Click on the icon, on the right-hand side above.

This short tutorial describes a way to make a virtual machine (VM) configured for ESP32 software development with Espressif IDE, based on Eclipse. It also explains how to start using it. The virtualization environment is VirtualBox, and the guest machine runs Linux Mint.

Versions are:

• Linux Mint Cinnamon 22.1
• Espressif-IDE 3.3.0
• ESP-IDF 5.4

• Hardware: a 64-bit computer with enough memory so that the VM can be granted 8 GB of RAM, with a few tens of GB available on the disk, and one free USB A or USB C port
• Hardware (bis): an Espressif ESP32-C6-DevKitM-1 with a USB C cable to connect it to the computer
• Software development competencies:
  • Basic knowledge of Linux (knowing the most common commands...)
  • Basic knowledge of VirtualBox (knowing how to create a virtual machine...)

Check this guide to create a Linux Mint Cinnamon 22.1 VM. Assign 8 GB of RAM to the VM.

In what follows, it is assumed that the user's account username is developer.

• Espressif-IDE documentation

Start the Software Manager: Linux Mint Main Menu > Software Manager icon: .

Install Openjdk-21-jdk.

Install Python3-venv and Python3-pip packages.

Install Git package.

$ 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

Download the Linux version of the Espressif-IDE.

At the time of writing, the file name is Espressif-IDE-3.3.0-linux.gtk.x86_64.tar.gz.

Create the ~/DevTools subdirectory, where Espressif-IDE will be installed. It can be any other directory name, or existing directory, but in what follows it is assumed that this is the installation directory.

In the file manager, double-click the file and extract the content to the ~/DevTools directory.

Add a launcher to the main menu:

• Right click on the main menu icon and select Edit Menu
• Select the Programming category
• Click the New Item button
• For Name and Comment, type Espressif-IDE
• For Command, select /home/developer/DevTools/Espressif-IDE/espressif-ide
• Click the launcher icon and select /home/developer/DevTools/Espressif-IDE/icon.xpm
• Click the OK button, close the window

Start Espressif-IDE with the launcher you just created.

Modify the proposed workspace path, replacing it with /home/developer/Dev/workspace. The default directory can be kept, or any other existing or non-existing directory can be chosen, but in what follows it is assumed that this directory contains all ESP32 projects.

Follow the instructions of the ESP-IDF and Tools Installation.

A few notes about the above procedure:

• Set the ESP-IDF download directory to /home/developer/DevTools
• The Console view displays the following messages:

Copying OpenOCD Rules
Copying File: /home/developer/.espressif/tools/openocd-esp32/v0.12.0-esp32-20241016/openocd-esp32/bin/../share/openocd/contrib/60-openocd.rules to destination: /etc/udev/rules.d/60-openocd.rules
Unable to copy rules for OpenOCD to system directory, try running the eclipse with sudo command

In a terminal, run the command as requested:

$ sudo cp /home/developer/.espressif/tools/openocd-esp32/v0.12.0-esp32-20241016/openocd-esp32/bin/../share/openocd/contrib/60-openocd.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/60-openocd.rules

Close the ESP-IDF Manager tab.

Connect the board to a USB port of the computer. Use the board USB port marked USB.

Check that the virtual machine can see it, with Devices > USB. A new USB device should be visible: Espressif USB JTAG/serial debug unit. Tick the associated checkbox.

You can assign the board to the virtual machine on a permanent basis with Devices > USB > USB Settings....

Create a new project, choosing the hello_world template.

Build the project, as explained here.

Flash the project, as explained here. You may be ask to select the serial port to use. Select the port with a name similar to /dev/ttyACM0.