Can recommend against against M5 gear
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I've now bricked my third (maybe fourth?) M5 Stack device.
They wire the processor into the programmable power management circuit. So if you somehow code that power management badly, or there's some kind of error with it, your MCU goes offline FOR GOOD. No uploading new code, nothing.
It's a really poor design decision on their part that cost me $60 this time (and roughly the same each time prior with their various different devices I've bricked now)
It's not like it happens right away. I've had this device for well over a year, but I threw some code together using the newer I2C drivers from Espressif and the result cooked my device. It wasn't directly my fault, nor Espressif's, just a perfect storm of bad from each end coupled with dodgy wiring by M5.
Here's the issue: These devices are pretty popular in the Arduino-ESP32-IoT realm so I typically like to target these devices when I write articles, but I think I am done at this point.
Now I lack a replacement that's nearly as popular, though I've found several offerings, even more capable offerings that are less expensive. M5 tends to be boutique prices.
I've got a back log of projects, for example a pocket chess game that I can't post an article about here, because I lack a popular device to put it on with a large enough screen that you can actually use it.
I have one device that it will target, but it's niche, so I want to add a few more.
If I was still going with M5, I'd have just added a Core2 and been done (though the screen is almost not big enough for chess)
I'm probably easier on Chinese "shovelware" than most people. China wouldn't make it if we didn't ask for it after all, and so I kind of moderate my expectations when it comes to Chinese kit, with exceptions for certain companies like Espressif that tend to produce more quality, or at least try to. But when you charge extra for a popular kit you have, and you sell it with frills and at a premium, I have expectations that go along with that - like solid schematic design. Look guys, if I buy something for $6 or $12 off of AliExpress, I don't expect much. But when you charge $60, you shouldn't be able to break it with some buggy code. That's not okay.
Anyway, I'm just ranting/rambling in lieu of writing the Codeproject article I really want to be writing right now.
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I'd like to be more helpful but my experience with embedded MCUs revolves around automotive SoCs, which are kinda specific in their capabilities - somehow I think you prefer HDMI wiring to a LIN or CAN transceiver.
@den2k88 Actually I've got some CAN capable kits i was thinking of wiring into my Toyota. My man has so far successfully put a stop to my nonsense, but he can't hold out forever.
