I have tried to install VSCode and PlatformIO several times and always end up in a mess. Can you point me at fool proof install instructions?
Platformio is for normal Arduino (Nano, Wifi, etc).
For Uno Q you need remote ssh plugin in VSCode. I didn't manage to activate password auth, maybe it is not possible, dunno. What I did - I put my public ssh key (the same you use in GitHub or in any VPS) to .ssh/authorized_keys file.
Then VSCode connected just to arduino@193.168.1.33, and overall experience and performance was great, much much better than AppLab.
Google Antigravity for some reason crashed (maybe out of memory or so), but VSCode is rock solid.
I use Antigravity from local PC and just sync when needed via git (two mouse clicks). Bonus - you don't need to power Arduino, you can develop offline
Sorry if I missed it but how does that help me?
I don;t use ssh keys, I have nothing to hide.
My ISP limits my network to 192.168.4.x to 192.168.7?.x
Without ssh I can't help you. Ask someone else
I did, but you kindly volunteered information not useful to me.BTW, I used ssh all the time with my Pis and Win (I have a Mac) but now have better tools.
Not every piece of information should be useful for you. That was for OP.
Anyways, https://stackoverflow.com/questions/66113731/how-to-save-ssh-password-to-vscode
Just read accepted answer
I recommend focusing exclusively on installing VS Code for now. Follow the instructions under the "Install VS Code on macOS" section of the page here:
https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/setup/mac#_install-vs-code-on-macos
Once that is done, you should be able to use VS Code. If you encounter any problems during installation or when using VS Code, just let us know and we'll try to help you find a solution. Since it is tangential to the primary subject of this discussion, it will be best for you to create a dedicated forum topic for that purpose.
VS Code by itself is a high quality text editor. You only need to install extensions if there is some extra capability you wish to add to VS Code. For example, you can install the "PlatformIO IDE" extension if you wish to use VS Code as an IDE for developing projects using the PlatformIO framework. If you are not interested in using the PlatformIO framework, then there is no need to install that extension.
Similarly, the "Python" extension I recommended in my previous comment is useful if you want to use VS Code as an IDE for developing Python projects.
And the "Remote - SSH" extension recommended by @extender777 is useful if you want a convenient way to use VS Code to access files on a remote machine.
So you should not feel that you are required to install a specific extension that happened to be mentioned in order to use VS Code. My approach has always been to only install extensions when I find a need for a specific capability that isn't already provided by the base application. VS Code itself is already highly capable and feature rich, so if you are only wanting to use it as a professional quality programming text editor (e.g., as an alternative to Emacs, Geany, Notepad++, or Sublime Text) you may find that you don't need any extensions at all.
Perhaps I am misunderstanding something. Up to the advent of the UNO Q I only develope for Arduino and esp32 type boards using the Arduino IDE. If I get vscode can I still do a verify and upload or do I need PlatformIO and an extension to create Arduino/esp32 apps?
Since it is not directly relevant to the primary subject of the original topic (Any Python programmers out there?), I split this interesting and valuable discussion out to a dedicated topic.
Carry on.
I clicked your link and the download is done so now I am looking for step 2 but I click the next link and the one that takes me to etc until by the 4th or 5th then I just gave up.
This is just a hobby so although I like shiny new tools I can't handle any more stress. I am 83 and recently volunteered to help a local HS with Arduino stuff and code. That will keep me busy for a while.
VS Code by itself is essentially just a text editor. You can use it to open, create, modify, and save the content of text files.
So the VS Code base application does not have a built-in sketch verification and upload capabilities. The application doesn't know or care anything whatsoever about Arduino.
You can use the VS Code base application to edit Arduino sketch code files though.
VS Code + Arduino IDE
You could leave it there and continue to use Arduino IDE to compile and upload the Arduino sketches you wrote using VS Code. In fact, some community members do exactly this, and Arduino IDE has always been designed to support the use of an external editor in order to accommodate people who don't like Arduino IDE's built-in editor.
