A new guide in the Adafruit Learning System – Adding a WiFi Co-Processor to CircuitPython!

This guide will show you how to connect your CircuitPython board to the Internet, by using an ESP8266 or ESP32 as the ‘Wireless modem’ – we’ll even show you how to upload the required AT command firmware to the chip, all from your CircuitPython board

Use a chip with integrated WiFi such as the ESP8266 or ESP32

The all-in-one chips are powerful and low cost, but have some drawbacks. The ESP8266 has very few GPIO pins, and they are limited in functionality – for example only one ADC and it’s not easy to use. A RTOS also takes up a lot of processor time, and makes real-time control difficult for some things like NeoPixels. The ESP32 solves a lot of these issues but doesn’t have the native USB we require for a good CircuitPython experience.

Using an ESP8266 or ESP32 as a ‘Wireless Co-processor’ gets us:

A main chip like a SAMD21 or SAMD51 with USB, peripherals, pins, and timers
Wireless handling by a separate chip, so we don’t have to run the WiFi stack natively – saves a lot of FLASH/RAM space
Re-programmable co-processor.

See this guide today! And check out the video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGSJ5RlCE3U