One thing of note- there is no WiFi setting section in ESPixelStick.ino. I recommend doing this even on new boards, as some come with pre-loaded WiFi AP or other code.
I did this first so I was starting from a clean slate. The mklittlefs utility has an option to “Erase Flash”.
#Pixelstick alternative download
You can download here:Īfter getting the prerequisites, I ran the ESP32fs (Sketch Data Upload) utility first, which calls mklittlefs. You also need to download the correct mklittlefs utility for your OS, and copy it to the same folder as the above. If you haven’t already installed ESP32FS- follow the instructions on the page for setting up the tools folder. jar file to /tools/ESP32FS/tool, overwriting the stock one that is there.
Note that if you have already installed ESP32fs-plugin for other projects, this one needs a specific fork of it to support LittleFS. VS-Code is significantly faster and has a better debugging and managed library system. I hope Shelby or one of the other developers working on this will set it up with a proper PlatformIO configuration. Unfortunately I couldn’t get it to work, so had to dust off Ardino IDE for this. Note: I really wanted to make this work with VS-Code and PlatformIO, since almost everyone, including me, has moved away from Arduino IDE.
#Pixelstick alternative install
It’s almost a footnote in the README- but be sure to install the “LittleFS-32” library. Be sure to use the links provided! In some cases there are multiple versions/releases of a library using the same name, and they can have different functionality. You must use the Arduino IDE and install all of the prerequisites in the README file. DDP is significantly more efficient and much easier to set up. DDP is also huge- as most new Pixel controllers prefer it to E1.31.
One of the first things you will need to do is add the following URL to your Boards Manager. I have not tested SD card support as I am just building on stock ESP32 boards (Heltec and Expressif clones). If you are experimenting, like me, with ESP32 dev boards, I was able to get the soon-to-be (hopefully) ESPixelStick v.4 to work. It’s not very difficult, but this isn’t a detailed tutorial. This is for those already comfortable doing so that might need a few tips to get it to work.
#Pixelstick alternative how to
I am not covering the basics of how to use the Arduino IDE to install libraries and compile/flash code to an MCU. Note: I am just covering my experience and outlining the process of compiling (building) the firmware for ESP32. If you are running the original ESPixelSticks, or NodeMCUs based on ESP12, like D1 Mini or similar- get that release as it is pre-compiled and just works. First off, FYI- there is a new release of ESPIxelStick v.3.2 that fixes the Mac flashing issues that have been a problem for v3.1.