M5Stack - Partitioning Schemes

[TomKatt]

I'm almost hesitant to create this thread because I see there are numerous others that mention Partition Schemes - BUT after spending all morning trying to figure out what they all mean, I figured that I might as well ask for a summary.

I was surprised when my small test program appeared to consumer 62% of the available program space on my DinMeter (StampS3)... I understand that the Included library files get compiled with my small 20 line test program, but that's still a little concerning when I think about the big plans I have for this neat little controller.

I see many references to the Expressif tech notes and have just finished reading about OTA firmware space - I think I get the jist of all that and my simple project will not require any OTA updates, so I can choose a partition scheme with NO OTA.

I guess the thing that confuses me the most is that none of the partition schemes add up to the rom size of the M5 controller - supposedly there is 8MB of flash in a StampS3, but the largest partition scheme available appears to be the 'Huge App (3MB No OTA / 1MB SPIFFS). That only adds up to 4MB representing 50% of onboard flash memory on the controller.

Question - I assume that the vast majority of M5Stack users do not use OTA features... What partition scheme are you using and why? Is there any way to utilize more than 3MB for your code?

I'm also guessing that because the ESP-32 chipset was originally intended for consumer wireless products, there are safety nets built into the hardware platform for OTA updates and redundant program code so if something fails the last working backup is rolled back so the device continues working. Perhaps this is just a limitation when we use these chips as general controllers.

Thanks!