Getting Started
Table of contents
Host Computer
You will need a host computer to compile and download programs to the laser tag unit. You have a few options available.
Option 1: Use a lab computer
Computers with the required software are set up and available in the Analog Lab (EB 424,425). You can login to these machines using your CAEDM login.
We recommend that you work in the lab as everything is set up for you and ready to go. It’s also easier for you to get help from the instructor and TAs if you are in the lab.
Option 2: Use your own computer
You may choose to use your own computer so you can work remotely. This option requires you to install the Espressif development tools on your personal computer. A limited install requires about 3 Gigabytes of disk space. Installation is supported on Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. Instructions can be found at the following link.
Get Started, Introduction, Installation
Group File Share
You can use a CAEDM group to share code with others in your project. A CAEDM group gives you a shared file space to save your project code and collaborate. You are NOT allowed to use a GitHub repository or other external site to store your code. You can create a CAEDM group yourself through the following link. You will be required to login first with your CAEDM password.
If you want to have revision control of your source code in the group file space, you can create a bare git repository in the shared space. Then you will be able to check-in and check-out files with git from the shared file space to your personal file space (i.e., J Drive, home directory) similar to what you would do with GitHub. The main difference here is that your files are hosted on CAEDM servers instead of GitHub servers.
Lab Environment
In this section, you will find instructions on:
- Downloading the repository of starting code
- Editing source code
- Setting up the build environment
- Building source code
- Downloading code to run on the ESP32 processor
Starting Code Repository
To complete the work for this course, you are provided a repository of starting code, available here: https://github.com/byu-cpe/ecen390.
You can clone this code from GitHub into a sub-directory called ecen390 in your home directory using the following command:
git clone https://github.com/byu-cpe/ecen390_student ~/ecen390
Editing Source Code
A significant amount of your lab time will be spent editing source code. Visual Studio (VS) Code is available on the lab computers. In a terminal window, you can start VS Code by first changing your working path to the project directory. Then run code.
cd ecen390/ltag
code
Building and Running Applications
Applications are built on the host computer before they are download and programmed into the flash memory on the ESP32 processor. The ESP-IDF tools environment must be setup each time a new terminal window is opened to build an application. First, change your working path to the project directory:
cd ecen390/ltag
From within a project directory, the environment is setup by typing:
source ../myidf.sh
After setting up the environment, an application is built by typing:
idf.py build
Make sure a USB cable is connected from the host computer to the ESP32 device. An application is then downloaded and run by typing:
idf.py flash monitor
To escape the ESP monitor and return to the command prompt, type control-] (control key + right bracket).
Getting Help
A help queue and a pass-off queue will be maintained on the whiteboard in EB 424 (Analog Lab).
See TA Hours for a weekly schedule of when TAs are available.