Running Linux on an ESP32-S3
In the maker world, most projects take either one of two paths: use a bare-metal board such as an Arduino Uno, or go with a more fully-featured board such as the the Raspberry Pi 4B. The former is a great option for performing a single task quickly, but the limited resources and flexibility of bare metal leave a lot to be desired. Otherwise, going with a full Linux operating system can handle a lot more simultaneously while also introducing additional overhead and unnecessary complexity.
On mid-tier system-on-chips (SoCs), including the ESP32 lineup, PSoC6, and other similar devices, developers have the choice of using FreeRTOS which is a lightweight, real-time operating system for handling multiple tasks, peripherals, file access, and more, yet it lacks many of the amenities of a typical Linux distribution. To element14 Presents host Clem Mayer, there had to be a better way, so he set out to create his own Linux-powered compute module integrating the ESP32-S3.