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Re:ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin comp... by user-the-name on Monday November 23, 2020 @04:38AM (#25185067)
Because, to be frank, Arduino is a bit of a toy platform.

It is really good for beginners and for hobbyists to make embedded devices available to a wider audience, but nobody in their right mind would build an actual product on top of Arduino.

Re:ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin comp... by marcan_42 on Monday November 23, 2020 @07:40AM (#25186124)
People trying to build "real" products on top of Arduino usually do so in spite of, not thanks to, the platform.

Once you start trying to build a polished experience, not a quick hack, you quickly run into limitations that are solvable by dropping to lower levels. I ran into this when I tried to make an ESP8266 temperature sensor - the Arduino stuff didn't have working power management, so it would heat up skewing the measurements, nor anything like threading or coroutines for network handlers, so a single stuck network request would block all others. Ironically, the Arduino port included a coroutines implementation under the hood, but used it in a silly way with a single coroutine. I rebuilt the thing on top of the ESP SDK, stole the thread switching code from Arduino, and used it to build a nice low power version that could handle up to 4 requests at once.

I don't think I've ever seen a well engineered product built on Arduino that wasn't trivial. They might've hacked on it until the user experience is good, but then you peek under the hood and it's clear the engineering isn't good. And that ends up creeping into the user experience in the end, or worse. (OnlyKey comes to mind, which is built on Arduino and also its authors clearly do not have the competence to be writing security/crypto code, but they seem unwilling to accept any criticism).

Re:ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin comp... by lostlogin on Monday November 23, 2020 @08:52AM (#25186734)
I know of a good production line that has seen improvements in efficiency and safety due to automation with Arduino. I’m sure there are better ways but in terms of bang for buck, it’s hard to see how a non-programmer could have done better.
Re:ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin comp... by user-the-name on Tuesday November 24, 2020 @04:55AM (#25196960)
That doesn't sound like using Arduino in a product, though?
Re:ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin comp... by lostlogin on Tuesday November 24, 2020 @12:11PM (#25200455)
No, they are on big bits of equipment.
Re:ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin comp... by IgorPartola on Monday November 23, 2020 @02:19PM (#25190542)
What is the best open source alternative? Ideally one that works similar to PlatformIO where you aren’t tied to a specific IDE.
Re:ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin comp... by user-the-name on Tuesday November 24, 2020 @04:55AM (#25196948)
On things I've personally worked on, I tend to just use the basic libraries supplied by the vendor, or even just implement everything myself from reading data sheets. This is obviously realistic mainly for very small and simple systems, which is what I've usually worked with.
Re:ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin comp... by EmpirePhoenix on Monday November 23, 2020 @04:46AM (#25185099)
Well prusa did with their printers
Re:ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin comp... by user-the-name on Monday November 23, 2020 @05:45AM (#25185418)
They would be one of an exceedingly small minority, then.
Re:ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin comp... by IgorPartola on Monday November 23, 2020 @02:18PM (#25190521)
Almost every consumer 3D printer out there runs on top of Arduino. Sure that’s a small market compared to all electronics. But it’s still a big market in absolute terms.
Re:ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin comp... by mbushey on Tuesday December 01, 2020 @02:59PM (#25269172)
This was true three years ago. Plenty of 3D printers are now using ARM. The Monoprice MP Mini Delta has been out about two years now with a price of $175 US. Marlin 2.0 has support for ARM, I think it would be accurate to say "Almost every consumer 3D printer out there runs on top of Marlin", although there are a few alternatives like Smoothie.