The top side of the ESP-01 module hosting an ESP8266 Wi-Fi chip. The module that put the ESP8266 on the map in 2014 is the ESP-01, pictured next, where you can see the ESP8266 chip, flash RAM chip, and built-in Wi-Fi antenna. The biggest differences are the number of pins exposed, flash RAM sizes for program storage, and form factors. Keep this voltage difference in mind when extending your existing Arduino knowledge and projects to the ESP8266 to prevent magic smoke.Īlthough the chip is the same, many open hardware manufacturers have developed a dizzying array of modules and boards with unique features, so choose wisely. Another big difference is that the ESP8266 has an operating voltage of 3.3 volts while most Arduinos have an operating voltage of 5 volts. These specifications are quite impressive when compared to an Arduino UNO, which runs at 16MHz, only has 2KB of SRAM, 32KB of flash, 1KB of EEPROM, and is several times more expensive. Its clock runs by default at 80MHz, and it has 64KB of instruction RAM, 96KB of data RAM, and supports up to 16MB of external flash.
What is the ESP8266 exactly? The ESP8266 is a 32-bit RISC CPU made by Espressif Systems. Being a low-cost Wi-Fi-enabler of microcontrollers and a microcontroller itself, the ESP8266 quickly became the floor wax and dessert topping of those makers in the know. The community soon added ESP8266 support to the Arduino IDE, making the ESP8266 as easy to program as an Arduino. As they collaborated more and more, they realized that the ESP8266 could serve as a standalone microcontroller, without the need of an Arduino fast forward every couple of months.
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Thanks to its low cost ($2) and a vibrant community that loves a good challenge, makers quickly figured out how to use the ESP8266 to Wi-Fi-enable their Arduinos.
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When the ESP8266 Wi-Fi chip came onto the market in 2014 with almost no English-language documentation, the maker community was intrigued but didn't completely understand its full potential. When it comes to IoT devices and security, simpler is better, so you can spend more time making and less time patching what you already made. Not only does the Raspberry Pi potentially drive up the costs, complexity, and power consumption of your project, but it is running a full operating system that needs to be patched, and it has a much larger attack surface than a simple microcontroller. The Raspberry Pi is a solid choice in many IoT use cases, but it is often overkill when all you really want to do is read a sensor and send the reading up to a server in the cloud. In addition to complexity, both approaches add cost and consume the already-precious Arduino flash RAM for program space, which limits what you can do.Īnother approach is to use a Raspberry Pi or similar single-board computer that runs a full-blown operating system like Linux.
Base Arduino microcontrollers don't have Internet connectivity by default, so you either need to add Ethernet, Wi-Fi shields, or adapters to them, or buy an Arduino that has built-in Internet connectivity. To get started with IoT (the Internet of Things), your device needs, well, an Internet connection.