ESP8266 Community Forum

- Thu Jan 05, 2017 9:00 am #60466

I send donation every new milestone, there is need of founding ?
Why igrr start working esp32?
Is about an year from presentation and only 10-20 seller on aliexpress (against thousand of esp8266),
esp32 semms a failing platform from my point of view.

RESPECTFULLY

This happens to almost all new Arduino cores ... from the old "tiny" t85 to the 1284 to STM32duino to ESP8266 ... the story is the same, "life gets in the way."

- alternate cores are not a business
- the first round of "fixes" go quickly because they are primarily human error
- stubborn fixes take longer because the framework is more rigid
- enhancements often do not get implemented
- new silicon is more fun

I have no insight into igrr's ESP32 efforts, but I suspect he is being paid this time around. The ESP8266 + Arduino implementation is a HACK: a good hack, but a hack just the same. NON-OS has too many limitations and causes lots of issues with Arduino coding/libraries.

The ESP32 is a multi-core architecture, so the RF and Arduino 'sides' can run simultaneously ... this is BIG. Once the ESP32 silicon is commonly available, an Arduino core for that microcontroller will completely displace the ESP8266/Arduino implementation - In My Opinion.

I use the ESP8266 for lots of non-WiFi things because they are very cheapand the WiFi can be disabled.

Looks like the ESP32 + Arduino core is going strong ...
https://github.com/espressif/arduino-esp32
and activity on the new forum is increasing...
http://esp32.com/viewforum.php?f=19

Will igrr come back and pick up with the ESP8266?
I do not have a crystal ball, but I did use my Arduino 8 Ball Project and the answer is:
Reply Hazy ... Try Again

My guess is maybe ... but I'm not going to hold my breath. Time to buy an ESP32 board and take a run with the new ArduinoIDE core.


Ray

- Thu Jan 05, 2017 10:13 am #60474 Yes ! Many of the early gurus of ESP8266 are now Espressif paid employees working hard to deliver solution for ESP32, from what I know, in the case of Sprite and IGrr, it been since more than a year, Me-No-Dev and Angus joint them later.
That doesn't mean ESP8266 is dead, they will come back when they will get some more free time.
Even Me-No-Dev somehow announced that he will take care of merging the more important pending PRs during the following weeks.

- Thu Jan 05, 2017 3:02 pm #60494 The Arduino Due or YUN did not kill off the Arduino, the price space is very different, a dorbell or lighting controller with "All the Bells and Whistles" can be created for Less than $5 from the ESP8266 and it also has a Large target market.
As stated the "Priorities" for the time being are focused on the ESP32, these are probably dictated by the "Sales Team" and Espressif will hopefully free some resource when the launch is complete to their satisfaction.........

- Thu Jan 05, 2017 5:54 pm #60505 unfortunately this lets assume that espressif is not showing any effort to get sdk for esp8266 finalized.

for example: it is stated and widely accepted that gpio16 needs to be connected to rst for timer-wakeup from deepsleep --> giving the intention that timer-activated gpio16 triggers wakeup via rst

BUT that isn't true. esp8266 wakes up via timer from deepsleep by internal means when no connection gpio16-rst is made BUT 1st stage bootloader doesn't seem to know what to do with this state.

So they need to fake a reset and have 2nd stage bootloader sort out things for higher level OS...

This proves to me that esp8266 is not a finished product and - with esp32 dawning - will never be.

So: for the price it is definitely an Atmel-Arduino killer on some aspects (more speed, more memory) but other hw-shortcomings (halfhearted A/D, no hw pwm, spi clock wonky) and constant flakey wifi performance (nerver mind ipv6) calls for a successor to survive on the market. Thes esp8266 was a "mock-up" to disturb the market (proof-of-concept) with the real product to follow.
I wouldn't be surprised if soon after successful launch of esp32, esp8266 will be withdrawn ...

just my 2¢