Just a note that I was able to install Espruino on our 'Vanguard' reference platform (a $2.50 NodeMCU-M from doit.am having an ESP8285 - which is an ESP8266 with built-in 1Meg Flash) using the following from an Ubuntu 17.10 console, after cd-ing to the espruino_1v96_esp8266 folder of the Espruino download.
Espruino is a JavaScript interpreter for low-power Microcontrollers. This site is both a support community for Espruino and a place to share what you are working on.
Just a note that I was able to install Espruino on our 'Vanguard' reference platform (a $2.50 NodeMCU-M from doit.am having an ESP8285 - which is an ESP8266 with built-in 1Meg Flash) using the following from an Ubuntu 17.10 console, after cd-ing to the espruino_1v96_esp8266 folder of the Espruino download.
I am then able to connect to the shell by running GNU Screen like...