UDE

It stands for uPython Development Environment. It utilizes existing tools from other repositories, adds some more files to make developing software for ESP8266 in python relatively painless.

This repository was created for a presentation "Python on ESP8266" at Python meetup group in Innsbruck/Austria on 6th of November 2018.

Getting started

Preparing environment

First of all download all submodules:

git submodule --init --recursive

This will fetch:

• esptool which is needed for flashing firmware,
• micropython which contains pyboard.py used for running code on the hardware, mpy-cross compiler, and of course the whole source code if you would like to build your own firmware (for example with some more libraries)
• esp-open-sdk - this is cross compiler - needed only if you want to build own firmware versions
• micropython-lib, micropython-dflib - libraries that could be used for either copying them to the board or using them for freezing them in a firmware
• mpfshell - a tool for handling the file system of the hardware (upload, download files, etc.)

Run

./bin/mpfshell.sh

and follow instructions to install virtual environment.

Optional:

Go to micropython/mpy-cross and run make - to get mpy-cross compiler (needed only if you want to precompile python code).

Add bin to your PATH.

Preparing hardware

Download the firmware from [http://micropython.org/download#esp8266].

Use esptool.py to flash it (I assume you have the device connected at /dev/ttyUSB0)

esptool.py --port /dev/ttyUSB0 --baud 460800 write_flash --flash_size=detect 0 <firmare.bin>

In src directory call upload.sh. It will use mpfshell to copy files to the board.

Development

Write your code in a file and save it. To run your code on the hardware use:

pyboard.sh <file>

Notice the use of pyboard.sh instead of pyboard.py - the shell version is just a wrapper which uses /dev/ttyUSB0 as default.

If you are happy with result you can use mpfshell to upload it to the hardware - either under own name or rename it to main.py and then it will get executed automatically at boot time.

The best way to explore the board is to experiment with it on its python console, you can access via usb: picocom -b 115200 /dev/ttyUSB0

MicroPython v1.9.4-674-g27ca9ab8b on 2018-10-24; ESP module with ESP8266
Type "help()" for more information.
>>>

help() will be a good start.

help('modules') shows you all modules which are frozen in the firmware, i.e. they are available to you, but they are precompiled into the firmware and not visible as files. They work faster and don't use precious RAM. If you want some module be frozen you need to build your own firmware. It is described in details here: [https://docs.micropython.org/en/latest/reference/packages.html#cross-installing-packages-with-freezing]

Temporarily you can install needed libraries using upip using the console:

import upip
upip.install('micropython-pystone_lowmem')

The files will be dropped in /lib and can be imported and used as usual:

>> import pystone_lowmem
>>> pystone_lowmem.main()
Pystone(1.2) time for 500 passes = 1159ms
This machine benchmarks at 431 pystones/second