My Pycom love letter

[jmarcelino]

Some others in the forums have started to label other users as a "defender" or whatever but since I don't care for labels here's my opinion.

The Pycom boards are clearly under development, the ESP32 is a very new and thus untested platform, HOWEVER it's also one of the most accessible and feature packed out there. That's why we'll all here isn't it -the "bang for buck" potential is huge.

So there are flaws and things will be in flux for a few months, but the team has also been SUPER responsive. I'm top of the chain (MVP, Preferred, Gold, you name it) level with a few chip/module manufactuers and other than very specific occasions I can't get an answer from any top level development staff there, just have to deal with entry level customer service who often have next to no clue about my problem. Here you have the whole team, including the CTO and core developer himself answering your questions in the forum!

Not only that but you also have the entire source code available on Github, not just the MicroPython layer but also the core OS/libraries in the Espressif repo called ESP-IDF. If you follow ESP32.com you can even interact with people at who are designing the chip, get answers or even make suggestions for future development.

There is literally no money that would give you this sort of openness and access from any other regular manufacturer. Even huge companies buying millions in hardware don't get this.

The price is you have to wait and trust it will get where you want - but you don't have to do it blindly, meanwhile you can build that trust from everything that is out there for you to see and experiment with.

Feel free to discuss - or cringe at the title ;-)

[Fred]

@crankshaft Thanks. We are looking at adding some blurb around that under each product as suggested. We have also now heard back from Espressif that the main missing features in the IDF such as ULP and Deep sleep modes will be made available to us next week. We are therefore working towards getting you all the new features by early march after which we mature the code all throughout March.

[crankshaft]

Yes, I agree with you, and the fact is PYCOM are on the bleeding edge and pushing the envelope, but there's just one thing that negates this and that is the fact that the specifications that are stated are not available now and are planned for some time in the future.

I committed to PYCOM on the understanding that the specs were available right now, in hindsight I should have monitored these forums first, then I would have known.

I have no problem participating in beta programs and have done so numerous times, I also develop software for a living and understand the challenges, but I have to keep coming back to the fact that I was not made aware that the advertised features and functions are presented as being available out of the box.

I really recommend that PYCOM review / amend these specs as someone might decide to make a serious issue of it and that could get very messy !

[daniel]

@jmarcelino thanks for all that, I'm speechless.... :-)

[livius]

@jmarcelino
Very, very good overwiew.
Especially about open-source and
SUPER responsive (a few things to improve but noone is ideal).

I wrote alse previously some criticize post (strong) but after @daniel describe that they rely on ESP-IDF which is not finished and changing many alredy checked preiously thing i change attitude.

But as always there is one thing
i can not still understand why pycom team does not inform before you buy what already works and what does not
or simple info not everything is implemented yet look here for list what is waiting...
Then rciticize posts will be really mininimal. And people still will be buying but with knowledge that this is not finalized and they can got some problems.

But as you described all other is on realy big plus to pycom team.