espflash vs. probe-rs

There are implications to selecting the logging strategy for embedded ESP32 Rust projects. The strategies are not clearly defined, or documented. It's kind of like a Wild West.

Below the author places them in four categories.

The repo examines the compatibility of each of the strategies with the ST.com VL53L5CX time-of-flight sensor.

Why VL53L5CX??? Because the sensor('s use of I2C bus) has some compatibility issues with probe-rs, which lead the author down this 🐰🕳️ to begin with.

Four logging strategies

`espflash-println`

Uses println! macros; run using espflash --monitor; depends on: esp-println

`espflash-log`

Uses {debug|info|warn|...}! macros; run using espflash --monitor; depends on: log, esp-println

`espflash-defmt`

Uses {debug|info|warn|...}! macros; run using espflash monitor --log-format defmt; depends on: defmt, esp-println

`probe_rs-defmt`

Uses {debug|info|warn|...}! macros; run using probe-rs; depends on: defmt, defmt-rtt

Requirements

ESP32-C3 or ESP32-C6 devkit
SATEL evaluation board
patience!

For getting the results below, the setup was:

Raspberry Pi acting as host

 $ espflash --version
 espflash 3.3.0

 $ probe-rs --version
 probe-rs 0.27.0 (git commit: v0.27.0)

 $ uname -a
 Linux rpi 6.1.21-v7+ #1642 SMP Mon Apr  3 17:20:52 BST 2023 armv7l GNU/Linux

 $ lsb_release -a
 [...]
 Description:   Raspbian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)

Wiring

ESP32-C3 pins^**	Satel	other/comments
GND	1. GND
3v3	2. 3v3
5V	3. 5V
GPIO6 _(GPIO21)	4. PWR_EN	Alternatively, via ~47kΩ to +3v3
--	5. --	pulled up by Satel
GPIO5 _(GPIO19)	6. SCL
GPIO4 _(GPIO18)	7. SDA
--	8. --
--	9. --

|**|: ESP32-C6 pins are denoted in parantheses. Note that the order of SDA and SCL is different than in the code...

Run

The code is set up for targetting ESP32-C3. If you are using ESP32-C6, run this first:

$ sh/set-c6.sh

`espflash-println`: `esp-println` and `println!`

connect the devkit to either USB/UART or USB/JTAG port

run

$ cargo run --release --features esp-hal-beta0 --example basic

Sample output:

[...]
Print data no : 23
Zone : 0, Status : 5, Distance : 1741 mm
Zone : 1, Status : 5, Distance : 1785 mm
Zone : 2, Status : 4, Distance : 1785 mm
Zone : 3, Status : 5, Distance : 1850 mm
Zone : 4, Status : 5, Distance : 1748 mm
Zone : 5, Status : 4, Distance : 1762 mm
[...]

On ESP32-C6:

With I2C speed 1000 (over the limit, but works on C3):

SATEL board powered off and on again.
alive = 0 1
init 0
alive = 0 1


====================== PANIC ======================
panicked at examples/basic.rs:245:14:
called `Result::unwrap()` on an `Err` value: AcknowledgeCheckFailed(Data)

With I2C speed lowered to 200 (or 500):

SATEL board powered off and on again.
alive = 0 1
init 0
alive = 0 1
start ranging 0

Print data no : 0
Zone : 0, Status : 6, Distance : 1737 mm
Zone : 1, Status : 6, Distance : 1772 mm
Zone : 2, Status : 6, Distance : 1791 mm
Zone : 3, Status : 6, Distance : 743 mm
Zone : 4, Status : 6, Distance : 1739 mm
Zone : 5, Status : 6, Distance : 1782 mm
[...]

i.e. things work ☀️🙌

`espflash-log`: `esp-println` and `{debug|info|warn|...}!`

connect the devkit to either USB/UART or USB/JTAG port

run

$ cargo run --release --no-default-features --features=esp-hal-beta0,espflash-log --example basic

Sample output:

[...]
INFO - Print data no : 4
INFO - Zone : 0, Status : 5, Distance : 1777 mm
INFO - Zone : 1, Status : 5, Distance : 1776 mm
INFO - Zone : 2, Status : 5, Distance : 1776 mm
INFO - Zone : 3, Status : 5, Distance : 1778 mm
INFO - Zone : 4, Status : 5, Distance : 1782 mm
INFO - Zone : 5, Status : 5, Distance : 1778 mm
INFO - Zone : 6, Status : 5, Distance : 1780 mm
[...]

Note: Coloring is by the line, e.g. all INFO lines are green.

Note: The ESP_LOG env.var. in .cargo/config.toml should now be usable for setting the logging level (but this didn't work for the author). tbd.

On ESP32-C6, works the same.

