5 ms·

I'm always curious about these sorts of answers, because from an outsiders perspective, you may as well be talking in another language. From what I can tell th

I'm always curious about these sorts of answers, because from an outsiders perspective, you may as well be talking in another language. From what I can tell the ESP8266 is some sort of wifi enabled...chip? That you need to solder onto something or plug onto a breadboard, then you need an arduino for some unstated reason. What is an arduino? how do you make these two things interact? How do you provide power to these things? why are there so many arduinos? I think the advantage of these single board computers are they are a much lower barrier to entry if you don't have that much knowledge of electronics, but have more experience of navigating Linux systems and writing software.

kweks 11y ago
The ESP8266 is actually a system on a board, too. Essentially, it's a tiny microcontroller, with Wifi and a few GPIO connections, in a very small form factor, for a very small price. You don't need to solder it to anything (it already comes soldered on its own board). You don't an external microcontroller to use it. It is standalone. It is compatible with the 'Arduino'. The Arduino is a family of microcontrollers built from the ground up to be easy to use. Easy to use software, easy to program (Variant of C) - and more importantly, heaps of support and tutorials online. Honestly, the most difficult thing about using the ESP is powering and programming it. It takes 3.3V - and only 3.3V, so finding an appropriate power supply can be trickly. It programs over serial, so you need to use a USB > serial module - $1.30 [1] The modules themselves are super cheap: - $1.50 [0] There's a very strong community behind the module: http://www.esp8266.com/ http://www.esp8266.com/ Essentially: Don't be scared: there's an initial learning curve that is very gentle, and you'll suddenly find unlimited uses for these tiny little modules. I've got modules that show build statuses, affiliate account activity.. etc. They also work, as mentioned, exceptionally well in a flock reporting to a main system - which may be a CHIP system, Raspberry PI, OpenWRT router, etc. [0] http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Shipping-2pcs-lot-ESP8266-remote-serial-Port-WIFI-wireless-module-through-walls-Wang-ESP-12/32256161821.html http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Shipping-2pcs-lot-ESP826... [1] http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20160328010733&SearchText=FT232RL http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB...
- djhworld 11y ago
  Great reply, thanks. Are there any projects/tutorials/kits out there that go a bit beyond the standard "turn the led on/off"?
  - extra88 11y ago
    Search for "esp8266" in the Learn sections of Adafruit's and Sparkfun's sites. There's also esp8266.com. I think the most amazing thing I've seen is a VNC client running on an ESP8266 with a LCD touchscreen. The "raw" parts are super-cheap but when getting started I think it's much easier to get started on a still pretty cheap breakout board. I have a Sparkfun ESP8266 Thing I haven't started playing with yet but if getting one today I'd get the Adafruit Feather HUZZAH ("Feather" is their new line of micro controller boards that share a form factor, "HUZZAH" is what they call all their ESP8266 products).
    - danielvf 11y ago
      Let me second the Adafruit Feather for getting stated with the ESP8266. Here's a link: https://www.adafruit.com/products/2821 https://www.adafruit.com/products/2821
    - gh02t 11y ago
      There's also the WeMos boards, which can be had for $3-4. Those are my workhorses. http://www.cnx-software.com/2016/02/19/4-wemos-d1-mini-esp8266-board-supports-shields-with-a-temperature-sensor-a-button-a-relay-or-a-micro-sd-slot/ http://www.cnx-software.com/2016/02/19/4-wemos-d1-mini-esp82...
      - StavrosK 11y ago
        I can also recommend the WeMos D1 mini, it's the best I've seen so far.
  - gh02t 11y ago
    There's the Adafruit and Hackaday tutorials as already mentioned, plus Reddit has /r/esp8266 which has some good resources. I also have a project where I built a smart thermostat that aggregates sensor data fed from multiple ESP8266 sensors that is pretty involved. I've been meaning to write it up in detail to share on HN and I'll probably have time to sometime in the next couple months.
deelowe 11y ago
You can program the esp with node as well as several other languages. Its actually easier to use than a full SBC because you don't have to worry about an OS.
sklogic 11y ago
The chip is highly integrated. You may need a breakout board (like NodeMCU), or simply deadbug it, in order to flash it. You can do it with arduino if you already have one, but a simple standalone FTDI USB-to-serial stick would be sufficient. Then the module itself can run with very little external stuff - just power it with 3.3v, there are multiple options of doing so (but forget about a transformerless AC source, this thing eats up to 500mA). You may also want a simple debounced reset button, and that's it.
gh02t 11y ago
The ESP8266 is a microcontroller with integrated WiFi. The main difference between a microcontroller and something like the CHIP or RasPi is that they are much less powerful and are designed to run a single program instead of running a general operating system like CHIP does. They're what you use for single-purpose devices like a weather station or a light switch, while I think of small computers like CHIP as being better suited to serving as the brains for controlling sensor networks and such. "Arduino" is used to refer both to a family of microcontrollers based on an Atmel processor as well as a set of libraries designed to make programming microcontrollers accessible to people without embedded hardware experience. Originally, the ESP8266 was marketed as a simple serial Wifi adapter for the (hardware called) Arduino, but the community quickly realized that they could be programmed on their own and used to replace the Arduino. Subsequently, the Arduino libraries were ported to the ESP8266, making it instantly much more accessible as well as giving it access to a huge range of libraries for interfacing with different hardware and software. ESP8266 refers specifically to the processor, but it is usually sold in an integrated package with onboard memory and antenna etc. There are several of these packages for different uses, called e.g. ESP-01 or ESP-12e. While you can use these modules yourself with a bit of knowhow and some deft soldering, much easier is to buy a prepackaged dev board like the NodeMCU or WeMos D1. These are basically the equivalent to a CHIP (albeit again much fewer IO pins)- they pair an ESP integrated module (usually the ESP-12e) with all the supporting hardware needed to power and program the module. You just plug in a USB cable, load your code on and connect whatever external devices to the GPIO pins. I didn't have any significant electronics knowledge when I dove in head first. Arduino is designed to be accessible and there are plenty of kits with detailed instructions and all the parts you need. The ESP8266 has been wildly popular in the last year or so because it's got Wifi + compatible with Arduino (i.e. easy) + dirt cheap, which was previously unheard of.

