Offer ESP8266, ESP32, nRF, STM,... boards by default

[probonopd]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

I'm always frustrated when I have to fiddle around with json URLs and whatnot just to get an ESP8266 (e.g., NodeMCU), ESP32, nRF, or STM (e.g., "Blue Pill" STM32F103C8T6) board up and running.

Having to manually fiddle around with this stuff manually on each new computer makes me choose the PlatformIO instead of Arduino IDE, even though I like the simplicity of the Arduino IDE better overall.

Describe the solution you'd like

ESP8266 (e.g., NodeMCU), ESP32, STM board up (e.g., "Blue Pill" STM32F103C8T6) boards should be listed by default here:

Describe alternatives you've considered
Fiddling around with json URLs and whatnot

Additional context

• ESP8266, ESP32, nRF, and STM boards are arguably among the most popular development boards in the world
• Basically, you "just" need to integrate these right out of the box:
  • https://github.com/esp8266/Arduino
  • https://github.com/espressif/arduino-esp32
  • https://github.com/sandeepmistry/arduino-nRF5
  • https://github.com/stm32duino/Arduino_Core_STM32
• Maybe collaborate with/reuse the infrastructure of PlatformIO

[probonopd]

These URLs should be added by default to the board manager. It is not necessary to bundle the cores with the IDE. It is OK to bring up a big red warning if the user selects one of those, saying "This board is not supported by arduino.cc and is offered by a third party".

https://arduino.esp8266.com/stable/package_esp8266com_index.json
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/espressif/arduino-esp32/gh-pages/package_esp32_dev_index.json
https://github.com/stm32duino/BoardManagerFiles/raw/master/STM32/package_stm_index.json
https://sandeepmistry.github.io/arduino-nRF5/package_nRF5_boards_index.json

[probonopd]

What I would like to see is that out of the box (without the user having to do anything), ~.arduinoIDE/arduino-cli.yaml looks like this:

board_manager:
  additional_urls:
  - https://arduino.esp8266.com/stable/package_esp8266com_index.json
  - https://github.com/stm32duino/BoardManagerFiles/raw/master/STM32/package_stm_index.json
  - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/espressif/arduino-esp32/gh-pages/package_esp32_dev_index.json
  - https://sandeepmistry.github.io/arduino-nRF5/package_nRF5_boards_index.json

[per1234]

Hi @probonopd. Thanks for taking the time to make a feature request.
Arduino has already made it extremely easy to install support for 3rd party boards platforms. It's no great hardship to add a URL to your preferences.

[probonopd]

@per1234 thanks for your quick response but I'd like you to consider your response again for a minute.

It is a great hardship. It is more hassle than needed. And worst of all, it sends the totally wrong signal to the open source community.

What is outright offending to the open source community is that commercial boards show up there, including this

and this

yet the most popular ones used in the community are missing!
I would almost bet that the above combined don't have a fraction of users compared to the ones I am suggesting.

At this point, the Arduino IDE feels like a commercial ad space to me. Is Arduino.cc selling these spaces for money or what?

[per1234]

Arduino has invested a huge amount of effort and money into making this free open source software support 3rd party hardware that directly competes with their products. This, even after many (with some very notable exceptions) of the companies who benefit hugely from that support have made no real efforts to contribute to this project.