Playing with a NodeMCU /8266 Debugging

Playing with a NodeMCU /8266 Debugging

For a deeper dive into the tools, I wanted to play with the NodeMCU /LUA environment (3) , while debugging a NodeMCU that I could not seem to get to take the arduino 8266 code.

The Arduino programming of 8266 was an extension of something I already was familiar with, but this one chip would not take a program through that method.

 I decided to look into the native code that comes from the factor, which is Based on NodeMCU.  I searched and found a tool called ESPlorer, but it was made in Russia.   At first I was a bit apprehensive, but then I found I could get the source code, meaning I could look at the code, and then setup from that which made me happy.

With this tool and a bit of learning from a couple of my favorite sites(1, 4), I was able to launch and run the code, and to get a response from the “wayward” chip.

I found a init.lua file that after inserting my SSD and passphrase, I was able to get it uploaded and executed:

=========================================================

–init.lua

wifi.setmode(wifi.STATION)

wifi.sta.config(“my-ssid”,”my-passphrase”)

wifi.sta.connect()

tmr.alarm(1, 1000, 1, function()

    if wifi.sta.getip() == nil then

        print(“IP unavaiable, Waiting…”)

    else

        tmr.stop(1)

        print(“ESP8266 mode is: ” .. wifi.getmode())

        print(“The module MAC address is: ” .. wifi.ap.getmac())

        print(“Config done, IP is “..wifi.sta.getip())

    end

end)

========================================================

Next I got a small webserver code to run:

srv=net.createServer(net.TCP)

srv:listen(80,function(conn)

    conn:on(“receive”,function(conn,payload)

    print(payload)

    conn:send(“<h1> ESP8266<BR>Server is working!</h1>”)

    conn:close()

    end)

end)

========================================================

ESPlorer interface as I execute the two code snippets::

Web Page output:

I hope to update this NodeMCU so that I can program it just as I did the earlier units, but this was a fun learning experience!

The ESPlorer user interface (in java)

(1) http://randomnerdtutorials.com/esp8266-web-server/

(2) https://esp8266.ru/esplorer/

(3) https://nodemcu.readthedocs.io/en/master/en/flash/

(4) https://benlo.com/esp8266/esp8266QuickStart.html