One more board with Espruino

Looks like Espruino becomes a brand
https://www.cnx-software.com/2017/09/11/getting-started-with-espruino-javascript-on-esp32-with-espino32-board/

I'm seeing quite a few articles showing how to load Espruino onto ESP32/ESP8266 now. For some reason (I'm not sure why?) that article in particular has been shared a lot.

It's great that you guys have got the ESP32 port to that state though. It's just a shame that often these articles are being written to sell someone else's hardware using all of our work :(

The fact the board itself is called ESPino doesn't help though, and there's also ESPduino as well. At least nobody's actually using 'Espruino' for other boards at the moment, but the others are close enough as to be really confusing to everyone.

@Gordon

Why don't you contact the article writer and mention the official espruino boards?

To be fair he does say:

The company behind Espruino, Pur3 Ltd, is likely focusing most of the development efforts of their own hardware platforms like Puck.js and Espruino boards, and there’s more activity for those in the forums. So if you are interested in JavaScript on micro-controllers, but don’t want too many issues, ESP32 may not be best platform to learn, but if you like challenges, go ahead!

So he is mentioning them - it's just not immediately obvious that he wouldn't have had those problems on official boards... But then he's writing it as an article because ThaiEasyElec gave him an ESP32 so I guess it's pretty good he mentioned it.

Maybe it's me being paranoid, it just worries me when there are reasonably popular sites with quotes like:

Some time ago I looked at Espruino in a bored moment – saw that it was very much under-developed – didn’t even handle WIFI at the time

Maybe any publicity is good publicity though! :)

I support the idea to contact cnx-software.com.
Maybe they would write some espruino boards specific article after all?

Great idea! Yes, I'll do that :)

Some time ago I looked at Espruino in a bored moment – saw that it was very much under-developed – didn’t even handle WIFI at the time

Well sounds like we gotta get that person to take another look at it! It'll knock his socks off.

@Gordon I am a big fan of what you are doing with Espruino. I bought the original Espruino board earlier...

From my point of view the ESPs are simply too popular for not getting first class support from a firmware like Espruino. The connectivity feature of those chips/boards make them very tempting to play with (along with the price obviously). I think it could become way more popular by just giving the chilps/boards the attention they deserve.

It is very hard to tell what is the right direction for you to go to make a living off of it all. I feel like the Espruino board business cannot scale though. I think the patreon thing seems to be a nice way of getting support for all the work (although not yet self-sustainable I can see). I personally decided to rather spent time contributing to the code as long as it is just a hobby stuff for me at this point. I feel like contributing that way is the best I could do for Espruino at this stage.

From my point of view the ESPs are simply too popular for not getting first class support from a firmware like Espruino

I know - it seems like a huge market. I've been searching for a way to get paid to work in it, but I just can't see anything at the moment (apart from Patreon) - it was suggested that I contact EspressIF directly to see if they could help though, so I'll try and give that a go soon.

I feel like the Espruino board business cannot scale though

I'm hoping more companies will take me up on the firmware builds/maintenance (like Seeed and Ruuvitag have done) - I feel like that could scale pretty well (especially for modules), and would be good for everyone.

I personally decided to rather spent time contributing to the code as long as it is just a hobby stuff for me at this point

Yes, totally - the PRs you've done for Espruino so far have been amazing. It's hugely appreciated :)

I think giving the ESPs some love from your insider/experienced side would show Espruino in better light and might reduce the burden of explaining people they should use some other board when they just wanted to make some fun project. In my opinion the popularity vs effort ratio is an important metric to look at at the stage of evolution Espruino is in. Espruino popularity is getting you the money.

Contacting EspressIF sounds like a possible way to go, but again they might not see the benefits just because Espruino is not that widespread yet.

And thank you for the kind words. It's been a fun way for me to get into hacking hardware.

You can try speak with SONOFF .... those software is pretty bad. I hate it because it asks to install a special app, and most tedious is ... register on some china website to start accessing your own device laying nearby at the table.

They are ESP based as you might know. And they have buildin pins to write new firmware. That what I do :)