kweks 11y ago

The ESP8266 is actually a system on a board, too. Essentially, it's a tiny microcontroller, with Wifi and a few GPIO connections, in a very small form factor, for a very small price. You don't need to solder it to anything (it already comes soldered on its own board). You don't an external microcontroller to use it. It is standalone. It is compatible with the 'Arduino'. The Arduino is a family of microcontrollers built from the ground up to be easy to use. Easy to use software, easy to program (Variant of C) - and more importantly, heaps of support and tutorials online. Honestly, the most difficult thing about using the ESP is powering and programming it. It takes 3.3V - and only 3.3V, so finding an appropriate power supply can be trickly. It programs over serial, so you need to use a USB > serial module - $1.30 [1] The modules themselves are super cheap: - $1.50 [0] There's a very strong community behind the module: http://www.esp8266.com/ http://www.esp8266.com/ Essentially: Don't be scared: there's an initial learning curve that is very gentle, and you'll suddenly find unlimited uses for these tiny little modules. I've got modules that show build statuses, affiliate account activity.. etc. They also work, as mentioned, exceptionally well in a flock reporting to a main system - which may be a CHIP system, Raspberry PI, OpenWRT router, etc. [0] http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Shipping-2pcs-lot-ESP8266-remote-serial-Port-WIFI-wireless-module-through-walls-Wang-ESP-12/32256161821.html http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Shipping-2pcs-lot-ESP826... [1] http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20160328010733&SearchText=FT232RL http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB...

