As mentioned previously several times in this thread this
http://espressif.com/en/products/hardwa ... c/overview is available for sale on Amazon.com by Olimex. The reviews are not positive enough for me.
WiFive wrote:The complaint that silicon revisions are hard to identify is valid.
The complaint is obviously valid to any right-minded person who has tried to purchase a development board online from the vendors mentioned previously in this thread quickly finds out.
As I have opined numerous times in this thread, the fault here lies clearly with the CEO of Espressif. It would be remarkably easy for the CEO of Espressif to ask, say, his head of marketing to create a page on the Espressif website with links to vendors selling current silicon revisions.
This is not a trivial oversight. Companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook spend vast sums of time and money wooing third party developers. The CEO of Espressif is clearly unfit for his position.
WiFive wrote:The fact that the official devkitc and other similar boards do not fit a standard breadboard is unfortunate,
Chance, luck,or fortune play no part whatsoever in this. Again, it would be remarkably easy for the CEO of Espressif to ask, say, his head of marketing to create a page on the Espressif website with links to vendors selling current silicon revisions which also explains whether or not they fit on standard breadboards.
WiFive wrote:but mostly constrained by the footprint of official wroom32 module.
A better characterization would have, "The footprint of the official wroom32 module requires PCB manufacturers meet tight tolerances in order to create a PCB which will both accommodate the wroom32 module and fit on a standard breadboard."
WiFive wrote:Huzzah32 managed to make it fit, but they have in house assembly and QC.
It would be remarkably easy for the CEO of Espressif to ask, say, his head of marketing to create a page on the Espressif website that explains this fact. Why not divulge such information to third party developers?
WiFive wrote:The fact that wide breadboards such as AD-102 can easily solve this makes it a minor inconvenience.
I disagree. To someone like me who is coming to hardware as a "newbie" this stuff is "all Greek to me." It would be remarkably easy for the CEO of Espressif to ask, say, his head of marketing to create a page on the Espressif website clearly explaining all of this, as giving a link to the "newbie third party developer kit" which would include links to:
High Quality ESP32 Developer Boards
with details about the silicon version, types of breadboards they fit on, and whether they require soldering skills to attach the headers or no soldering skills because the headers are already soldered to them.
This stuff might be "obvious" to you, but the ESP32 (and Arduino) are bringing in the "unwashed masses" (like me) who prefer to plug stuff together to build a prototype and then order PCB/PCBA from one of the many inexpensive low volume/low cost Chinese shops that typically aggregate PCB/PCBA orders to allow them to have them produced cost-effectively.
Breadboard
Obvious to you? Yeah. I thought so. Guess what? I have never purchased a breadboard! Do I really want to try to figure out which breadboard to buy? No. I do not.
It would be remarkably easy for the CEO of Espressif to ask, say, his head of marketing to create a page on the Espressif website with a simple explanation about the various types of breadboards and which ones were suitable for which ESP32 Developer Boards.
Too dumbed down for you? Then I suggest you take a look at the recent history of hardware and software and realize it keeps getting "dumbed down" (the phrase I prefer is "user friendly") so that non-geeks can readily access this stuff. Why should software developers learn to solder? It is unnecessary! Arduino has proven that by copying the Legos "snap it together" model.
Common Hardware
USB cables
Speakers
Thermistors
Cameras
Etcetera
It would be remarkably easy for the CEO of Espressif to ask, say, his head of marketing to create a page on the Espressif website with links to vendors selling hardware I can plug into an ESP32 development board.
The CEO of Espressif could instruct his head of marketing to put up some MicroPython tutorials (or links to MicroPython tutorials). Software developers don't generally know much about the "nuts and bolts" of the hardware inside of a PC yet they program on it. In case you have not realized it yet, the ESP32 is essentially a really limited PC which should not require software developers do do much more than snap a few pieces together, just like attaching, saying a printer, keyboard, and monitor to an ordinary PC.
The days of "embedded programmers" writing C on PIC chips are rapidly coming to an end. MicroPython and the ESP32 (as well as Arduino) have fundamentally changed the game.
WiFive wrote:If you are a planning a high volume production espressif will probably make you custom prototypes.
I do not intend to purchase any products from Espressif besides the ESP32 modules.
WiFive wrote:If not you will go crazy trying to do HW without a hacker/tinkerer mentality.
I doubt your assertion will turn out to be correct.
Espressif will either change to become more "newbie third party developer friendly" or soon be pushed out of the market by a startup which creates a company that is newbie third party developer friendly.
Do you realize how much money VCs (venture capitalists) are sitting on in the USA? Do you really think no one in Silicon Valley is eyeing Espressif as an easy mark to take down? Do you know that the "silicon" in Silicon Valley stands for? HP, Google, Apple, Facebook, and of course Intel have many thousands of world class hardware engineers. You don't think any of them could be enticed to work at a startup that was determined to build a "better ESP32."
Espressif is essentially advertising, "Here is a huge new market we have pioneered! It is really exciting! See! But we don't really want to take care of third party developers! Please, please, please come and push us out of business!"
The CEO of Espressif is clearly unfit for his position and should be replaced within the next 30 days.
I hope that some of the key investors in Espressif read this thread and use it as part of their argument to replace the CEO of Espressif.
By the way, I am not suggesting the CEO of Espressif be fired. Not at all. He might make an excellent CTO or Director of Engineering. I think the "Peter Principle"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle might be at work here. Be that as it may, the of CEO of Espressif is so remarkably lacking in marketing acumen that he obviously needs to be replaced and will be replaced: either by another CEO at Espressif or de facto by the CEO of the competitor which comes along and pushes Espressif out of this market.