More PlatformIO

Glad to see you suggest this! I am planning to publish videos and articles on both PlatformIO and Visual Studio Code very soon.

I may even move the demos I do to PlatformIO next year, depending on the state of the Arduino IDE - it hasn't been updated since April, and with the recent Qualcomm acquisition, I don't know if it has a path forward.

So it would probably be a good idea to get more familiar with PlatformIO.

😎

Bill

@dronebot-workshop Awesome!  I look forward to you future videos!  One thing in particular I would like to see is how to use a debugger!!

Rob

I fear PlatformIO may suffer the same fate as Arduino IDE.

@tfmccarthy That's an interesting prediction - care to elaborate?

😎

Posted by: @dronebot-workshop

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That's an interesting prediction - care to elaborate?

I posted a reply that went into ... disturbia.

Did something go amiss?

Posted by: @dronebot-workshop

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That's an interesting prediction - care to elaborate?

 

Second try:

"No fair!" sez me.

You're asking me, a known blowhard, to expound upon my brilliant (but little known) thinking process in public with a audience of at least two.. That seems like entrapment to me.

But then, it's an audience, so...

The public statement from Qualcomm and Arduino on the merger is that their commitment to the Arduino community will be unchanged. What is also clear is the focus on migrating Arduino developers to the QUALCOMM platform via Arduino UNO Q and Arduino App Lab. Clearly, Arduino App Lab is meant to be a wholesale replacement of Arduino IDE. I haven't looked too closely at it but what comes across is that you're expected to use it on the Arduino UNO Q. That's their product. I think they claim a standalone version of it but I find that untenable in the long term.

Similarly, I find it dubious that QUALCOMM would continue for very long to develop separate Arduino devices rather than using a QUALCOMM chip. I think they more concerned with selling boards using their chips, not a competing chip.

It's early days yet, but a tell is how active and healthy Arduino IDE is fairing. Are the developers being siphoned off to Arduino App Lab? You note it's been dormant since April. The future seems cloudy at best, sez me. I can foresee a slow demise of support until obsolescence.

Which brings me to PlatformIO.

I just started to research how PlatformIO integrates with Arduino/ESP32 boards so I don't have all the facts. What comes across is that the same toolset is used by both programs but PlatformIO is mimicing what Arduino-cli does. (Arduino-cli is built-in to Arduino IDE)

So if QualComm scales back development of the Arduino IDE won't that have a similar effect on PlatformIO? Wouldn't QualComm desire that?

What's the attraction of the Arduino developer for PlatformIO? Well, it's richer than Arduino IDE. (QualComm: So is Arduino App Lab!)  It integrates easily with all the Arduino boards. (QualComm: Just like Arduino App Lab will!)

That's the end of the primary list. All the other tools (editor, debugger, etc.) are going to match almost one-for-one.

So if Arduini IDE is fated to be scrapped, PlatformIO will be in direct competition with Arduino App Lab. Which one will QualComm favor?

YMMV (Your mileage may vary.)

But I'm still handsome.

@tfmccarthy I saw this video on Youtube last night:

  . My first reaction was that it was a fake or a scam. I had a look at the creator's other content and he seems legit and has done quite a few tutorial videos over last few years. Alas, most of the stuff went straight over my head, but I thought it would be relevant to the conversation you've been having with @robotbuilder, and laterally with Bill. I was just wondering if you had a view on it. I'd quite like to know what more experienced people, like yourself, would have to say about it.

Thanks

Mike

Posted by: @mike-parsons

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I saw this video on Youtube last night: ... I was just wondering if you had a view on it.

First off, thanks for this. I say you get the "link of the year" award.

There's a lot to process here but just a few "first blush" notes:

It's Legit: I was able to get to the site and run the app with no warnings. I connected to my ESP32 dev board without issue. I didn't explore deeply but I did access most of the functionality. 

I feel this may be a "fundamental" tool for ESP32's The video gives an accurate overview of the tool. The potential of the technology seems wide open.

There's a lot to explore and talk about here.

Thanks again for the link!

@tfmccarthy I'm quite the beginner here but, from what I read in your post your concerns with PlatformIO is more Arduino based.  PlatformIO supports many other microcontrollers including ESP32 and STM32.  Wouldn't it still be relevant in these cases and not affected by Qualcom's purchase of Arduino?

@rspruell Good point. 

Another thing about PlatformIO is that it runs in Visual Studio Code, which is itself a popular development environment that isn't going away soon.  So you can use one environment for your C++ (Arduino) code as well as your Python and MicroPython code.

That's why I plan to create episodes on both Platform IO and VS Code.

😎

Bill

@tfmccarthy There is actually a better video by the creator of ESPConnect; however, he doesn't allow embedding, so I can't put it here.

You can see it on the "Tutorial" section of the GitHub page for the project - https://github.com/thelastoutpostworkshop/ESPConnect

I liked it so much I "bought him five coffees"!

😎

Bill

@rspruell 

Posted by: @rspruell

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I'm quite the beginner here

You may be a fresh face but with

... 20 years as a data/telecommunications consulting engineer.

so, I'm not buying the "I'm a noob" line. 🙂

...from what I read in your post your concerns with PlatformIO is more Arduino based.

True, but because it was being related to the QualComm-Arduino merger, I stayed focused on the Arduino angle.

Wouldn't it still be relevant in these cases and not affected by Qualcom's purchase of Arduino?

AFAIK, the QualComm merger won't effect the PlatformIO support for the STM32 MCU. ESP32 support is less clear. Again, I don't know enough about how PlatformIO supports the ESP32 chipset, but Espressif has provided direct support to Arduino IDE and I suspect that PlatformIO uses that as the basis for their support. I'm having a hard time seeing Espressif provide that same support for QualComm. Espressif has their own IDE. I don't think they can drop their in-house development efforts. So why should they support PlatformIO?

The dependence on third party support is a persistent risk. e.g.,

Arduino Extension for VSCode being deprecated!? - Community / General Discussion - Arduino Forum

chicoDaMan

Aug 2024

The only drawback is that ,there is still no support for ESP32 core 3.

Yeah, thats what's frustrating...PIO and Arduino IDE are not in sync. I have a lot of code that I've moved on to Core 3 already...works great in VSC + Arduino extension, but doesn't run in PlatformIO.

Microsoft doesn't have "skin in the game" and have shown they're willing to drop out at a moment's notice:

Hi VS Code Arduino users, we make this announcement to inform you that we are deprecating the Arduino extension. We recommend existing customers to use the Arduino IDE software

@dronebot-workshop,

There is actually a better video by the creator of ESPConnect

I just started watching that one.

I liked it so much I "bought him five coffees"!

You own Tim Horton stock, don't you?

@dronebot-workshop ,

That would be great . . . . please, please also bring in pioarduino as the complement to PlatformIO. The developers of PlatformIO are busy with their survival in Ukraine, and pioarduino has been forked from PlatformIO to take up some of the slack, and is more up to date.

--adam

@dronebot-workshop

Did you see this news about Qualcomm rewriting the Arduino ToS?  Yikes.

https://blog.adafruit.com/2025/11/25/qualcomm-rewrote-arduinos-tos-and-the-community-is-not-taking-it-well-techspot/

Tom