Just some thoughts on how a future version of the MRR ESPx series of boards will be. Recently, Espressif released the ESP32-S2, which is a microcontroller that still comes with WiFi, but somewhere between the ESP8266 and the ESP32 in capabilities. But the ESP32-S2 has certain features that makes it interesting as it shows what a future ESP32 may look like. And I am hoping to create a new MRR ESPx board based on the new ESP32 when it eventually comes out. And according to Espressif's CEO, that won't be a long wait.
One feature I am looking forward to is USB OTG that allows the chip to be programmed directly from USB without the need for a USB-to-serial chip like the CH340 used in the MRR ESPA and MRR ESPE. This will save quite a bit of space on the PCB for other things, like more MOSFETs for heating elements and fans as well as supporting more stepper motor drivers. Supporting more MOSFETs and stepper motor drivers is already possible now since there are spare I2S stepper stream pins available.
Another feature is that the new ESP32 will likely have more GPIO pins. Native pins are needed for inputs, so this means more thermistor and endstop inputs.
The ESP32-S2 also has support for LCD via I2S and SPI, so this is something we should see in the new ESP32 too. While it is not really needed (the webUI is more than enough for everything), since Marlin has recently added TFT support for STM32 boards, it would be nice to be able to have something similar for the ESP32 too (using the LVGL library).
A quick summary for a new MRR ESPx series board:
- Support for more stepper motor drivers (maybe a total of 7)
- Support for more heating elements (maybe a total of 4)
- Support for more fans (currently 4 controllable fans, maybe total of 6)
- More inputs (total of 6 endstops and 6 temperature sensors)*
- Programming via USB directly using USB OTG*
- Bigger connectors for VIN and VBED to allow up to 30A on the bed
- Support TFT**
- TMC stepper driver configuration using jumpers for both SPI and UART modes
* Depends on actual features of new ESP32
** Software implementation required
No work has started on this yet. I am really waiting for the new ESP32 to come out, so it means that this will be in deep freeze for a while. Work on the hardware aspects of MRR ESPA and MRR ESPE will also be frozen since I do not see any benefits for trying to improve it when we know the new ESP32 is round the corner (okay, probably six months to a year down the road may be a more realistic timeline).
Get the boards here.
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