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Tutorial 1 - Install MicroPython

YouTube Video​

Thonny​

Thonny is a beginner-friendly Python IDE that makes it easy to program microcontrollers. In this tutorial, we use Thonny to flash the ESP32-S3 Pico with MicroPython.

Download and install Thonny from the official website.

Connect the ESP32-S3 Pico to your computer with a USB-C cable.

In Thonny, go to Tools -> Options -> Interpreter and select MicroPython (ESP32).

Click the "Install or update firmware" button to flash the latest MicroPython firmware to the board.

Once installed, you can open the REPL (Python shell) or write scripts directly in Thonny and upload them to the ESP32-S3.

This step ensures the board is ready to run MicroPython code, such as controlling the onboard RGB LED in the demo below.

RGB Demo Code​

from machine import Pin
from neopixel import NeoPixel
import time

# RGB LED on GPIO21
RGB_PIN = 21
np = NeoPixel(Pin(RGB_PIN), 1)  # only 1 LED onboard

while True:
    np[0] = (255, 0, 0)  # Red
    np.write()
    time.sleep(0.5)

    np[0] = (0, 255, 0)  # Green
    np.write()
    time.sleep(0.5)

    np[0] = (0, 0, 255)  # Blue
    np.write()
    time.sleep(0.5)

    np[0] = (0, 0, 0)    # Off
    np.write()
    time.sleep(0.5)