ESP8266 Community Forum

I'm likely the newest newb here on the board, having just registered today.

I found this forum via Google while searching for fun projects to build using the ESP8266, a new-to-me module that I have fallen in absolute love with. So fun to work with, so much potential!

That is my Hello. Now to my question: I have done a search through the threads here and have not found anything on a project that I am interested in building and I am hoping that someone here can help me out by answering questions that I have about it.

The project is a set of Github files that I found for what is described as, "a BBS (Bulletin Board System) program designed to run on Arduino-compatible ESP8266-based boards, specifically the WEMOS D1 Mini."

Here is a link to the Gihub page: https://github.com/snazzware/espbbs

I would very much like to build this project, but I don't feel that I have enough skill and knowledge to do so just with the information that is supplied on the Github page (which is not much more than the code needed, and a description of how the BBS functions once it is up and running.

Has anyone here ever built anything like this? If yes, than I would love to hear from you and maybe pick your brain for how to go about building a fun BBS hosted on the ESP8266 module.

Thank you.

there is not much to it:
if not allready done, install the Arduino IDE (best as mobile version),
install the esp8266 board package
download the "BBS project .ino" and save it as new project....

after selecting the board (most likely NodeMCU V1.0) hit the compile&upload ...

if there are any obstacles on your road to success, feel free to come back and ask.

Thanks for your reply.

Prior to posting over here, I had already done everything that you suggested in your post, and the trouble that I'm having is that, once the sketch is loaded onto the module, what happens next?

The Github project page doesn't say anything about how to actually access the BBS once it is loaded onto the ESP8266 module. And I've tried opening up the IP address where the module is on my local area network, and nothing happens. I also tried using a Telnet session, also without any success.

I was hoping that either someone had already built this project and could talk to me about next steps, or, that they could take a look at the code and see if they could suggest what happens after it is loaded up.

from what I get out of a quick glimpse through the code:
first you should look for an AP named espxxxx..... to log on, goto 192.168.4.1 and config the BBS to connect to your home WiFi.
After a restart the BBS should be accessible via your home WiFi (either fixed IP or get leased from your router) BBS_IP:23 (Telnet)
Most likely you get Info about obtained IP etc via serial monitor (115200 baud) if you keep the NodeMcu connected to your PC for the initial "get to know"
As the project is rather unmaintained and quite old, you may try with some older version of esp8266 arduino core (4.2 or lower) if it doesn't work as expected as a lot (e.g. spiffs no longer in core) has changed since then.