@ajb2k3 thanks for your answer but as you can see just above I already got the answer from another post on the forum.
In fact this is not that simple.
Yes you can flash the device with the binaries found on the MicroPython website but then you only get the basic lib to get access to the ESP32.
If you want to take advantage of all 'surrounding' features like touch screen, accelerometer etc...then, unlike with UIFlow where the libs do encapsulate all those surrounding features, you have to dig yourself and find the correct libs as M5Stack is not providing one.

Just in case someone is interested I found an answer to my question here:

https://forum.m5stack.com/topic/2601/pure-micro-python-without-ui-flow-on-my-m5stack-core2

Do you guys have news on the Big Sur support for the Core2.
I have just installed the last 11.1 version but unfortunately still the same I get the following error when I try to flash the Core2:
Failed to write to target RAM (result was 01070000)

Thanks
Eric

@ajb2k3 ok this is clear thanks but which firmware do I need to use if I want to use MP not with UIFlow but with Pycharm or Thonny for instance?
Should I use the UIFlow fw provided by M5Stack or the default ESP32 MP fw from MicroPython.org ?
Thanks

@zontex Thanks a lot! Email sent with the full explanation of the issue

@jackh sorry my question was not that clear :)
in fact I just wanted to know if it is possible to use MicroPython with the Core 2 with another IDE than UIFlow?

I am asking because, as far as I have understood, there's a dedicated UIFlow firmware for the core 2 to be used with UIFlow. Therefore I don't really understand whether this firmware is exclusively to be used with UIFlow or you can use any MicroPython IDE like PyCharm, Thonny etc...and you get access to the same controls (touch screen, accelerometer etc...)

Thanks for the clarification!

Just to confirm the problem is related to Big Sur.
I could install the CP21xx drivers and M5Burner on my Win10 PC and flash the Core 2 without any issue.

Now I'm really stuck as I have all my dev environment on my Mac and only coding for there.

Would you please consider having a look at how this can be fixed on your side or if any temporary workaround would be available?

Thanks
Eric

First of all thank you for this quick answer.
I also doubt this is coming from your device.

FYI I also had much trouble with VSCode/PIO/ESP32 when I upgraded to Big Sur.
I followed some GitHub tickets where eventually I could make my ESP32 (devkit v1) working by modifying the esptool.py file.

Took me half a day to figure it out as there are several versions of esptool.py when you have arduino IDE, VSCode, PIO etc..on the same machine.
Not mentioning that default Python version on Big Sur is still the old 2.7....but I needed to compile with version 3.x

Therefore now this is working fine with my ESP32/VSCode/PIO but I agree / suspect this is now the same issue with the Core 2.

I will just install the CP21xx drivers and M5Burner on my Windows 10 and let you know how it goes.

Thanks

Hi again,

The time my post was validated I received the core 2 and could try investigating my questions.

My setup:
MacOs Big Sur
in PIO, the Core 2 is configured as the following board: m5stack-core-esp32
with Arduino framework and I have imported the M5Core2.h lib

I could compile a code example to display something on the screen (the example of the LCD api page at the bottom).
I could successfully compile it (after changing the drawLine function as it takes 5 parameters and not 3 as in the example).

I can therefore confirm the Core 2 is working with VSCode/PIO.
Now my problem is that I cannot upload, I have an error message.
Btw I have the same message when I try to burn the fw from M5Burner so I guess this is not an issue with VSCode/PIO (see my other post).

Failed to write to target RAM (result was 01070000)

I tried at all different speeds with 2 different usb cables.

Any help very much appreciated.
Thanks
Eric

Hello,

I have setup my new Core 2 with VSCode/PIO:

MacOs Big Sur
in PIO the Core 2 is configured as the following board: m5stack-core-esp32
with Arduino framework and I have imported the M5Core2.h lib
I can compile a simple code successfully but when I want to burn it I have the following error:
Failed to write to target RAM (result was 01070000)

I tried at all different speeds with 2 different usb cables.

The CP21xx drivers were already installed (I am already successfully using ESP32 devkit v1 modules with the same setup) but I reinstalled them just in case....

I have then tried to burn the Core2FactoryTest with the m5Burner but I end up with the same error message.

Can you please help me?
Thanks!
Eric