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Raspberry Pi Forum Pi zero WIFI....
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  • raspberry_pi
Related

Pi zero WIFI....

rew
rew over 8 years ago

I've designed a board which plugs onto a raspberry pi zero to provide WIFI through an ESP8266 module on the serial port of the Raspberry pi.

 

Now you may say: Why not just use an USB-wifi dongle? Those are cheap and work out-of-the-box! You're right. But in some cases that's not the best solution: When you are space-constrained and need exactly ONE usb device, not having to use a HUB pays off. imageimage

I have not yet soldered on the connectors in these pictures, to facilitate other configurations should that turn out to be practical.

 

So...

 

If you think this is useful, If you have some programming skills, If you have a use for this.....

I have the following offer: At the cost of the components (EUR 2.50 for the ESP, EUR 1.00 for the PCB+ rest) and shipping (max EUR 5.25) I can send you one. The deal is that you'll try to make the wifi part usefull....

 

Of course, developing the software is probably more convenient on a "bigger" pi.

 

Should something essential be hooked up wrong. We'll respin the board and get you a new version. No charge. The main reason that I'm not giving the hardware away for free initially is that I don't want people to say: oh, it's free, lets get it, I'll decide later if I need it/can help and then of course nothing happens. By asking for a little bit of money I force people to think about it and scare away the freeloaders. Also, the offer applies "as long as supplies last", i.e. whenever I think there is enough activity...

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  • gadget.iom
    gadget.iom over 8 years ago

    Hi rew

     

    That looks like a really neat board! image

     

    I am a bit tight for time at them moment, but I'm curious what you mean by making the wifi part useful?

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  • rew
    rew over 8 years ago in reply to gadget.iom

    Oh, yeah. That could've been explained a bit better.... The ESP by default comes with "UART" software. you can ask it over the UART: "please connect to SERVER X.com on port Y" and then "please send... " and things like that. Linux on the other hand would prefer to see a "network interface": the raw packets.

     

    Several options of "making it useful" are available, at different levels of difficulty.

     

    1) Make a program that talks to the UART, retrieves a webpage and outputs the result. Think: commandline compatible with "lynx --dump" .

    2) Write software for the ESP8266 that allows the pi to send arbitrary packets.

    2A) Have a user-space program that asks the kernel for packets (a tunnel interface works for this IIRC), and then in userspace talks to the UART to get the ESP to transmit the data.

    2B) Have a kernel driver do this.

    3) Think of a better interface between the pi and the ESP. SPI? I think both the pi and the ESP have a "master only" SPI module..... Hardware patching is probably necessary for this step. The good news is that I've broken out most of the ESP pins, and with a through-connector like pictured, many raspberry pins are available as well.

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  • mconners
    mconners over 8 years ago in reply to rew

    Nice, Roger.

     

    Have you looked at this?

     

    Raspberry Pi Zero + ESP8266 = Internet?! | pwiatrowski

     

    My first thought was slip or PPP as well, but that guy did some research.

     

    Mike

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  • clem57
    clem57 over 8 years ago

    Do you have a good reference for the ESP8266 that I may check? I would like to interface with python library like your option 1.

    Clem

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  • rew
    rew over 8 years ago in reply to clem57

    Sparkfun is always pretty good in putting up references on their website.  https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13678

    So there is a link to the "at command set" which is what you would talk to the pi.

     

    @Mike: Thanks! If you'd follow that guy's instructions keep in mind that you need /dev/serial0 instead of /dev/ttyUSB0 that he mentions....

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  • briafalk
    briafalk over 8 years ago

    Hello Roger,

     

    This is something I am definitely interested in.  I have been looking at using an ESP on an Pi Zero for a robotics project I am working on.  Message me to let me know how to get one in the US.  I can contribute time to the code base to get this working.

     

    Thanks,

    Brian

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  • RParkerE
    RParkerE over 8 years ago

    This a really cool idea! However, I recently saw a hub that is smaller than that board and has a built in WiFi module its called the HubPiWi. It looks really promising. I have seen a few other hubs that are very slim and fit on like your board does, but none the less, great job and awesome project!

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  • kurt_r
    kurt_r over 8 years ago in reply to RParkerE

    I got 2 of the boards from the HubPiWi Kickstarter and apparently a whole batch was bad and the WiFi board couldn't get any good signals from the on-board antenna.

    The Pure USB one works great, though.

     

    @Roger  This is awesome, but I am more of a Hardware guy then software and programming, Looks real good though!

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  • RParkerE
    RParkerE over 8 years ago in reply to kurt_r

    That's good to know as I was looking into getting one. I'll probably end up disassembling a cheap usb hub and soldering it to the pi, or making my own contacts, so I can have just the PCB to limit the space the hub takes up, that way I'll have 4 ports and just use a dongle.

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  • clem57
    clem57 over 8 years ago in reply to kurt_r

    Kinda of curious, but how are the springs contacting the Pi Zero? They do not use the 40 pins or do they?

    Clem

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