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esp-link/README.md

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ESP-LINK
========
This firmware connects an attached micro-controller to the internet using a ESP8266 Wifi module.
It implements a number of features:
- transparent bridge between Wifi and serial, useful for debugging or inputting into a uC
- flash-programming attached Arduino/AVR microcontrollers as well as LPC800-series and other
ARM microcontrollers via Wifi
- outbound TCP (and thus HTTP) connections from the attached micro-controller to the internet
The firmware includes a tiny HTTP server based on
[esphttpd](http://www.esp8266.com/viewforum.php?f=34)
with a simple web interface, many thanks to Jeroen Domburg for making it available!
[![Chat at https://gitter.im/jeelabs/esp-link](https://badges.gitter.im/Join%20Chat.svg)](https://gitter.im/jeelabs/esp-link?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=badge&utm_campaign=pr-badge&utm_content=badge)
###[Latest release](https://github.com/jeelabs/esp-link/releases)
Note that the [stable V1.0 release](https://github.com/jeelabs/esp-link/releases/tag/v1.0.0) is
recommended if you do not need the outbound TCP connections and have a 512KB flash chip.
Eye Candy
---------
These screen shots show the Home page, the Wifi configuration page, the console for the
attached microcontroller, and the pin assignments card:
<img width="45%" src="https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/39480/8261425/6ca395a6-167f-11e5-8e92-77150371135a.png">
<img width="45%" src="https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/39480/8261427/6caf7326-167f-11e5-8085-bc8b20159b2b.png">
<img width="45%" src="https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/39480/8261426/6ca7f75e-167f-11e5-827d-9a1c582ad05d.png">
<img width="30%" src="https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/39480/8261658/11e6c64a-1681-11e5-82d0-ea5ec90a6ddb.png">
Hardware info
-------------
This firmware is designed for esp8266 modules which have most ESP I/O pins available and
512KB flash.
The default connections are:
- URXD: connect to TX of microcontroller
- UTXD: connect to RX of microcontroller
- GPIO12: connect to RESET of microcontroller
- GPIO13: connect to ISP of LPC/ARM microcontroller (not used with Arduino/AVR)
- GPIO0: optionally connect green "conn" LED to 3.3V (indicates wifi status)
- GPIO2: optionally connect yellow "ser" LED to 3.3V (indicates serial activity)
If you are using an FTDI connector, GPIO12 goes to DTR and GPIO13 goes to CTS.
The GPIO pin assignments can be changed dynamically in the web UI and are saved in flash.
Initial flashing
----------------
(This is not necessary if you receive one of the jn-esp or esp-bridge modules from the author!)
If you want to simply flash the provided firmware binary, you can download the latest
[release](https://github.com/jeelabs/esp-link/releases) and use your favorite
ESP8266 flashing tool to flash the bootloader, the firmware, and blank settings.
Detailed instructions are provided in the release notes.
Note that the firmware assumes a 512KB flash chip, which most of the esp-01 thru esp-11
modules appear to have. A larger flash chip should work but has not been tested.
Wifi configuration overview
------------------
For proper operation the end state the esp-link needs to arrive at is to have it
join your pre-existing wifi network as a pure station.
However, in order to get there the esp-link will start out as an access point and you'll have
to join its network to configure it. The short version is:
1. the esp-link creates a wifi access point with an SSID of the form `ESP_012ABC`
2. you join your laptop or phone to the esp-link's network as a station and you configure
the esp-link wifi with your network info by pointing your browser at http://192.168.4.1/
3. the esp-link starts to connect to your network while continuing to also be an access point
("AP+STA"), the esp-link may show up with a `esp-link.local` hostname
(depends on your DHCP/DNS config)
4. the esp-link succeeds in connecting and shuts down its own access point after 15 seconds,
you reconnect your laptop/phone to your normal network and access esp-link via its hostname
or IP address
LED indicators
--------------
Assuming appropriate hardware attached to GPIO pins, the green "conn" LED will show the wifi
status as follows:
- Very short flash once a second: not connected to a network and running as AP+STA, i.e.
trying to connect to the configured network
- Very short flash once every two seconds: not connected to a network and running as AP-only
- Even on/off at 1HZ: connected to the configured network but no IP address (waiting on DHCP)
- Steady on with very short off every 3 seconds: connected to the configured network with an
IP address (esp-link shuts down its AP after 15 seconds)
The yellow "ser" LED will blink briefly every time serial data is sent or received by the esp-link.
