This repository houses the ModRetro Chromatic's MCU design files.

The project relies on the EspressIF IoT Development Framework (IDF) for development and debugging. Please set up the ESP32 according to the instructions at https://idf.espressif.com/.

Please run the official ESP32 installer.

The Ubuntu 24.04 steps are summarized below:

sudo apt-get install git wget flex bison gperf python3 python3-pip python3-venv cmake ninja-build ccache libffi-dev libssl-dev dfu-util libusb-1.0-0
cd ~/path/to/clone/esp-idf
git clone -b v5.3 --recursive https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf.git
cd esp-idf

# Installs to the default ~/.espressif path. See IDF_TOOLS_PATH for an alternative.
./install.sh esp32

# Update your path for your current session so that the `idf.py` tool can be accessed.
source ./export.sh

To permanently update your environment path, add the following to your shell startup script (e.g. ~/.bashrc):

alias get_idf='. $HOME/esp-idf/export.sh'

where $HOME/esp-idf is where you cloned the ESP IDF toolchain. Anytime you wish to develop, run get_idf in your terminal first. EspressIF does not recommend always running export.sh for every terminal. This may have unintended side effects.

Run idf.py -p PORT build flash monitor to build, flash and monitor the project. The default baud rate is 115200.

(To exit the serial monitor, type Ctrl-].)

See the Getting Started Guide for full steps to configure and use ESP-IDF to build projects.

Each of these steps can be issued individually (build, flash, and monitor).

The Chromatic FPGA supports a composite USB device consisting of several device classes. One of them is a serial interface used for flashing and debugging. The setup steps depend on your operating system.

A serial port for the ESP32 should already appear in the Device Manager as a COM device. You can also see this by issuing modes within a command prompt.

Ensure you are part of the dialout group. You will need to log out and log back in after issuing the following command:

sudo gpasswd --add $USER dialout

If everything is working, you should see /dev/ttyACM0 appear as the communications port to the MCU.