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ESP alternatives

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Dajgoro:
Hi

I was wondering if there was a alternative to the popular ESP modules (not including the RTL8710) which is made by some western company, and has a proper ide and documentation?
The ESP has a ton of code written for it, but I don't like how its still a sort of magical black box device.
Do any of the big mcu brands have something that has both wifi and ethernet in a single package with good code support, even if its a bit more expensive?

edigi:
While I can't help you with your original question what I wanted to note is that I'm surprised to hear that you regard ESP as black box.
When playing with ESP32 I've found myself using the technical reference most often (register level description, 669 pages long currently):
https://www.espressif.com/sites/default/files/documentation/esp32_technical_reference_manual_en.pdf
I've used also the API reference frequently:
https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/latest/api-reference/index.html

The root of the documentation (still with many more documents related to both SW and HW):
https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/latest/
or in github:
https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf

The Arduino IDE also works just fine.

This is not to say that there could not be improvements either in documentation or in the HW.
E.g. although the ADC is specced as 12 bits in practice it has many issues limiting it to around 8 bits. When looking for alternatives however I've found that many recent controllers are plagued with very similar issue...
Similarly PCNT is just 16 bits. Sure one can extend it in SW but it would be so much simpler if 32 bits used directly in the HW.
Also while it introduces a great flexibility the APB is just in the way for many use cases (e.g. instant time stamping of fast events)

There is however the general tendency that there is not anymore such extensive documentation as it used to be couple of decades ago (remember everything used to have even schematics; not anymore). Simply it seems that no company can afford it anymore (time to market, budget etc)....

So IMHO one can have many valid reasons to look for alternatives (like if you say you wanted an ARM version), but I'm surprised to read that lack of documentation is mentioned as one of the main issues.

DISCLAIMER: I have no affiliation with Espressif. I've just bought and used stuff from them just like from many other vendors.

nsrmagazin:
https://www.microchip.com/design-centers/wireless-connectivity/embedded-wi-fi

Dajgoro:
I say its a black box because I always see it being used arduino style in some weird IDE with no debugger using arudino libraries which end up doing funny things.
It seems to me like its something brewed up by the community rather than a single manufacturer like MCP parts, which then has a consistent way of doing things.

That microchip module doesn't look too bad, and also its not that much more expensive, I'll look into it.

krho:
 ESP32 uses freertos under the hood, so you can use this from any IDE that supports C++ development. e.g.. simple google search for ESP32 ide returns instruction on how to use it With eclipse IDE

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