Sharing my enthusiasm too!

[dhouston]

Anand,

You should have followed up on ZBasic for ESP8266. It's compiler so it's better suited for the limited memory of the ESP8266-01. Most of the ~250 commands for the standard version (Atmel chips) of ZBasic are also available for the ESP8266.

For everyone, this is an outstanding reference for the ESP8266.
https://www.espressif.com/en/media_o...s-book-esp8266

[dhouston]

There's a new contender. Basic4Arduino is a free package that appears to also be adding support for the ESP8266.
https://www.b4x.com/b4r.html

[ardhuru]

Anand,
You should have followed up on ZBasic for ESP8266. It's compiler so it's better suited for the limited memory of the ESP8266-01. Most of the ~250 commands for the standard version (Atmel chips) of ZBasic are also available for the ESP8266.

Dave,

These past few months have kept me occupied with other things, so much so that I have been neglecting my hobbies. So, in the gaps in-between when I can sneak some time to indulge in them, I've been reluctant to learn new platforms.

When it comes to the ESP, I've been going around in circles deciding between Lua, Arduino-ESP, and of late ESP8266Basic, which is now much more stable than it used to be. Its also perhaps the fastest to get going, with additional benefits like being completely OTA and more.

And now, just like you report, there's a new contender, B4R! Having been using B4A for some time, this is a serious option to be considered, especially since it also produces code that can be directly flashed into the ESP.

Also, keep checking up on ESP8266Basic; 'big' things are being promised in the next release, with quantum enhancements. This release is expected to be out within a week or so. In terms of usage I guess its the closest to PBP, and the parallels keep increasing, so the learning curve is very short indeed.

What is your preferred platform for the ESP?

[dhouston]

Dave,
What is your preferred platform for the ESP?

At this point it looks like Erel is planning to support it so I'm waiting to see where that goes. I have a project that involves an Arduino Mini Pro plus ESP plus HC-05 Bluetooth and it now looks like I'll be able to support all using B4R.

BTW, this book is an excellent resource for the ESP...
http://neilkolban.com/tech/esp8266/

[ardhuru]

Right, that makes sense.

If your project requires an ESP as well as Bluetooth, you might want to hold on the final design and migrate it to the expected-soon ESP32, which supports Wifi as well as BLE.

I'm wondering, why use an Arduino at all? Do you need more I/Os than what the ESP8266 12E has?

I'd stumbled across Neils book a few days back. Its absolutely amazing, isn't it? Quite an exhaustive resource.

[dhouston]

I'm wondering, why use an Arduino at all? Do you need more I/Os than what the ESP8266 12E has?

It's a DIY project and the Arduino Mini Pro is easier for end users to handle. WiFi & Bluetooth are optional and function only as wireless to serial interfaces. It's actually two projects that can share most of the code - one needs all of the pins on the Arduino. And the Arduino Mini Pro has an onboard 5V LDO allowing more flexibility in providing power.

Finally, I'm 74 and in poor health so I dislike delays.