What is the difference between PlatformIO and something you use to develop for an Embedded platform? To me it seems PlatformIO is just a wrapper around the same command-line tools used by other companies.
It is an easiest way to install and configure all required toolchains on a random computers.
I've used to maintain my own set of Makefiles for AVR, and that was mostly OK because avr-gcc is in ubuntu repos, and all my computers are Ubuntu anyway.
But when I switched to ESP8266, this no longer worked, there are no nice debs with SDKs I could find. I could have created a complex set of Makefiles to download SDKs, compilers and tools.. but I switched to platformio instead to do it all for me.
This turned out to be a great idea when I later wanted to try STM8 and RP2040 - just 2 line change in ini file and you have a fully working toolchain, libraries, etc.. And the ability to easily share the programs with others and to know that they can use them even if they don't run Ubuntu is great too.
That phrase encompasses a huge amount of value. VS Code+PlatformIO is free but I would happily pay for it. I was already paying for an Arduino Visual Studio plugin (Visual Micros) before I learned about it.
flaviut|2 years ago
Platformio is a package manager for embedded systems
theamk|2 years ago
I've used to maintain my own set of Makefiles for AVR, and that was mostly OK because avr-gcc is in ubuntu repos, and all my computers are Ubuntu anyway.
But when I switched to ESP8266, this no longer worked, there are no nice debs with SDKs I could find. I could have created a complex set of Makefiles to download SDKs, compilers and tools.. but I switched to platformio instead to do it all for me.
This turned out to be a great idea when I later wanted to try STM8 and RP2040 - just 2 line change in ini file and you have a fully working toolchain, libraries, etc.. And the ability to easily share the programs with others and to know that they can use them even if they don't run Ubuntu is great too.
HeyLaughingBoy|2 years ago
That phrase encompasses a huge amount of value. VS Code+PlatformIO is free but I would happily pay for it. I was already paying for an Arduino Visual Studio plugin (Visual Micros) before I learned about it.
ska|2 years ago