smôl ESP32 Hookup Guide

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Contributors: PaulZC
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Software Setup and Programming

Note: All of the examples in this tutorial assume you are using the latest version of the Arduino IDE on your desktop. If this is your first time using Arduino, please review our tutorial on installing the Arduino IDE. If you have not previously installed an Arduino library, please check out our installation guide.
Important: If you've never connected a CP210x device to your computer before, you will need to install drivers for the USB-to-serial converter. Check out our section on How to Install CP2104 Drivers for help with the installation. If you try to use a default generic USB driver, automatic uploading from the Arduino IDE is likely to fail.

To get started with the smôl ESP32 Processor Board, you'll need to install the ESP32 Board Definition. Open the Arduino IDE (must be v1.8.13 or later) and navigate to File->Preferences, like so:

Arduino Preferences, under File

Having a hard time seeing? Click the image for a closer look.

In the "Additional Board Manager URL" box, make sure you have the following two json files included. If you do not have them, add them to your preferences.

language:c
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/espressif/arduino-esp32/gh-pages/package_esp32_index.json
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sparkfun/Arduino_Boards/main/IDE_Board_Manager/package_sparkfun_index.json

If you have more than one json file, you can click on the button outlined in red and add the json links at the end. It'll look something like the following:

Additional Boards Manager URL location in the Preferences Dialog

Having a hard time seeing? Click the image for a closer look.


Once you've got your preferences updated, go to Tools -> Board and select the Boards Manager like so:

Arduino Boards Manager Dialog, under Tools

Having a hard time seeing? Click the image for a closer look.


Search for "ESP32", and you should find both the esp32 and SparkFun ESP32 Boards board packages. Make sure the latest version selected and click Install for the esp32 boards. Repeat for the SparkFun ESP32 Boards.

Board manager showing SparkFun ESP32 Boards install

Having a hard time seeing? Click the image for a closer look.


Once the board definitions have been installed, you should see the SparkFun ESP32 Thing Board under your Tools -> Board -> SparkFun ESP32 Arduino menu. The smôl ESP32 uses the same board definition as the SparkFun ESP32 Thing; select that (and ignore the Thing Plus, MicroMod and LoRa Gateway options).

DropDown showing tools->Board->SparkFun ESP32 Arduino->SparkFun ESP32 MicroMod


Note: Our board definition package should install all of the tools needed to compile code for the ESP32. If you run into trouble having code compile or downloading due to tools not being found, you may need to install Espressif's Arduino ESP32 package manually.

Voila! You're ready to rock with your smôl ESP32 Processor Board!