GETTING STARTED GUIDE FOR BEGINNERS

Here’s a 5-step guide to help you connect your COIN board to your computer, code it, and make it run…

STEP 1: PLUG YOUR BOARD TO THE LAPTOP

Either your device drivers are already installed and hence you will see the White LED (on the board) light up and perhaps you will also notice a notification on your computer stating a new device has been installed.

   OR

You are using an older version of Windows (below Ver 11) and hence need to install the Device Drivers. 

Using an older version of Windows? Board not getting detected? Simple solution… The Indusboard is compatible with Windows 11 and newer versions, but for older Windows versions, the necessary drivers are not pre-installed. Users on these versions must download and install the drivers manually. • CLICK HERE to go to the Silicon Labs website to download and install the drivers. • If Indusboard is still not detected after installing the drivers: • Press the “boot” button on the board. • Reconnect the board to the computer after pressing “boot” to enable detection.

STEP 2: INSTALL THE SOFTWARE (IDE)

Once your board is connected to your computer, we need to install another software which is commonly referred to as an IDE (Integrated Development Environment). In simpler terms, this software allows you to write and debug your code for the (embedded) board you are working with, and publish it on the board to execute it.

For COIN, we have selected the world’s easiest and most popular IDE called the Arduino IDE. To install the Arduino IDE kindly CLICK HERE.

STEP 3: PREPARE YOUR IDE TO WORK WITH YOUR BOARD (COIN)

Now that we have installed the IDE, we need to enable it to work with our board. To do this, follow these simple steps, as outlined below:

1. On your computer, open Arduino IDE 2.0 application
   
2. Open “Settings” of Arduino IDE
   
   

3. Paste the URL (https://espressif.github.io/arduino-esp32/package_esp32_dev_index.json) in “Additional boards manager URLs”  option, as shown below…
   
   

4. Open the Board Manager (see icon in dark below)  from the side-bar and search for ESP 32 in its search box…
   

5. Once you find the ESP32 by Expressif Systems, select its latest version from the dropdown, and then click on the Install or Update button…

It might take a few seconds to install. If you have already installed the ESP32 board on Arduino IDE kindly check the version and update to the latest version.

WHY DID WE INSTALL THIS PARTICULAR BOARD? The central MCU of IndusBoard COIN is Espressif’s ESP 32. Therefore, to program the COIN means programming an ESP 32 chip. That’s why we selected this particular Board in Arduino IDE to work with the COIN. Still confused or want more indepth info about installing an ESP-32 based board? CLICK HERE for more details on the Espressif website.

STEP 4: SELECT THE PORT OF YOUR COMPUTER WHICH WILL WORK WITH YOUR BOARD

Now that you have done the complete setup on your computer, it’s time to select the port on your computer through which the computer and the board will speak to each other.

Even though we are using a USB-C cable, the truth is that the interface through which the two devices are speaking to each other is Serial COM port. Therefore you need to get the COM port setup as the port of choice in your IDE.

1. Plug your board to the computer via USB type C cable.
   
2. You will notice a white LED glowing on the board indicating that the board is connected to your system successfully.
   
3. Turn ON the Arduino IDE.

4. Go to the “Tools” manu, under which you will find an option called “Port”. Here a further sub-menu appears (as shown below) where you need to select the option stating “usbserial” in its text along with some other data.

If all above done successfully, you are now ready to communicate and code the COIN.

STEP 5: YOU’RE NOW READY: PUBLISH YOUR CODE ON COIN

1. Ensure you COIN is connected to your computer
   
2. Ensure your Arduino IDE is running and you are seeing a screen (like below) with basic code already written. 

3. Now, delete the default code on the screen AND copy the sample code provided below in its place (as shown below). This code, when run correctly, will make the LED on the COIN (board) blink. 

4. While my screen has the board selected by default “ESP32S2….”, you will most probably see “Unknown Board” in that same space.
   
   To let the IDE know that it needs to publish the code on an ESP 32 chip, you need to select the right board there. To do that, first click on the option titled “Select other board and port…” as shown below…

Then, this final screen will appear which asks you to select the  specific chip you will be programming onto. Here’s where you select ESP32S2 Dev Module, which is the brain of Indusboard COIN. 

5. Finally, you’re now ready to PUSH (or publish) the code onto the COIN. To do that click on the -> (right arrow) button.

TIPS FOR ARDUINO  IDE  1) The “PLAY” button on the IDE is for debugging your code.  2) And, the “TICK” button is to compile the code and check if it’s OK without publishing the code on the chip.

6. Hurray! If you have done everything correct, you are going to see the message (below) in the OUTPUT box of Arduino IDE and the LED will start blinking on the COIN  board. 

Is it blinking?

If YES, Congratulations–you have begun your journey to master Embedded Systems, IoT and perhaps AI/ML too–with the help of Indusboard COIN.

THE SOURCE CODE USED TIP: You may simply copy the code from below. and paste it into the Arduino IDE… // the setup function runs once when you press reset or power the board voidsetup(){  // initialize digital pin LED_BUILTIN as an output. pinMode(33, OUTPUT); } // the loop function runs over and over again forever voidloop(){ digitalWrite(33, HIGH);  // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level) delay(3000);                      // wait for a second digitalWrite(33, LOW);   // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW delay(3000);                      // wait for a second }