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In this new article, we will explore how to make an onboard LED blink on an ESP32 using Rust.


Project initialization

cargo generate --git https://github.com/esp-rs/esp-idf-template cargo
cd blink
source ~/export-esp.sh
cargo build
espflash flash target/xtensa-esp32-espidf/debug/blink --monitor

Update template code

Install Rust crate

cargo add esp-idf-hal

Cargo.toml looks like this:

[package]
name = "blink"
version = "0.1.0"
authors = ["olivier"]
edition = "2021"
resolver = "2"
rust-version = "1.77"

[[bin]]
name = "blink"
harness = false # do not use the built in cargo test harness -> resolve rust-analyzer errors

[profile.release]
opt-level = "s"

[profile.dev]
debug = true    # Symbols are nice and they don't increase the size on Flash
opt-level = "z"

[features]
default = []

experimental = ["esp-idf-svc/experimental"]

[dependencies]
log = "0.4"
esp-idf-svc = { version = "0.51", features = ["critical-section", "embassy-time-driver", "embassy-sync"] }
esp-idf-hal = "0.45.2"

[build-dependencies]
embuild = "0.33"

Now update main.rs and add this code:

use esp_idf_hal::gpio::PinDriver;
use esp_idf_hal::peripherals::Peripherals;
use esp_idf_hal::delay::FreeRtos;

fn main() -> ! {

    let peripherals = Peripherals::take().unwrap();
    let pins = peripherals.pins;
    let mut led = PinDriver::output(pins.gpio2).unwrap();
    loop {
        FreeRtos::delay_ms(50u32);
        led.set_high().unwrap(); // Switch ON
        FreeRtos::delay_ms(50u32);
        led.set_low().unwrap();  // Switch OFF
    }
}

Build and Run

cargo build
espflash flash target/xtensa-esp32-espidf/debug/blink --monitor