A Mutable Log
A blog by Devendra Tewari
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Getting Started with the ESP-03
The ESP-03 is a very affordable Wi-Fi module built around the ESP8266EX chip by Espressif. The ESP8266 has become very popular among makers who want to add wireless smarts to things at home and work.
The ESP-03 has two useful modes of operation that can be initiated by controlling its GPIO pins - normal mode and flash mode.
Normal mode wiring is show in the figure below. ESP-03 shown here is powered using SparkFun’s FTDI Basic Breakout - 3.3V - USB to serial module.
In this mode, ESP-03 executes firmware programmed to the SPI Flash. SPI Flash is an external NOR Flash chip where program instructions are stored, and retrieved during execution.
The ESP-03 has a 4 Mbit 25Q40BT part which allows for 512 KB of program space. Of that, about 423 KB is available for your own programs.
In flash mode, new program instructions can be flashed to SPI Flash, using tools such as the ESP Flash Download Tool. The wiring is similar to that for normal mode, with the addition of GPIO0 connected to GND.
ESP8266 can be programmed using an SDK distributed by Espressif. Popular embedded development platforms such as the Arduino IDE, MicroPython, and Lua can also be used.
Adafruit provides instructions for configuring the Arduino IDE for ESP8266 development. Here’s the settings I use with the Arduino IDE—under Tools menu.
Try the example project under File, Examples, ESP8266WiFi. With it, you’ll be controlling a GPIO pin on the ESP-03, over your Wi-Fi network, in no time at all.
