Newbie Wifi Skin Question (Pyboard lite)

[Dezert]

Wifi Skin for Pyboard: http://www.tinyosshop.com/wifi-skin-for-pyboard

So I have a pyboard lite and I was wondering if my board would work with this skin? Also I'm a little confused how it connects as I would like to use it in conjunction with a few servos and a BME280.

[Roberthh]

It connects to a UART. But instead this one, you can use any ESP8266 module. The only advantage of this module is, that it stacks nice with the Pyboard.

[Dezert]

[quote=Roberthh post_id=32987 time=1546180405 user_id=601]
It connects to a UART. But instead this one, you can use any ESP8266 module. The only advantage of this module is, that it stacks nice with the Pyboard.
[/quote]

Thanks very much! I think I will go for that skin since it has everything preloaded so it's just a case of 'plug-in and play'.

[a.sarfraz]

How did this pyboard wifi skin work for you? Can you program a pyboard over wifi using one of these?
I'm looking to buy one for my pyboard v1.1.

I have purchased a small race car chassis with servos to drive and turn the wheels. My goal is to program the pyboard over wifi to control the servos.

Thanks in advance for any info that you may have for me.

[jimmo]

How did this pyboard wifi skin work for you?

I have not used this skin, but it's functionally equivalent to connecting any ESP8266 module to a pyboard, which I have done.

Can you program a pyboard over wifi using one of these?

If by "program" you mean "change the python code on the pyboard (e.g. update main.py)" you're going to have to implement that yourself. i.e. some sort of command that the pyboard code uses to overwrite main.py.
But if you just mean more generally, send commands over WiFi, then yep, absolutely.

The ESP8266 isn't the easiest thing to use because its default firmware has this rather annoying AT command set (like an old modem).
Here's a random thread discussing this:
viewtopic.php?t=551

You might actually find it easier to flash MicroPython onto the ESP2866, write a simple program for the ESP8266 to do the WiFi bits and send simple commands to your pyboard (exactly as Damien suggests in that thread). You'll need a way to flash and then program the ESP8266 on the skin (an USB FTDI adaptor with esptool.py for example).

If this is your first experience with the ESP8266, you might want to consider instead grabbing an all-in-one ESP8266 board with USB built-in. e.g. https://www.adafruit.com/product/2821 You'll have to wire it up, rather than the convenience of the pyboard skin, but it's a much easier way to get started.

[jimmo]

Thanks in advance for any info that you may have for me.

You might actually find it easier to flash MicroPython onto the ESP2866, write a simple program for the ESP8266 to do the WiFi bits and send simple commands to your pyboard (exactly as Damien suggests in that thread). You'll need a way to flash and then program the ESP8266 on the skin (an USB FTDI adaptor with esptool.py for example).

You might find this exact library from @pythoncoder quite useful!
https://github.com/peterhinch/micropyth ... he-pyboard