Friends don't let friends use Arduinos. Please use a Wemos D1 Mini, which costs $3, has WiFi, runs your Arduino code almost unmodified, and is amazing.
And for those who dont know ESP32 came out erlier this year and has much better specs, power consumption, Bluetooth, etc. You'll want that.
The wemos has a programmer on it, a USB port, etc. It is based on the ESP, but it is a lot more than just an ESP.
I generally find it better to recommend one thing to new people than to inundate them with options that they can't differentiate between and that, ultimately, won't matter to them. If you don't know what you want to get, what service am I doing you by showing you many different options that are more or less the same, and which you don't know enough to choose between?
http://frightanic.com/iot/comparison-of-esp8266-nodemcu-deve...
wemos has a smaller form factor, but lacks breakout, has the ch34 and is headless so maybe not suitable for beginners like i think of the nodemcu.
edit: also I'd like to add that the nodemcu and sparkfun thing already have a esp32 upgrade available where the wemos has not.
But hey, just my opinion.
You'll want one of the boards listed on this webpage: http://esp32.net
$3 or $15 really doesn't matter here.
It's actually the ESP8266 chip inside that you're after. It runs Arduino code, although you must tell your IDE you're targeting an ESP8266 (it has special libraries for wifi use, etc...).
ESP8266's come on many boards, including the bare-boned ESP-01 [1], which is even cheaper at $1.53 per each.
The only problem with ESP8266's, is they are very power hungry, requiring 500mA-1A for doing wifi related things. Although, when not using WiFi, you can shut down the antenna and save on power consumption.
[1] https://www.aliexpress.com/item/ESP8266-Serial-Esp-01-WIFI-W...
Most documentation I've seen seems to state a typical max draw of <250mA (for instance, http://bbs.espressif.com/viewtopic.php?t=133) -- I guess there will be some spikes, but I was never aware of anything approaching 1A.
Anecdotally, I've experienced reliability issues when running off 500mA, but that could just be my setup + accessories.
It's funny how it works - last time I went down the rabbit hole on the tail end of a late night session, everything pointed at 1A being considered "safe", and anything lower was "iffy".
If you put the chip into any of the Deep Sleep modes, power consumption goes way down to just a few mA's, making battery operation much easier.
There are several spikes approaching 500mA - and you might see even higher current consumption if you're further from your wifi AP, or if you have extra components, a different voltage regulator, or different capacitors.
Many beginners only have a basic multimeter (if that) so they might have a hard time diagnosing problems caused by spikes in current consumption. So I think it's good for beginners to get at least a 500mA power supply, even though the average on state current consumption only hovers around 70mA.
No, it isn't, just like most arduino users aren't actually "after" the Atmega328p.
Every one of the boards we're discussing has an ESP8266... the specific board itself doesn't matter really. You found the chip you need, now you just find the board that has the features you want.
In the case of the arduino, there's a plethora of microcontrollers they can have, ATmega328p being only one of them.
The microcontroller on the arduino dictates it's maximum capabilities - for example, ATmega328p only has one set of hardware serial TX/RX pins, whereas the ATmega2560 has two sets.
In the case of boards/modules built using the ESP8266, the board/module dictates the maximum capabilities. It either exposes GPIO ports or it does not, some boards build in power regulators or battery connectors, or other nice-to-have-features that do not exist in the ESP8266 chip itself. It's the same chip under the hood.
So, yes, in this case, it is indeed the ESP8266 chip you're after.
No, it isn't. You're after a chip with wifi, that you can program using the arduino IDE, that has a programmer on it, and that has the pins broken out.
The thing people want here is the Atmos D1, which uses a ESP8266 to cover some of those wants, and itself to cover more of them.
When I am buying, for instance, a bean (basically an arduino variant with a BLE radio on it), I am not buying an AVR.
Bluntly: I spend about 100% of my time working from a hackerspace, and a good chunk of that time is spent teaching people to program microcontrollers. The D1 is by far the best ESP8266-based board I have seen so far. THAT is the thing that people have been wanting, the ESP part of it is irrelevant to people. They want something that does the things I outlined. The ESP just happens to do half of them. If tomorrow, wemos swapped that chip out for an identical one, people would STILL want the D1, and wouldn't be missing the ESP at all.
