Arduino Installation
Install Arduino
Download the relevant installer for your computer - Windows, Linux or Mac from this page.
On Windows I clicked on the downloaded exe file and agreed to a the recommended settings.
After installation you will find there is an Arduino folder in your Documents. If you opened the Arduino IDE close it for the next step.
Download Example
Download example zip file and move it to the Documents folder.
Unzip this file. [Right click and choose Extract all]
Move Files
You now have a choice.
If you have previously used Arduino and have previous sketches and libraries then you should copy what you want from the newly extracted ArduinoLoco folder.
You are mainly interested in the arduinoLoco sketch folder and the contents of the libraries.
If this is a new Arduino you can rename ArduinoLoco in documents to Arduino
Open the Example Project
In file Explorer Navigate to
Documents\Arduino\arduinoLoco\ArduinoLoco
And double click on ArduinoLoco.ino - it should have the Arduino IDE icon attached to it. This opens the example in the Arduino IDE.
Select a Board
Click on the Select Board drop down menu and select
4D Systems gen4-ESP...
This tells the Arduino development platform that we are using an ESP32 chip.
It doesn't really matter which board you pick as long as it has an ESP32 chip.
Add the Libraries
This may not be required - probably broke the build by adding includes to sketch
Click on Sketch on the menu bar
Then select Include Library
At the bottom of the list under "Contributed libraries" you will find
- espressif_esp_jpeg
- loco
- lvgl
Compile the Sketch
Compiling the code can take a while the first time and I like to see what is happening. So click File, then Preferences, then check the compile box next to "Show verbose output during"
Click on the check mark at the top left.
If all goes well you will see a summary of the Sketch size.
You may see some warning messages in the verbose output - usually relating to lvgl - you can ignore these.
Attach Loco to USB port
Use a USB cable (type A to type C) to connect Loco to a spare USB port on your computer.
Click again on the Select a board drop down and look for a new entry in the PORTS table.
It will look something like
COM8 Serial Port (USB)
The number will vary
Make sure the new entry is selected. You can change it later.
Rebuild and download the sketch
Now click on e right arrow button at the top left.
This re-compiles the code - which should be quicker now - and sends it to Loco where it starts running.
Open the Serial Monitor
The Serial Monitor is a way for your program to send messages back to your PC.
You will use this to help with program development.
Click on Tools > Serial Monitor to open the Serial Monitor window at the bottom of the Arduino IDE. You can resize this window.
You can send message to your program by typing in the Message box followed by Enter.
Two buttons at the top right of the Serial Monitor can be used to
- Enable/Disable automatic scrolling - useful if you want to freeze the monitor
- Clear all the old messages
The Loco examples all generate messages as they start up. Take a look at them to get an idea of what normal startup looks like