Getting Started on the M5Stack Core2

m5stack-core2-getting-started.adoc

Getting Started on the M5Stack Core2

This is a short guide to getting the M5Stack Core2 running on MacOS Catalina.

Setting Up the Environment

The following commands get us set up with arduino-cli

brew install arduino-cli
arduino-cli config init
vi Library/Arduino15/arduino-cli.yaml   # add board download URLs as below

(TODO: describe how to install the USB driver for MacOS)

We need URLs so arduino-cli knows about ESP32 boards. See https://conferre.cf/arduino/cli.php

board_manager:
  additional_urls:
  - https://dl.espressif.com/dl/package_esp32_index.json
  - https://arduino.esp8266.com/stable/package_esp8266com_index.json
  - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/damellis/attiny/ide-1.6.x-boards-manager/package_damellis_attiny_index.json

Now we can install the required tooling for ESP32.

arduino-cli core update-index
arduino-cli core search                 # see that esp32:esp32 is available
arduino-cli core install esp32:esp32
arduino-cli board listall               # see that M5Stack-Core-ESP32 is available

We’ll need the M5Core2 library to be installed

arduino-cli lib install M5Core2

Creating Our First Sketch

arduino-cli sketch new FirstApp

Edit FirstApp.ino to look as follows:

#include <M5Core2.h>

void setup() {
    M5.begin();
    M5.Lcd.print("Hello, world!");
}

void loop() {
}

Now compile the sketch from the FirstApp directory:

arduino-cli compile --fqbn esp32:esp32:m5stack-core-esp32

Installing the Sketch

Run the following without the Core2 plugged into USB:

arduino-cli board list

Now, plug the Core2 into USB and run the command again. In my case, the second run produced the following additional lines:

Port                            Type              Board Name FQBN Core
/dev/cu.SLAB_USBtoUART          Serial Port (USB) Unknown
/dev/cu.usbserial-01F9709F      Serial Port (USB) Unknown

It’s OK that arduino-cli doesn’t know the board type. It just means we have to specify it when we upload.

arduino-cli upload --fqbn esp32:esp32:m5stack-core-esp32 --port /dev/cu.SLAB_USBtoUART

The upload should take a few seconds, after which the Core2 should restart and display "Hello, world!" in tiny little letters.

Resources

• https://arduino.github.io/arduino-cli/latest/

• https://conferre.cf/arduino/cli.php

• https://community.m5stack.com/topic/2339/new-core2-appears-to-not-be-working-properly/2

• https://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=680595.0

A more up-to-date guide: * https://www.dellascolto.com/bitwise/category/m5stack/