`espflash-defmt`

connect the devkit to either USB/UART or USB/JTAG port

build

$ cargo build --release --no-default-features --features=esp-hal-beta0,espflash-defmt --example basic

run

 $ espflash flash --log-format defmt --monitor $(cat .OUT_DIR)/examples/basic

Output:

[...]
9.304684 INFO Zone : 0, Status : 4, Distance : 1796 mm
9.304828 INFO Zone : 1, Status : 4, Distance : 1777 mm
9.304955 INFO Zone : 2, Status : 255, Distance : 83 mm
9.305079 INFO Zone : 3, Status : 255, Distance : 82 mm
9.305206 INFO Zone : 4, Status : 4, Distance : 1781 mm
9.305332 INFO Zone : 5, Status : 4, Distance : 1774 mm
9.305461 INFO Zone : 6, Status : 255, Distance : 90 mm
9.305580 INFO Zone : 7, Status : 255, Distance : 90 mm
[...]

We get time stamps, log levels (colored only on the INFO, not the whole lines).

On ESP32-C6, the behaviour is the same.

`probe_rs-defmt`

connect the devkit to the USB/JTAG port

build

$ cargo build --release --no-default-features --features=esp-hal-beta0,probe_rs-defmt --example basic

run

$ probe-rs run "--log-format={{t:dimmed} [{L:bold}]} {s}  {{c} {ff}:{l:1}%dimmed}" $(cat .OUT_DIR)/examples/basic

Running on ESP32-C3 fails with:

Finished in 5.05s
0.223258 [INFO ] SATEL board powered off and on again.  basic examples/fmt.rs:150
0.227887 [INFO ] alive = 0 1  basic examples/fmt.rs:150
0.490474 [ERROR] ====================== PANIC ======================  esp_backtrace src/lib.rs:25
0.490497 [ERROR] panicked at examples/basic.rs:270:14  esp_backtrace src/lib.rs:25
0.490601 [ERROR] Backtrace:  esp_backtrace src/lib.rs:25
0.490671 [ERROR] 0x42000c8e  esp_backtrace src/lib.rs:25

Note: probe-rs provides nicer coloring than espflash, and the log format can be fine tuned.

Unfortunately, probe-rs (0.26.0; 0.27.0) does not work with esp-hal I2C access (long story, documented elsewhere).

On ESP32-C6, we don't suffer from the RTT problem:

15.418156 [INFO ] Print data no : 11  basic examples/fmt.rs:150
15.418179 [INFO ] Zone : 0, Status : 5, Distance : 1744 mm  basic examples/fmt.rs:150
15.418224 [INFO ] Zone : 1, Status : 5, Distance : 1770 mm  basic examples/fmt.rs:150
15.418270 [INFO ] Zone : 2, Status : 5, Distance : 1790 mm  basic examples/fmt.rs:150
15.418315 [INFO ] Zone : 3, Status : 4, Distance : 980 mm  basic examples/fmt.rs:150
15.418361 [INFO ] Zone : 4, Status : 5, Distance : 1745 mm  basic examples/fmt.rs:150

Summary

At the moment, the VL53L5CX device is usable only with a narrow combination of devkits, logging choices, and MCUs:

devkit	`esp-hal`	`espflash-println`	`espflash-log`	`espflash-defmt`	`probe_rs-defmt`
ESP32-C3-DevkitC-02
	1.0.0-beta0	✅	✅	✅ + nice logging	❌
ESP32-C6-Devkit-M1
	1.0.0-beta0	✅ but I2C speed must be set up to be meaningful (up to 400 kHz; not 1000)	✅	✅	✅

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 22 Commits
.cargo		.cargo
examples		examples
logs		logs
sh		sh
src		src
.gitignore		.gitignore
Cargo.lock		Cargo.lock
Cargo.toml		Cargo.toml
README.md		README.md
TROUBLES.md		TROUBLES.md
build.rs		build.rs

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espflash vs. probe-rs

Four logging strategies

`espflash-println`

`espflash-log`

`espflash-defmt`

`probe_rs-defmt`

Requirements

Wiring

Run

`espflash-println`: `esp-println` and `println!`

`espflash-log`: `esp-println` and `{debug|info|warn|...}!`

`espflash-defmt`

`probe_rs-defmt`

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lure23/espflash-vs-probe-rs

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espflash vs. probe-rs

Four logging strategies

espflash-println

espflash-log

espflash-defmt

probe_rs-defmt

Requirements

Wiring

Run

espflash-println: esp-println and println!

espflash-log: esp-println and {debug|info|warn|...}!

espflash-defmt

probe_rs-defmt

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`espflash-println`

`espflash-log`

`espflash-defmt`

`probe_rs-defmt`

`espflash-println`: `esp-println` and `println!`

`espflash-log`: `esp-println` and `{debug|info|warn|...}!`

`espflash-defmt`

`probe_rs-defmt`

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