Wifi configuration details
--------------------------
After you have serially flashed the module it will create a wifi access point (AP) with an
SSID of the form `ESP_012ABC` where 012ABC is a piece of the module's MAC address.
Using a laptop, phone, or tablet connect to this SSID and then open a browser pointed at
http://192.168.4.1/, you should then see the esp-link web site.
Now configure the wifi. The desired configuration is for the esp-link to be a
station on your local wifi network so you can communicate with it from all your computers.
To make this happen, navigate to the wifi page and you should see the esp-link scan
for available networks. You should then see a list of detected networks on the web page and you
can select yours.
Enter a password if your network is secure (highly recommended...) and hit the connect button.
You should now see that the esp-link has connected to your network and it should show you
its IP address. _Write it down_. You will then have to switch your laptop, phone, or tablet
back to your network and then you can connect to the esp-link's IP address or, depending on your
network's DHCP/DNS config you may be able to go to http://esp-link.local
At this point the esp-link will have switched to STA mode and be just a station on your
wifi network. These settings are stored in flash and thereby remembered through resets and
power cycles. They are also remembered when you flash new firmware. Only flashing `blank.bin`
via the serial port as indicated above will reset the wifi settings.
There is a fail-safe, which is that after a reset or a configuration change, if the esp-link
cannot connect to your network it will revert back to AP+STA mode after 15 seconds and thus
both present its `ESP_012ABC`-style network and continue trying to reconnect to the requested network.
You can then connect to the esp-link's AP and reconfigure the station part.
One open issue (#28) is that esp-link cannot always display the IP address it is getting to the browser
used to configure the ssid/password info. The problem is that the initial STA+AP mode may use
channel 1 and you configure it to connect to an AP on channel 6. This requires the ESP8266's AP
to also switch to channel 6 disconnecting you in the meantime.
Troubleshooting
---------------
- verify that you have sufficient power, borderline power can cause the esp module to seemingly
function until it tries to transmit and the power rail collapses
- check the "conn" LED to see which mode esp-link is in (see LED info above)
- reset or power-cycle the esp-link to force it to become an access-point if it can't
connect to your network within 15-20 seconds
- if the LED says that esp-link is on your network but you can't get to it, make sure your
laptop is on the same network (and no longer on the esp's network)
- if you do not know the esp-link's IP address on your network, try `esp-link.local`, try to find
the lease in your DHCP server; if all fails, you may have to turn off your access point (or walk
far enough away) and reset/power-cycle esp-link, it will then fail to connect and start its
own AP after 15-20 seconds
Building the firmware
---------------------
The firmware has been built using the [esp-open-sdk](https://github.com/pfalcon/esp-open-sdk)
on a Linux system. Create an esp8266 directory, install the esp-open-sdk into a sub-directory.
Download the Espressif SDK (use the version mentioned in the release notes) from their
[download forum](http://bbs.espressif.com/viewforum.php?f=5) and also expand it into a
sub-directory. Then clone the esp-link repository into a third sub-directory.
This way the relative paths in the Makefile will work.
If you choose a different directory structure look at the Makefile for the appropriate environment
variables to define.
In order to OTA-update the esp8266 you should `export ESP_HOSTNAME=...` with the hostname or
IP address of your module.
Now, build the code: `make` in the top-level of esp-link.
