Using the ESP8266 the easy way

27 Oct 2014

As far as I am concerned the ESP8266 is a bit of a game changer for the internet an microcontrollers and so I have put it together with the ByPic (the what?). Okay I will start again. ByPic is an interactive language that works through a serial interface using a simple USB to serial converter: So:

Will give:

Really, this is the output from the Mini-Max, pressing 11 will use the HTTP protocol to get the head sent by google that contains the current date and time. What is shown as the main menu is an interface to the underlying library. To use the library direct then press 0 to get out of the main menu and yo gen an OK prompt.

This is an example of a session:

wf_start() result = Nothing, this will initialise the hardware

mode(1) result = 10

join("yourssid","yourpassword") result = 1 if okay. This is the SSID and password to the network you oen, i.e your home or work network.

info() result = a list of information, if there are errors then try rst(), you must have an IP address at this point if not it means that it can't connect with the given network so is the SSID and password correct?

get("www.google.com","/",80) result = 1 if okay or time out if the page was too big to fit into the serial buffer. If it says there is no connection with the site then check the spelling of google and also make sure there is an IP address using info.

see1() will show the received data which will be the 'head' data from the google server.

Of course that is just one way of using this wonderful device. If you have less then £20 to spare you could get an evaluation kit which will do all of the above. If you just want to see how it works in detail the tutorial is here. And the library for the ESP8266 is here. The software contains a HTTP client and also a HTTP server.

I hope you find it interesting.

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shabaz over 11 years ago

Personally I have reservations about the ESPxxxx since while it looks interesting, it may be hard to use conveniently without a library of code (since it's a pain building up and parsing AT command strings) - so higher-level functions such as the ones listed will help, like a companion to the ESP.
That's pretty interesting that the commands can be directly interpreted in real time over the serial port when typed.
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scargill over 10 years ago in reply to shabaz

Parsing the AT commands is a doddle in C on the Arduinos - I suggest it better that they get a little more stable before anyone puts TOO much work into it - and of course any such library would be easy to port to other systems. For my own part, the most important thing is to be able to respond to the commands with checks for expected output - filtering for the results and actions to take when it all falls apart. I'm 80% through developing that and when I'm done - I'll put it on the blog.
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Former Member over 10 years ago in reply to scargill

Better late than never I suppose, the beauty about the ByPic system is that it is rapid - a whole 2 months or more in this case. For me its been a great opportunity to learn how the ESP8266 works and interacts with existing networks. I have several doing monitoring in remote locations (using just micro Amps most of the time) and have even had time to create a PCB (http://www.byvac.com/bv3/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=172) This uses the same rapid application development system - hey it even has a menu like the one above.
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scargill over 10 years ago in reply to Former Member

That's really nice! That's exactly what I want but I'm an Atmel kind of guy.. you've started me off now - Eagle to the ready... except I'll need an Xtal and another connector pin...
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Problemchild over 10 years ago in reply to Former Member

I for one will be interested in seeing some of your new products based on the ESP8266
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Problemchild over 10 years ago in reply to Former Member

I for one will be interested in seeing some of your new products based on the ESP8266
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