MF Custom Device Part 1: Installing tools and setup

You've already built a few cockpit controls using MobiFlight, but now you want a bigger challenge: Creating your own custom device. In this tutorial series we will work on a digital engine monitor for our GA airplanes. This first lesson covers:
Why Custom controls?
Installing development tools
Cloning the Custom Firmware Template
Verify your install by compiling the template

Links:
VS Code: https://code.visualstudio.com/download
Python: https://www.python.org/downloads/
Git: https://git-scm.com/install/windows
PlatformIO: search "platformio" from the extensions (ctrl-shift-x) in VS Code
Clone the custom device repo:
- Open a window terminal (win-R, wt)
- cd to your base source directory
- run: git clone https://github.com/MobiFlight/CommunityTemplate.git