A few notes from others (I can't fully verify these):
- You may need to install `zlib1g-dev` and `python-serial`
- Make sure you have the correct version of the esp_iot_sdk
- Make sure the paths at the beginning of the makefile are correct
- Make sure `esp-open-sdk/xtensa-lx106-elf/bin` is in the PATH set in the Makefile
Flashing the firmware
---------------------
This firmware supports over-the-air (OTA) flashing, so you do not have to deal with serial
flashing again after the initial one! The recommended way to flash is to use `make wiflash`
if you are also building the firmware.
If you are downloading firmware binaries use `./wiflash`.
`make wiflash` assumes that you set `ESP_HOSTNAME` to the hostname or IP address of your esp-link.
You can easily do that using something like `ESP_HOSTNAME=192.168.1.5 make wiflash`.
The flashing, restart, and re-associating with your wireless network takes about 15 seconds
and is fully automatic. The 512KB flash are divided into two 236KB partitions allowing for new
code to be uploaded into one partition while running from the other. This is the official
OTA upgrade method supported by the SDK, except that the firmware is POSTed to the module
using curl as opposed to having the module download it from a cloud server.
If you are downloading the binary versions of the firmware (links forthcoming) you need to have
both `user1.bin` and `user2.bin` handy and run `wiflash.sh <esp-hostname> user1.bin user2.bin`.
This will query the esp-link for which file it needs, upload the file, and then reconnect to
ensure all is well.
Note that when you flash the firmware the wifi settings are all preserved so the esp-link should
reconnect to your network within a few seconds and the whole flashing process should take 15-30
from beginning to end. If you need to clear the wifi settings you need to reflash the `blank.bin`
using the serial port.
The flash configuration and the OTA upgrade process is described in more detail in [FLASH.md](FLASH.md)
Serial bridge and connections to Arduino, AVR, ARM, LPC microcontrollers
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In order to connect through the esp-link to a microcontroller use port 23. For example,
on linux you can use `nc esp-hostname 23` or `telnet esp-hostname 23`.
You can reprogram an Arduino / AVR microcontroller by pointing avrdude at port 23. Instead of
specifying a serial port of the form /dev/ttyUSB0 use `net:esp-link:23` with avrdude's -P option
(where `esp-link` is either the hostname of your esp-link or its IP address).
The esp-link detects that avrdude starts its connection with a flash synchronization sequence
and sends a reset to the AVR microcontroller so it can switch into flash programming mode.
You can reprogram NXP's LPC800-series and many other ARM processors as well by pointing your
programmer similarly at the esp-link's port 23. For example, if you are using
https://github.com/jeelabs/embello/tree/master/tools/uploader a command line like
`uploader -t -s -w esp-link:23 build/firmware.bin` does the trick.
The way it works is that the uploader uses telnet protocol escape sequences in order to
make esp-link issue the appropriate "ISP" and reset sequence to the microcontroller to start the
flash programming. If you use a different ARM programming tool it will work as well as long as
it starts the connection with the `?\r\n` synchronization sequence.
Note that multiple connections to port 23 can be made simultaneously. The esp-link will
intermix characters received on all these connections onto the serial TX and it will
broadcast incoming characters from the serial RX to all connections. Use with caution!
Debug log
---------
The esp-link web UI can display the esp-link debug log (os_printf statements in the code). This
is handy but sometimes not sufficient. Esp-link also prints the debug info to the UART where
it is sometimes more convenient and sometimes less... For this reason three UART debug log
modes are supported that can be set in the web UI (and the mode is saved in flash):
- auto: the UART log starts enabled at boot and disables itself when esp-link associates with
an AP. It re-enables itself if the association is lost.
- off: the UART log is always off
- on: the UART log is always on
Note that even if the UART log is always off the bootloader prints to uart0 whenever the
esp8266 comes out of reset. This cannot be disabled.
Outbound TCP connections
------------------------
The attached micro-controller can open outbound TCP connections using a simple
[serial protocol](https://gist.github.com/tve/a46c44bf1f6b42bc572e).
More info and sample code forthcoming...
Contact
-------
If you find problems with esp-link, please create a github issue. If you have a question, please
use the gitter link at the top of this page.