• Hi Guys,

    New user here. How's it going?

    I've been trying the past couple of days to get this working - but just can't seem to figure it out. I got one of those ELEGOO car kits off amazon, and the board shield is some V3.0 car shield.

    I've managed to flash the ESP8266 so that it shows as an access point, connects to my router. I followed this tutorial here - https://medium.com/@imkiran/connecting-j­ohnny-five-arduino-raspberry-pi-etc-over­-wifi-to-the-pc-using-esp8266-a10348fdb3­00

    It comes with some crappy clone hc-08, that can't flash or connect to be used as COM-PORT so that I can control it wirelessly, unless I am mistaken?

    Anyways, when I run the JohnnyFive code at the bottom. I can connect to the ESP8266, but it never fires the board.on('ready'....

    I get this response

    1535487241775 SerialPort Connecting to host:port: 192.168.0.21:41234
    1535487241779 Connected

    Now... when I take out the shield and connect the ESP8266 directly to the uno tx/rx - 3.3v/gnd it fires off just fine, then enters the repl.

    Cheers,

    Saul


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  • Hi! I think you might be posting on the wrong forum? This forum is for Espruino (running JS on the microcontroller itself) but that post is about Johnny-Five (which is running JS on a desktop and using it to send simple on/off commands to the microcontroller)

  • Yeah probably mate. But... I don't know any JohnnyFive forums XD

    Need to get an espruino at some point once I've learnt more ;)

  • Espruino is a firmware you can flash into your ESP8266. You don't buy it. It's open source. There is official Espruino hardware you can buy. Probably they work more stable and you can get better support. But you can still use ESP8266.

  • Thr 2018.08.30

    'but just can't seem to figure it out'

    . . . . Better call 'Saul'!!


    for the uninformed - reference to HBO series filmed in the USA
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Cal­l_Saul



    As @aliustaoglu points out: 'and you can get better support.'

    'once I've learnt more ;)'

    You have gotten near immediate response(s) from those in the Espruino community that are here to help each other. One response gave a good overview of the environment you are working in, and came from the author himself. I recommend his publication:

    Making Things Smart: Easy Embedded JavaScript Programming

    https://amzn.to/2C1x1Z0


    'Need to get an espruino at some point'

    Do your due diligence. Then jump on the band wagon. It appears you are at . . .some point. . . .

  • Awwww nice. Imma try this! See the thing is, there's not much in the way of a solid path of learning... it's kind of all over the place, blogs - talking to people, hanging out on forums like this one.

    I mean, the books are good to getting started.. But I already know how to code, it's understanding the hardware. It's like... how do you go from here to knowing how to build a set of bluetooth or WIFI headphones for instance.

  • Cheers mate.

    I know.. it's a good advanced community - Espruino. Arduino is full of newbs. How do I get LED 13 blinking etc. etc.

  • Found a good site to get me started. Digikey... so that's what we have to work with. Right... I'm getting it.

  • Thr 2018.08.30

    Hello @saulgoodman. I read over your last three posts and now puzzled at your responses.

    FYI DigiKey is a distributor of electronic parts.

    There are many other better launching points.

    Maybe we should start with what you overall goal is. Then attempt to piece together what the best hardware route should be. Then make a choice. Okay?

    Maybe Arduino or Tessel and others might be better choices. I would hope you would consider Espruino. Code development in Javascript using the IDE interpreter is far easier IMHO than going the other routes. That is why I chose it. You may have a different objective.

    Maybe it is as easy as selecting the correct flavor of ESP8266 WiFi module. Lets start with that. What version do you have?

    This might help:

    https://www.hackster.io/PatelDarshil/thi­ngs-you-should-know-before-using-esp8266­-wifi-module-784001

    https://blog.squix.org/2015/03/esp8266-m­odule-comparison-esp-01-esp-05.html

    I've had good luck with the ESP-12

  • @saulgoodman, do not be too hard on yourself... any subject requires emersion to lead to expertise... Good things to start with are @Gordon / Espruino's own conversations / sites that read something like 'Getting started...'. After going through some of them and related examples, you get (the) feeling. Having coding skills helps, but at the same time it also can derail. Why? IoT/mcs - microcontroller programming - is different from programming of general platforms, such as PCs / Servers / Browsers: 1st, resources aren't as abundant, 2nd, programming is much closer to hardware - since no OS is available - 3rd - as a understood from 1st and 2nd, much more dedicated to the task at hand - bare necessities... Some of the well known coding practices need to be a bit bent in the execution... not in the spirit though.

  • Ahhhh. I'm just ranting. I don't really know. I'm reading a lot - but it's all a bit overwhelming right now. There's obvious steps in the process to creating hardware. I don't really know right now what I want to make... there are obviously endless possibilities and that's what's so cool about it.

    It's a new field, but there are certain routes to getting there.

    @allObjects you're right. I need to start with the prototyping stage first and understanding how sensors etc work... I've been doing that. But is learning PCB design the best way to actually learn electronics? I'm thinking it is. Then you can apply your prototyping knowledge far better. I don't know yet. Yeah, MCUs are coded in C, but you can get away with Node on MPUs. I don't know how the Espruino is coded with JS... maybe a custom JS engine written in C?

  • Thr 2018.08.30

    re: '. . . . but it's all a bit overwhelming right now'

    Take a quick look through the list of tutorials. You might find some of those Elegoo modules you spoke about.
    http://www.espruino.com/Tutorials

    Try the electronics learning modules at https://learn.sparkfun.com/ (not related to Espruino)

    If that doesn't spark any interest, determine if the WiFi module you are working with is not one of the fiddly ones. See links in #9

    You may have to bite the bullet and order a version that might be more compatible.

  • Nice one, thanks Robin.

    Yep, getting these things to play together is pretty tough! Fun though! :D

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Getting the ESP8266 to work with this shield board.

Posted by Avatar for saulgoodman @saulgoodman

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