Choose target platform¶
Bluepad32 supports different IDEs, and different microcontrollers. These are the options:
| IDE / MCU | ESP32 family | NINA co-processor | Airlift co-processor | Pico W |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arduino IDE | ||||
| ESP-IDF + Arduino Core | ||||
| CircuitPython | ||||
| ESP-IDF (raw API) | ||||
| Pico SDK (raw API) |
Choose the right one depending on your knowledge, devkit board and requirements:
For Arduino developers, there are three options.
- Works with Airlift co-processor boards.
- Detailed info here: Bluepad32 for CircuitPython
- Works with ESP32 microcontrollers: ESP32, ESP32-S3, ESP32-C3, ESP32-C6, ESP32-H2
- Works both with ESP-IDF v4.4 and v5.X
- Uses the ESP-IDF SDK
- Can be used with PlatformIO
- Detailed info here: Bluepad32 for ESP32 + ESP-IDF
- Works with Pico W and Pico 2 W microcontrollers.
- Uses the Pico SDK.
- Detailed info here: Bluepad32 for Pico W + Pico SDK
Where to start¶
| Platform | Start here | Further info | Community projects | WiFi / BLE | Other Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arduino IDE |  |
Doc | Controller for Tello drone | Easy to debug, familiar IDE, Arduino libraries | |
| Arduino Core | Template project | Doc | Lego Robot (video), gbaHD Shield (a GameBoy consolizer) | Very easy to debug, console, Arduino libraries, ESP-IDF, PlatformIO | |
| Arduino IDE + NINA coprocessor | Arduino Library | Doc | Philips CD-i meets Bluetooth | Difficult to debug, familiar IDE, Arduino libraries, deprecated | |
| CircuitPython + AirLift coprocessor | CircuitPython Library | Doc | Quico console, Controlling 4 servos (video) | Difficult to debug, easy to program, CircuitPython libraries | |
| Pico W | Pico W example | Doc | Pico Switch, PicoNtrol | Very easy to debug, for advanced developers, Pico SDK | |
| ESP-IDF | ESP32 example | Doc | OGX-Wireless-Lite | Very easy to debug, for advanced developers, ESP-IDF, PlatformIO | |
| Posix (Linux, macOS) | Posix example | Doc | Very easy to debug, useful for quick development |