VS Code + Arduino CLI
Another option would be to use VS Code in combination with Arduino CLI instead of the combination of VS Code and Arduino IDE. You would use Arduino CLI from the command line to perform verifications (arduino-cli compile) and uploads (arduino-cli upload). VS Code has an integrated Terminal, which can be used to run command line commands from a panel inside the VS Code window. This can be quite convenient for a use case like this where you are frequently switching back and forth between using a text editor and a terminal.
Complete Embedded Systems IDE
However, you also have the option of using VS Code as a complete IDE for embedded systems projects, equivalent to Arduino IDE.
PlatformIO IDE
You already are aware of the "PlatformIO IDE" extension, which makes VS Code into an IDE for embedded systems projects based on the PlatformIO framework. The creators of PlatformIO have made some efforts to implement the Arduino framework. However, there is not 100% compatibility, so you would find that some work is often needed to use the sketch projects that were already working fine with Arduino IDE.
Arduino Maker Workshop
Another option is the "Arduino Maker Workshop" extension. This is intended to make VS Code into something equivalent to Arduino IDE, with full compatibility for standard Arduino sketch projects.
Arduino Community Edition
Microsoft created a "Arduino" VS Code extension to provide a full Arduino IDE equivalent. It was quite popular for years, but Microsoft eventually stopped maintaining it, and then eventually formally retired the project. Community members created the "Arduino Community Edition" extension as a fork of Microsoft's project in order to continue the maintenance of the extension.
Unfortunately, after the initial burst of work following the retirement of Microsoft's project, there hasn't been much activity from the maintainers of the Arduino Community Edition extension. I'm sure the extension is perfectly fine in its current state, but this does not bode well for the future of the project. So it might be a good idea to look at the other more actively maintained extensions first.
BoardLab
"BoardLab" is another extension that makes VS Code into a full Arduino IDE equivalent. It is a very young project still in the alpha development phase. However, it is quite notable because it was created by @dankeboy36, who is the same person who brought us the "ESP Exception Decoder" extension for Arduino IDE 2.x, as well as other very significant and high quality contributions to the Arduino ecosystem.
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I'm sorry you weren't able to complete the installation. It seems to be quite straightforward and standard to me, but maybe there is some complexity I miss. I don't remember having any difficulty when I installed VS Code on my macOS machine, but that was some years ago, so it is hazy in my memory.
Well, if you ever decide you would like to give it another try, just provide us with a detailed description of the problem you encountered and we'll provide assistance.
In the end, if you are happy with Arduino IDE then there is absolutely no reason to try to replace it with VS Code.
I am a big fan of VS Code as a general purpose text editor, and as an IDE for other programming languages/frameworks. I use VS Code all day every day. However, I am perfectly satisfied with Arduino IDE, and do not use VS Code for Arduino sketch project development. I think it is great that other alternatives to Arduino IDE are available, and I'm happy to help out the users who choose one of those alternatives (though I am limited in this by the fact that I don't actually have any experience using them). However, I believe that Arduino IDE is the best option for the average Arduino user. I also think it is a bad idea for a beginner to try to use any of these alternatives, as they will make the learning curve significantly steeper.
Thank you for that. Since VS Code has come up a number of times I thought I would have a look but then I got confused when it appeared there was no PlatformIO support for the Uno Q.
I guess that could be convenient for some but since I already have set up a Samba share on my Uno Q there seems little point, in my case, to also set SSH extension in VS code.
I will only know for sure if I give it a try. Since it is from Microsoft I have some skepticism.
I agree.
As someone who has been using Windows since version 3.11, I understand completely.
VS Code does have some "microsoft-y" aspects (and of course there is some effort to push Copilot on you, but even many of the most groovy open source projects are doing the same sort of thing, so it isn't really fair to single VS Code out for that one), but this is really different from your average Microsoft consumer software. It feels like the Microsoft developers made the editor they want to use all day every day (and they surely do), not software for other people dumbed down for the lowest common denominator of user and monetized to the max.
And if you don't like the Microsoft aspects, check out the fully open source independent build of VS Code, VSCodium: