Should I use PlatformIO to make a "hackable" and accessible device

Question

I want my device/project to encourage others to get into embedded development. I will do this by making the device open source and hackable. Its ESP32 based so that it can be programmed with the Arduino IDE, the same one we all started our embedded journey on.

Professionally I am an Embedded Systems Engineer so I would like to use something more professional like platformIO.

My question is: Will using platformIO limit people from jumping into modifying the code and customizing their device features? Is there an easy way to port it over to a .ino file so users can easily get started? Or do I just develop in the Arduino IDE accept its simplicity to make it easier for the end user.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You

Answer 1

Requiring your users to install and learn yet another development environment is certainly a barrier to entry. I would thus recommend you make sure your project is laid out in conformance with the Arduino sketch specification, in order for it to be hackable using the Arduino IDE. You don't have to use that IDE yourself (I would not recommend doing so): you can use arduino-cli, a generic Makefile, or maybe platformIO (I don't know whether it can handle Arduino sketches). You can even include the configuration files specific to your environment of choice, as long as they do not break conformance with the above specification: this would show your users that there are other choices available, without forcing them out of the Arduino IDE.

Now, if your main goal is to make your device extra accessible, you may consider using MicroPython instead.