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<head><title>Help - ESP Link</title>
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css">
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<div id="main">
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<div id="topnav">%topnav%</div>
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<h1><span class="esp">esp</span> link - Help</h1>
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The ESP Link functions in two wifi modes: Station+AccessPoint (STA+AP) and Station (STA).
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In the STA+AP mode it presents a network called esp8266 that you can connect to using the
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password jeelabs8266. This mode is intended for initial configuration, but it is
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fully functional. Typically the easiest way to connect to the esp8266 network is using a phone,
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tablet, or laptop.</p>
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<p>The recommended next step is to configure the ESP Link to connect to your "normal"
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Wifi network so you can access it from any of your machines. Once you have connected the ESP Link
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to your network and pointed your browser at it successfully, you should
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switch the ESP Link to STA mode, which is more secure (no canned password).<p>
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<p>In STA mode the ESP Link connects to the configured network (the info is saved in flash).
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If, after a reset, it cannot connect for one minute, it automatically reverts to STA+AP mode
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allowing you to reconnect to the esp8266 network to change configuration.</p>
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<p>In STA mode the most tricky part usually is the IP address. On most networks, the ESP Link
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will get a dynamic IP address assigned via DHCP and you now need to enter that IP address into
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your browser to connect. The good news is that after you reset your ESP Link it will continue to
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have the same IP address. However, if you leave it off for the week-end it will most likely get a
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fresh IP the next time it starts up. On many Wifi routers you can enter a fixed mapping from
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the ESP Link's hardware MAC address to a static IP address so it always gets the same IP
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address. This is the recommended method of operation.</p>
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<h1>Using your ESP Serial Programmer</h1>
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The ESP Programmer can used in several distinct ways:
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<ul>
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<li>as a transparent bridge between TCP port 23 and the serial port</li>
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<li>as a web console to see input from the serial port</li>
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<li>as an Arduino, AVR, or ARM processor programmer using serial-over-TCP</li>
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<li>as an Arduino, AVR, or ARM processor programmer by uploading HEX files (not yet functional)</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>Transparent bridge</h2>
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<p>The ESP accepts TCP connections to port 23 and "connects" through to the serial port.
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Up to 5 simultaneous TCP connections are supported and characters coming in on the serial
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port get passed through to all connections. Characters coming in on a connection get copied
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through to the serial port.</p>
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<p>When using Linux a simple way to use this is <tt>nc esp8266 23</tt></p>
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<h2>Programmer using serial-over-TCP</h2>
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<p>By hooking up the ESP's GPIO lines to the reset line of an Arduino (or AVR in general) that is
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preloaded with the Optiboot bootloader/flasher it is possible to reprogram these processors over
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Wifi. The way is works is that the ESP toggles the reset line each time a connection is established
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and the first characters are the flash programming synchronization sequence.</p>
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<p>When using Linux avrdude can be instructed to program an AVR over TCP by using a special syntax
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for the serial port: <tt>-Pnet:esp8266:23</tt>, where <tt>esp8266</tt> is the hostname of the ESP
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Serial Programmer (an IP address could have been used instead).</p>
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<p>NXP's LPC800-serial ARM processors can be programmed similarly by hooking up GPIO pins to the
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ARM's reset and ISP lines. The ESP Serial Programmer issues the correct reset/isp pulses to put
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the ARM chip into firmware programming mode.</p>
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<h2>Web Console</h2>
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<p>The output of an attached Arduino/AVR/ARM can also be monitored via the console web page.
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When connecting, it shows the most recent 10KB of characters received on the serial port and
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then continues to print everything that comes in on the serial port. Eventually the page refreshes
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when it gets very long. (Yes, this could be improved with some javascript...)</p>
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<h2>Programmer using HEX upload</h2>
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<p><i>(Not yet functional)</i> Instead of using the wifi-to-serial bridge to program
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microcontrollers it is often faster to upload the HEX file to the ESP Serial Programmer and
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have it perform the actual programming protocol.</p>
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</div>
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</body></html>
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