djhworld 11y ago
Great reply, thanks. Are there any projects/tutorials/kits out there that go a bit beyond the standard "turn the led on/off"?
- extra88 11y ago
  Search for "esp8266" in the Learn sections of Adafruit's and Sparkfun's sites. There's also esp8266.com. I think the most amazing thing I've seen is a VNC client running on an ESP8266 with a LCD touchscreen. The "raw" parts are super-cheap but when getting started I think it's much easier to get started on a still pretty cheap breakout board. I have a Sparkfun ESP8266 Thing I haven't started playing with yet but if getting one today I'd get the Adafruit Feather HUZZAH ("Feather" is their new line of micro controller boards that share a form factor, "HUZZAH" is what they call all their ESP8266 products).
  - danielvf 11y ago
    Let me second the Adafruit Feather for getting stated with the ESP8266. Here's a link: https://www.adafruit.com/products/2821 https://www.adafruit.com/products/2821
  - gh02t 11y ago
    There's also the WeMos boards, which can be had for $3-4. Those are my workhorses. http://www.cnx-software.com/2016/02/19/4-wemos-d1-mini-esp8266-board-supports-shields-with-a-temperature-sensor-a-button-a-relay-or-a-micro-sd-slot/ http://www.cnx-software.com/2016/02/19/4-wemos-d1-mini-esp82...
    - StavrosK 11y ago
      I can also recommend the WeMos D1 mini, it's the best I've seen so far.
- gh02t 11y ago
  There's the Adafruit and Hackaday tutorials as already mentioned, plus Reddit has /r/esp8266 which has some good resources. I also have a project where I built a smart thermostat that aggregates sensor data fed from multiple ESP8266 sensors that is pretty involved. I've been meaning to write it up in detail to share on HN and I'll probably have time to sometime in the next couple months.

deelowe 11y ago

You can program the esp with node as well as several other languages. Its actually easier to use than a full SBC because you don't have to worry about an OS.

sklogic 11y ago

The chip is highly integrated. You may need a breakout board (like NodeMCU), or simply deadbug it, in order to flash it. You can do it with arduino if you already have one, but a simple standalone FTDI USB-to-serial stick would be sufficient. Then the module itself can run with very little external stuff - just power it with 3.3v, there are multiple options of doing so (but forget about a transformerless AC source, this thing eats up to 500mA). You may also want a simple debounced reset button, and that's it.

gh02t 11y ago

The ESP8266 is a microcontroller with integrated WiFi. The main difference between a microcontroller and something like the CHIP or RasPi is that they are much less powerful and are designed to run a single program instead of running a general operating system like CHIP does. They're what you use for single-purpose devices like a weather station or a light switch, while I think of small computers like CHIP as being better suited to serving as the brains for controlling sensor networks and such. "Arduino" is used to refer both to a family of microcontrollers based on an Atmel processor as well as a set of libraries designed to make programming microcontrollers accessible to people without embedded hardware experience. Originally, the ESP8266 was marketed as a simple serial Wifi adapter for the (hardware called) Arduino, but the community quickly realized that they could be programmed on their own and used to replace the Arduino. Subsequently, the Arduino libraries were ported to the ESP8266, making it instantly much more accessible as well as giving it access to a huge range of libraries for interfacing with different hardware and software. ESP8266 refers specifically to the processor, but it is usually sold in an integrated package with onboard memory and antenna etc. There are several of these packages for different uses, called e.g. ESP-01 or ESP-12e. While you can use these modules yourself with a bit of knowhow and some deft soldering, much easier is to buy a prepackaged dev board like the NodeMCU or WeMos D1. These are basically the equivalent to a CHIP (albeit again much fewer IO pins)- they pair an ESP integrated module (usually the ESP-12e) with all the supporting hardware needed to power and program the module. You just plug in a USB cable, load your code on and connect whatever external devices to the GPIO pins. I didn't have any significant electronics knowledge when I dove in head first. Arduino is designed to be accessible and there are plenty of kits with detailed instructions and all the parts you need. The ESP8266 has been wildly popular in the last year or so because it's got Wifi + compatible with Arduino (i.e. easy) + dirt cheap, which was previously unheard of.