So I’m not an IT professional by any means, it’s a hobby. But I’m curious if an ESP32 could land a man on the moon. I searched around a bit and am under the assumption that an ESP32 has a CPU or microprocessor of some sort.
What I’m trying to figure out is: Would a processor on an ESP32 have RAM and ROM built into the chip. I hope I’m asking the right questions.
It seems like a processor should have RAM for a cache. But I gave up trying to figure out if it would also have built-in ROM (specifically, an ESP32’s processor)
Do all CPU’s/microprocessors now have SRAM for a cache? Do all also contain ROM? Or is it separate? I guess an ESP32 does require ROM for it’s firmware, regardless? And (maybe?) SRAM in it’s processor?
I’m beinginng to think an ESP32 would have the “specs” to land a man on the moon?
Idk, “how true is your statement” is what I’m trying to figure out (but I lack a lot of the technical knowledge), and now I’m curious. If someone could ELI9, I’d appreciate it
Edit: I did flash the eeprom on some XBOX TSOP chips in the past. So maybe ROM isn’t part of the CPU, but very near-and-dear. Annnnd I’m in a rabbit hold about the anatomy of CPU’s because of a one sentence comment. Please help
ESP32 is a term that is often used very broadly. If you want to be accurate, ESP32 is a very specific integrated circuit that contains a lot of stuff needed for computation and packaged in a single chip made by Espressif. This chip, usually called SoC/MCU contains the CPU, RAM, ROM, and other peripherals, even wireless communication and encryption primitive.
ESP32 itself contains the following spec:
Dual core 32-bit CPU with clock speed up to 240MHz
520KB of SRAM
448KB of ROM
Now, for comparison, the Apollo programs consist of a lot of systems. But arguably, the computer that is responsible to make the landing possible is the guidance computer.
Let’s take a look at the spec from wikipedia:
15-bit CPU with a clock of 2.048 MHz
2048 words RAM (2048×15 = ~30KBit)
36864 words ROM (~553KBit)
That alone should give you an idea of how powerful computers have come to. Not to mention the size difference (ESP32 only around 5mm×5mm), power consumption, and a lot of other factors.
Thank you! I was reading the wiki about the “landing” and could “understand” how a current phone would be vastly more than sufficient. I got lost trying to find how an “ESP32” was designed… and then how processor’s were (normally) designed nowadays… and how it all worked together. I guess I was asking if a single “chip” could include all of those things (CPU, RAM, ROM), or if it was multiple “chips”. An integrated circuit is what I think I was trying to dissect. I’m still curious about the inter-workings, but you cleared a whole lot up for me.
I really appreciate the breakdown, because I didn’t have the terminology to properly search. I guess it still kinda blows my mind how far it’s all progressed
Edit: And now I’m learning the difference between “Integrated circuit” and “circuit board”… seems silly in hindsight, but the terminology had me a bit confused. Super cool, nonetheless.
So I’m not an IT professional by any means, it’s a hobby. But I’m curious if an ESP32 could land a man on the moon. I searched around a bit and am under the assumption that an ESP32 has a CPU or microprocessor of some sort.
What I’m trying to figure out is: Would a processor on an ESP32 have RAM and ROM built into the chip. I hope I’m asking the right questions.
It seems like a processor should have RAM for a cache. But I gave up trying to figure out if it would also have built-in ROM (specifically, an ESP32’s processor)
Do all CPU’s/microprocessors now have SRAM for a cache? Do all also contain ROM? Or is it separate? I guess an ESP32 does require ROM for it’s firmware, regardless? And (maybe?) SRAM in it’s processor?
I’m beinginng to think an ESP32 would have the “specs” to land a man on the moon?
Idk, “how true is your statement” is what I’m trying to figure out (but I lack a lot of the technical knowledge), and now I’m curious. If someone could ELI9, I’d appreciate it
Edit: I did flash the eeprom on some XBOX TSOP chips in the past. So maybe ROM isn’t part of the CPU, but very near-and-dear. Annnnd I’m in a rabbit hold about the anatomy of CPU’s because of a one sentence comment. Please help
ESP32 is a term that is often used very broadly. If you want to be accurate, ESP32 is a very specific integrated circuit that contains a lot of stuff needed for computation and packaged in a single chip made by Espressif. This chip, usually called SoC/MCU contains the CPU, RAM, ROM, and other peripherals, even wireless communication and encryption primitive.
ESP32 itself contains the following spec:
Now, for comparison, the Apollo programs consist of a lot of systems. But arguably, the computer that is responsible to make the landing possible is the guidance computer.
Let’s take a look at the spec from wikipedia:
That alone should give you an idea of how powerful computers have come to. Not to mention the size difference (ESP32 only around 5mm×5mm), power consumption, and a lot of other factors.
Thank you! I was reading the wiki about the “landing” and could “understand” how a current phone would be vastly more than sufficient. I got lost trying to find how an “ESP32” was designed… and then how processor’s were (normally) designed nowadays… and how it all worked together. I guess I was asking if a single “chip” could include all of those things (CPU, RAM, ROM), or if it was multiple “chips”. An integrated circuit is what I think I was trying to dissect. I’m still curious about the inter-workings, but you cleared a whole lot up for me.
I really appreciate the breakdown, because I didn’t have the terminology to properly search. I guess it still kinda blows my mind how far it’s all progressed
Edit: And now I’m learning the difference between “Integrated circuit” and “circuit board”… seems silly in hindsight, but the terminology had me a bit confused. Super cool, nonetheless.