead, it waits for commands (typically scripts or interactive user commands) in a higher level programming language.
This way, users do not have to write programs in C++ to control hardware. Instead, they use easier programming languages that are interpreted by the firmware and translated into the machine commands that a microcontroller can understand.
While programming is much easier, interpreters add overhead which degrades performance. This is why interpreters require more performat microcontrollers (like ESP32).
Here are the Interpreter firmware advantages:
- Versatile: Since the user can easily change commands or scripts, the microcontroller can do all kinds of things without the need of creating and uploading firmware each time.
- Easy: Interpreters support different high level programming languages like LUA, Python, Basic, JavaScript, etc. These languages feel more natural to non-programmers.
And here is the price you pay:
- Overhead: Interpreters add computational effort and introduce bottlenecks. That’s why they need (much) more RAM and more performant microcontrollers.
- Energy: Since the microcontroller has more work to do, interpreters increase the power consumption which can be prohobitive in battery-driven devices.
Interpreter firmware can be great in educational scenarios where you can easily reprogram the microcontroller to cater different needs, and if you just can’t wrap your head around the C++ programming language that is required to write firmware. If however you want a microcontroller to run the same code all the time (i.e. inside a device you created), then do avoid Interpreter firmware and instead build your own firmware directly.
Interpreter Languages
Free pre-compiled and ready-to-use Interpreter firmware is available for many high level programming languages:
LUA
- Lua (eLUA) Embedded Lua is a lightweight implementation of the Lua programming language for embedded systems.
- NodeMCU NodeMCU is a project that develops ESP8266- and ESP32-based microcontroller boards bundled with an adaption of eLUA that is guaranteed to match the hardware. The preinstalled (bundled) firmware can easily be replaced with any other firmware, including individual firmware written by yourself, if you are interested in the hardware board but not in LUA.
Python
- MicroPython: The MicroPython firmware can execute scripts written in Python 3 and also supports interactive console operation (REPL, read-eval-print loop). It includes a small subset of the Python standard library and is optimized to run on microcontrollers with limited resources (RAM and storage).
- CircuitPython: a derivative of MicroPython, designed by the company Adafruit to make learning and using Python on microcontrollers simpler. It focuses on ease of use and education.
JavaScript
- Espruino: JavaScript interpreter for microcontrollers to develop embedded applications using JavaScript with an interactive JavaScript environment.
- JerryScript lightweight JavaScript engine intended for microcontrollers with constrained resources. It features a very low memory usage and can run on microcontrollers with less than 64KB of RAM. It supports a subset of the ES5.1 standard.
BASIC
- ESPBasic: BASIC for ESP8266 microcontrollers. Allows easy and wireless programming.
- TinyBASIC: minimalistic version of the BASIC programming language designed for resource-constrained systems.
Others
- Squirrel: high-level scripting language, somewhat inspired by Lua, designed to be lightweight and embeddable, with object-oriented approach.
- TinyGo: Go compiler translating Go code into machine code that can run on microcontrollers.
- WASM3 WebAssembly interpreter designed for small devices and microcontrollers that can run WebAssembly bytecode on microcontrollers.
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(content created May 11, 2024 - last updated May 26, 2024)