> You're after a chip with wifi, that you can program using the arduino IDE, that has a programmer on it, and that has the pins broken out.
That would be an ESP8266... no? The ESP8266 is everything you just listed as a requirement - it literally checks every box you laid out. Now you just pick a board in the form factor you need for your project, and has any additional features you need/want.
> The D1 is by far the best ESP8266-based board I have seen so far.
You just said it again right there. The D1 just happens to be the packaging the ESP8266 is wrapped in.
> When I am buying, for instance, a bean (basically an arduino variant with a BLE radio on it), I am not buying an AVR
Except that you are! The bean is powered by an ATMega! The 328p to be exact!
> If tomorrow, wemos swapped that chip out for an identical one, people would STILL want the D1
Probably not, since any other chip is unlikely to have as much community support and integrate so seamlessly into existing arduino IDE's.
People don't want a wemos or D1, most people don't even know they exist! People want an arduino with wifi that doesn't cost $99 and isn't in a clunky shield form factor. They get that with an ESP8266 wrapped up in one of the hundred different board options, of which, the D1 is but one.
Heck, you can even get an ESP-01 (ESP8266 chip with only basic functionality exposed) for less than $2, and add wifi to an Arduino Uno, or any other device with serial capability.
> Bluntly: I spend about 100% of my time working from a hackerspace, and a good chunk of that time is spent teaching people to program microcontrollers
Perhaps you should spend some time teaching people about what they are really working with. They don't need an arduino to build their project, they need a microcontroller, and the ATmega328p happens to be very cheap, easy, and accessible for even complete beginners. You're kind of doing people a disservice by leaving the arduino as a magic black box.
Oh FFS.
Look, if you give the overwhelming majority of people this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/5pcs-lot-ESP8266-Wifi-Chip-w...
They aren't going to make anything.
If you give them this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1PCS-ESP-12F-ESP-12E-upgrade...
They are going to have a bad day because it doesn't have a programmer built onto it.
If you give somebody this:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/WEMOS-D1-mini-Pro-16M-bytes-...
They are going to install the arduino IDE, hook it to a USB cable, and make something.
Are you technically pedantically and absolutely pointlessly correct that the ESP8266 chip is the important part of this to SOME people? Yes. But the people who are taking a bare chip in a freaking QFN package and building something around it, who have the equipment to mount it to a board, are not reading "$20 DIY cat feeder" articles, nor would they be in any way confused by somebody telling somebody to buy a prototyping board in an arduino-form-factor.
Your "point" here is one that is completely irrelevant to anybody who would be reading it.
The ESP8266 is in every ESP8266 based board. Your favorite ESP8266 based board just happens to be the D1 that comes with extra bells and whistles, such as a USB port.
The point I originally made, that apparently started your tirade, was that the ESP8266 is the common chip that provides the capability people are looking for.
They don't need to buy a D1 to get that capability, they can buy _ANY_ board with an ESP8266 inside! So long as it has an ESP8266 inside, they get the community support, IDE support, and WiFi support. If they want/need it, they can also get GPIO and directly program the ESP8266 inside, but that is _NOT_ required. You can plug any ESP8266-based board into another microcontroller and get WiFi connectivity through the serial pins.
You've found the chip - now you just find the board. How do you not understand that?
With that said, I feel this could go on forever... so... we're done.
Not once has someone asked me "what are various boards I can use if I want to program the ESP8266?". Literally zero times have I met someone who would know what to pick between all the different options and didn't know the term to search for on eBay.
Wouldn't recommend it is a straight replacement, though, since it uses 3v logic, instead of 5v. A lot of stuff wants to see 5v, so you'd need a logic level shifter to use the wemos stuff as a drop in replacement for the arduino.
Only one analog pin, also.
With the ESP8266 chip, you have a lot of board options!
[1] https://www.losant.com/blog/top-6-esp8266-modules
[2] https://openhomeautomation.net/choose-esp8266-module/
[3] http://www.esp8266.com/wiki/doku.php?id=esp8266-module-famil...
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/D1-mini-Mini-NodeMcu-4M-byte...