Platformo: First steps

Hello and welcome to today's post.

First of all, I would like to thank all our readers for the lively feedback on our article “Platformo installation“.

Many read the article and also installed the software.

So today I would like to give some little tips on getting started.

1. Find and install libraries

In the Arduino IDE there is the handy library manager. This allows you to search for libraries quite easily, install them, and also keep them up to date.

A similar function is offered by the "Libraries" button in PlatformIO

First of all I want to install my favorite library for controlling displays: U8g2 from OliKraus. To do this, I enter the name of the library in the search bar: "U8g2" and confirm the entry with Enter, or click on the magnifying glass icon:

The first hit is the desired library. By clicking on the library we get to the overview page of the library. At this point, all the important information about the library is displayed, and we can select the desired version (I usually take the latest), and by clicking on the "Install" button, we can install the library.

After a few moments, the message “Congrats! U8G2 @ 2.23.x has been successfully installed! ”.

 

By clicking on the "Installed" tab, we can see which libraries are installed and remove them if necessary. With a click on "Reveal" the file manager is opened and shows us the folder with the installed libraries.

So the libraries are no longer installed in our own documents under "C:\Users\<name>\Documents\Arduino\libraries" but under "C:\Users\<name>\.platformio\lib".

2. Create a first own project

Before we can use the installed library, we need to create a project.

To do this, we go to the "Home" button at the top, and click "+ New project" at "Quick Access".

In the next window we assign a name and select the microcontroller. In the example I take our Nano V3 - so I enter Nano for "Board" and select "Arduino Nano ATmega328". I leave the entry for "Framework" at "Arduino". Experienced users can choose between other frameworks depending on the board.

Now the project is created. This may take a few minutes, especially if it is the first project with a particular microcontroller, and all the necessary files must be downloaded from the Internet.

After that the explorer appears on the left side and our project "OLED-TEST" is displayed. If we expand "src" we see a file with the name "main.cpp". This corresponds to our empty Arduino Sketch, with "void Setup()" and "void loop()".

At the very bottom of the blue status bar, a number of small icons appear. These are buttons, and allow us to access various functions. Using "Build" we can compile the code. "Upload" uploads the compiled code to the microcontroller.

As a test, I compile the empty sketch and upload it. The following output appears in the console:

> Executing task: C:\Users\chrisp\.platformio\penv\Scripts\platformio.exe run --target upload <

Processing nanoatmega328 (platform: atmelavr; board: nanoatmega328; framework: arduino)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
PackageManager: Installing tool-avrdude @ ~1.60300.0
Downloading [####################################] 100%
Unpacking [####################################] 100%
Verbose mode can be enabled via `-v, --verbose` option
PLATFORM: Atmel AVR > Arduino Nano ATmega328
SYSTEM: ATMEGA328P 16MHz 2KB RAM (30KB Flash)
Library Dependency Finder -> http://bit.ly/configure-pio-ldf
LDF MODES: FINDER(chain) COMPATIBILITY(soft)
Collected 25 compatible libraries
Scanning dependencies...
No dependencies
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\src\main.cpp.o
Archiving .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\libFrameworkArduinoVariant.a
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\CDC.cpp.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\HardwareSerial.cpp.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\HardwareSerial0.cpp.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\HardwareSerial1.cpp.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\HardwareSerial2.cpp.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\HardwareSerial3.cpp.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\IPAddress.cpp.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\PluggableUSB.cpp.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\Print.cpp.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\Stream.cpp.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\Tone.cpp.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\USBCore.cpp.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\WInterrupts.c.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\WMath.cpp.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\WString.cpp.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\abi.cpp.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\hooks.c.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\main.cpp.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\new.cpp.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\wiring.c.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\wiring_analog.c.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\wiring_digital.c.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\wiring_pulse.S.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\wiring_pulse.c.o
Compiling .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\FrameworkArduino\wiring_shift.c.o
Archiving .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\libFrameworkArduino.a
Linking .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\firmware.elf
Building .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\firmware.hex
Checking size .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\firmware.elf
Memory Usage -> http://bit.ly/pio-memory-usage
DATA: [ ] 0.4% (used 9 bytes from 2048 bytes)
PROGRAM: [ ] 1.4% (used 444 bytes from 30720 bytes)
Configuring upload protocol...
AVAILABLE: arduino
CURRENT: upload_protocol = arduino
Looking for upload port...
Auto-detected: COM25
Uploading .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\firmware.hex

avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions

Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.00s

avrdude: Device signature = 0x1e950f (probably m328p)
avrdude: reading input file ".pioenvs\nanoatmega328\firmware.hex"
avrdude: writing flash (444 bytes):

Writing | ################################################## | 100% 0.15s

avrdude: 444 bytes of flash written
avrdude: verifying flash memory against .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\firmware.hex:
avrdude: load data flash data from input file .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\firmware.hex:
avrdude: input file .pioenvs\nanoatmega328\firmware.hex contains 444 bytes
avrdude: reading on-chip flash data:

Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.11s

avrdude: verifying ...
avrdude: 444 bytes of flash verified

avrdude: safemode: Fuses OK (E:00, H:00, L:00)

avrdude done. Thank you.

======================= [SUCCESS] Took 5.87 seconds =======================

Das Terminal wird von Aufgaben wiederverwendet, drücken Sie zum Schließen eine beliebige Taste.

At the bottom of the explorer there is a file called "platformio.ini". If we select this, we recognize the selected microcontroller. At this point we can change the port for the upload, if needed.

For this we can add the option "upload_port" in this file, e.g. with the line "upload_port = COM25".

You can find more upload options at https://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/projectconf/section_env_upload.html#upload-port.

Tip: on the PlatformIO: Home page under "Devices" all connected and recognized boards are listed:

PlatformIO: Tab: Devices

Now we can integrate the library using #include. I use the example sketch from our eBook to 0.91 "I²C OLED display with small adjustments.

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <U8g2lib.h>

U8G2_SSD1306_128X32_UNIVISION_F_HW_I2C u8g2(U8G2_R0, /* reset=*/ U8X8_PIN_NONE);
u8g2_uint_t offset;
u8g2_uint_t width;
const char *text = "Test ";

void setup() {
    u8g2.begin();
    u8g2.setFont(u8g2_font_logisoso32_tf);
    width = u8g2.getUTF8Width(text);
    u8g2.setFontMode(0);
} 

void loop() {
    u8g2_uint_t x;
    u8g2.firstPage();
    do {
        x = offset;
        u8g2.setFont(u8g2_font_logisoso32_tf);
            do {
             u8g2.drawUTF8(x, 32, text);
             x += width;
    } while ( x < u8g2.getDisplayWidth() );
    u8g2.setFont(u8g2_font_logisoso32_tf);
    u8g2.setCursor(0, 64);
    u8g2.print(width);
} while ( u8g2.nextPage() );
offset -= 1;
if ( (u8g2_uint_t)offset < (u8g2_uint_t) - width ){
    offset = 0;
    u8g2.clearBuffer();
    }
}

After compiling and uploading, the text appears on the display:

 

All beginnings are hard. Switching to a new software is not only hard, but also requires some discipline, as it would be very easy to just quickly start the Arduino IDE and quickly upload the code there.

I hope that this step-by-step guide could help you to resist this temptation.

We would love to hear how your entry into the world of PlatformIO was. Post your experiences in the comments, or send us a quick email. What stumbling blocks did you have to overcome? Can you imagine doing without the Arduino IDE completely? What aspects of PlatformIO would you like to see more blog posts about?

I look forward to your feedback, and say goodbye for today.

Your Markus Neumann