ESP8266 - Anyone here play with one?

[bluehash 1,578]

I'm considering getting my hands dirty with one. Seems like a pretty cool chip. I've been following it for close to 6 months and it has blown up in the past month with people figuring out on how to load and run code on it. Can run in both Ap as well as station mode.

How to Directly Program an Inexpensive ESP8266 WiFi Module

[spirilis 1,264]

Serious CC3100/3200 killer. I almost feel bad for TI. I also fully credit this product for stunting what could have been otherwise aggressive growth for the CC3100...

 

I haven't played with one personally, so I'm sure it has its warts. The price sure is right though. I just have 3 CC3100's and the emuboost and don't really care to throw them away for the newest super cheap whizbang chipset, but I definitely think the ESP has potential. Chinese market aggression at its finest.

 

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[danirebollo 2]

I am programming a CC3200 embedded system to control a DSP and hosting a web: ESP8266 is not killer of nobody, he's in a completly different league, and CC3200 wins  
But ESP8266 for IoT toaster or something could be enough and cheap.

 

Check this thread:

https://e2e.ti.com/support/wireless_connectivity/f/968/t/394126

[spirilis 1,264]

There's been extensive community work getting GCC et al targeted to the native chip, and I have heard along those same lines SSL support is there. So while I don't know how stable all that is or how realistically powerful its CPU is, it looks like a compelling option these days at least for hobbyist use.

 

That e2e thread reflects what I had read about it early on, but Twitter user ubiq_01 posted some info that informed me differently about the "current" state of support for the chip.

 

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[bluehash 1,578]

I checked a few CC3200 modules on Aliexpress. They were around $19. If they could bring it $10 lower, it may get attention.

I feel that companies would gravitate towards the CC3200 for their products, because of support and continued silicon production. TI also offers FCC certified modules. 

Make it as accessible as the CC2500 and it will be popular.

[spirilis 1,264]

Haven't snoop aliexpress yet for those, interesting. Actually $19 wouldn't be too bad for some projects if they work well... but that's a wildcard

 

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[igor 163]

Also in this category is the EMW3162.

Not sure why the ESP8266 gets all the buz, when EMW3162 has ARM core, less expensive than CC3200.

 

Anybody done a comparison between the CC3200,  ESP8266 and EMW3162?

 

http://hackaday.com/2015/03/24/emw3162-wifi-120mhz-needs-attention/

[Fred 453]

When I checked aliexpress the CC3200 modules were $58.50 for 5. That's not too bad.

[greeeg 460]

I bought 10 modules a few months back, integrated chip antenna, and plenty of I/O's broken out, to specifically program them directly. (ESP-03, 10pcs for $26.85)

 

However they just sat in my parts bin, recently read that hackaday post Bluehash linked in OP. Bought a NodeMCU development board. yet to arrive. Basically just a ESP-03 module, with a usb -> serial adapter, and two buttons for reset/bootloader. Hopefully that will allow me to dive into the software side a little easier.

 

The largest downside is it's power consumption, at around 200mA at full TX power it will never work too well inside something ultra portable.

[bluehash 1,578]

 

Also in this category is the EMW3162.

Not sure why the ESP8266 gets all the buz, when EMW3162 has ARM core, less expensive than CC3200.

 

Anybody done a comparison between the CC3200,  ESP8266 and EMW3162?

 

http://hackaday.com/2015/03/24/emw3162-wifi-120mhz-needs-attention/

 

Hmm.. that slipped out of my radar. 

The EMW2162 looks very similar in architecture compared to the CC3200, except in the EWM2162 the flash resides within the chip itself. In the CC3200, it is an external flash chip.

[danirebollo 2]

 

Also in this category is the EMW3162.

Not sure why the ESP8266 gets all the buz, when EMW3162 has ARM core, less expensive than CC3200.

 

Anybody done a comparison between the CC3200,  ESP8266 and EMW3162?

 

http://hackaday.com/2015/03/24/emw3162-wifi-120mhz-needs-attention/

 

wow! sounds cool! but seeedstudio have 9$ (+ shipping) modules and aliexpress not cheaper than 12-15$

[BRey 22]

I have a few of them-ESP01, ESP12 & ESP201. They are all the same core, just different available pins & antennas. There isn't much variation in price( $3 - $4 ea.); the ESP01 comes with through holes & pins so it is easy to start with but only has a few I/o. I like the 201 for breadboarding (after moving the 4 pins on the end to the top of the board) Documentation is poor, but the net is filling in the missing pieces.

 

Delivered firmware uses RX/TX & "AT" (modem) command extensions. Easy to set up, reliable, but slow. Automatically stores settings in Flash (SSID, passkey, baud, etc.) Lots of Arduino users. 

 

Then the SDK was released and usage exploded. It is a MIPS core running 80mhz with lots of flash. There are several SDK forks some makefile/gcc but most Eclipse. I have used one with MQTT built in, played with the nodeMCU Lua, and now there is an Arduino port (Using the Arduino 1.6+ IDE, select ESP8266 board) Similar code compatibility issues to using Arduino code in Energia. If you want simple, go Arduino. I like Eclipse OK and the code produced has been more reliable for me.

 

The game changer here is the price & price/performance esp. since a pretty solid wifi transceiver is builtin. Since it is Wifi I doubt true low power is possible, but there are some sleep modes and people experimenting. Deep sleep requires wiring a pin only available on the larger models (unless you can wire to the tiny chip!).

 

I have gotten them fast from this guy: http://stores.ebay.com/tomyuen007?_trksid=p2047675.l2563He is across town (Atlanta) so 1-2 day service for me; but should be fast for anyone in the U.S. Ali & ebay probably best elsewhere.

 

I find it ironic that Arduino people are hooking an 80mhz 32 bit MPU as a modem to their 16mhz 8bit boards.

 

B

[JonnyBoats 40]

Over at Make is a nice post on the ESP8266: Arduino IDE Support for the ESP8266

 

I believe most would agree that hardware is only half the issue, good software support is equally as important. Now that one can use the Arduino IDE to develop programs for the ESP8266 it should give this hardware a big boost in popularity.

[Rickta59 589]

... It is a MIPS core running 80mhz with lots of flash. ...

It is actually based on the XTensa chip. http://ip.cadence.com/uploads/pdf/106Micro.pdf The history of the XTensa architecture and its creator is an interesting story in itself. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensilica

 

-rick

[ghlawrence2000 1]

I rushed out and bought ESP-01 and ESP-12 since they were too cheap to miss, but to be honest, I have scrapped them and just bought a CC3200 Launchpad, and so far loving the extensive ENGLISH documentation and reliability. Hands down, CC3200 beats ESP8266 in my opinion. Not to mention the $15 I wasted spent on the ESP modules before deciding they were not reliable or stable enough. Reliability is poor, they seem to 'hang' at any opportunity even though AT firmware 0.95 is 'supposed' to address the stability issues, it does not!

 

I am not saying the ESP8266 does not have masses of potential, what I am saying is, they are not yet market ready. I also suggested the support website considered an english section, that didn't even get a response!

 

Regards,

 

Graham