Project Virtual Machine

Vagrant file to build a virtual machine that can compile, test and load all Projet required firmware.

Many thanks to the contributors of ESP open SDK & MicroPython for making their excellent software available!

Dependencies

You must have the following software installed:

• VirtualBox
• VirtualBoxExtensionPack
• Vagrant

Usage

Clone this repository and navigate to it in a command terminal, then run the following command to bring the Vagrant virtual machine up and provision it for compiling the tools:

vagrant up

After the virtual machine is brought up and provisioned use the following command to enter an SSH session on it:

vagrant ssh

Once inside the virtual machine you will see two git repositories that have already been cloned:

• esp-open-sdk - This is an SDK to compile code for the ESP8266's processor.

• micropython - This is the MicroPython SDK which allows running embedded Python code on an ESP8266.

• automator - This is the automation suite to build, validate and load Project firmware

• esptool - This python script flashes ESP8266 ASIC with custom image.

• and many others very important and useful tools, like ampy, pyserial, etc

Project Compilation

You will want to first compile the ESP open SDK and MicroPython into single combined binary. Please use automator for this:

cd ~/automator
python automator build micropython

Compilation will take about 30 minutes to an hour or more depending on the speed of your machine.

Connect NodeMCU to VM

To connect NodeMCU to your VM you need to update Vagrantfile with USB vendorId and producerId. Go to host machine terminal and run:

VBoxManage list usbhost

Now attach NodeMCU to USB port, wait for 5-10 seconds and run:

VBoxManage list usbhost

Find new USB connection and update Vagrantfile with new device vendorId and producerId. This will look like:

$vendor_id  = '0x10c4'
$product_id = '0xea60'

Now, update VM with new board Id's:

vagrant provision
vagrant ssh

Check if /dev/ttyUSB0 device is present.

Flashing ESP8266 Firmware

To flash the MicroPython firmware to the ESP8266 you can use the same automator tool:

cd ~/automator
python automator load micropython

Vagrant Tips

vagrant up - bring-up the machine
vagrant ssh - ssh into the machine
vagrant provision - runs the provisioning script.
vagrant halt - shuts down the machine
vagrant destroy - removes every trace of the machine, deletes it.