[TriEmbed] ESP8266 Programming tip

[John Vaughters]

Pete,

There is a debug port on the board for sure, not sure if it qualifies as JTAG. I've never actually used a debugger on a micro-processor, only on regular desktop/server programming. I never invested the time or money to get that up to speed. I will say it dumps a bunch of hex code to the serial port when it crashes and I did not really look at that either. The reason being that I never ran into a limitation that prevented my pragmatic application results and I'm more interested in the end result than the finer details. I just hack until I get it to work. Same goes for oscilloscopes and electronics, I just use basic concepts and practices and usually get it to work. However, I definitely want to gear up with oscilloscopes and logic analyzers one day. But until I have the time to play, no need in putting out the dough for it to sit on the shelf. This attitude is from experience of too many things sitting on the shelf.

There are two timers on the board, but one is used for wifi. The other one is available, and I might be able to use that with better results, but the Ticker library does magic in the background and appears to act like a simple task scheduler. So in the code it appears you are setting tasks, but behind the scenes I have not investigated what it is actually doing. For sure if you use the single timer you are limited to one task or a tight management of tasks on that timer. I'm not quite sure because I did not go that route, I am just parroting my perception of what I read. So I opted for the code appearance of tasking through the Ticker library to make my code more readable. It seems to work great so far and I am close to being done with my wifi modbus device. The next application will be a very simple wifi serial to tcp converter to be able to use with micro-processors that have no network connections. This will allow modbus over TCP via serial conversion. You get the sense I like modbus? `,~) What I found so far is that the serial to tcp application is already solved and out there in multiple forms, so I just need to pick one and give it a go. 

I never really exposed my end applications; it is for my home SCADA system that monitors energy use for the goal of reducing energy while remaining comfortable. Basically, I am trying to use technology to "Stick it to the Man" `,~) Oh and have fun learning along the way. I'm pretty sure on just the electric controls implemented on the hot water heater alone I have saved enough to pay for my electronics. So anything above that is pay dirt. 

For Robotics, I am really liking the ESP32 combined with some nano arduinos as specialized processors. Top priority being a weed eater head remote controlled lawnmower to minimize allergen exposure. And for the record that has been on the task list for years and I wouldn't be surprised if it waits years longer, but hey the technology keeps making the idea easier as time flies by.

Dreams are good, jobs are better! `,~)

Bottom line is I am loving the ESP line of products.

John Vaughters






On Tuesday, January 26, 2021, 10:20:04 AM EST, Pete Soper via TriEmbed <triembed at triembed.org> wrote: 





Does ESP-12E support JTAG debugging? It might be interesting to figure 
out what the crash is about (maybe there isn't actually a task scheduler 
present and if you don't "yield" back you've violated the API 
contract?). But you've stuck with the pragmatic approach, John. Thanks 
for the tip.

Getting  SparkFun "Micromod" boards with ESP32 and ESP8266 (no idea what 
flavors) and the "All the Pins" carrier board today. But these go on the 
shelf as I wait for the RP2040 Micromod board, and my stack is pushed 
anyway. Particle Land, here I come. :-)

-Pete

On 1/26/21 10:03 AM, John Vaughters via TriEmbed wrote:
> In my playing around with the ESP-12e's that I have, I found something that may save someone some time. Using the Ticker library to schedule a task, I quickly found out that the task better be quick or it will crash the program. To define quick, my task was maybe 25ms, which was enough to crash the program. To get around this I found on the web a quick tip that made alot of sense. Just use the Ticker task to flip a bool and then have an if statement run the task and reset the bool.
>
> It's not what I consider a great programming technique, but I consider it a valid workaround on the limitation. And it still beats running the task on every loop cycle.
>
> I am certainly open to other suggestions, but it works quite well and I will be sticking with it for now.
>
> John Vaughters

>
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