ESP8266 WiFi Modem Working!

[Shift838]

All,

 

I spent some time (less than an hour) to get the WiFi Modem working with the TI today.

 

I am using a HUZZAH ESP8266 that i purchased for $10

 

HERE

 

A DB9 Male Serial to TTL converter that I purchased for $10

 

HERE

 

made my own cable to hook up between the TI and the DB9.

 

Used open source hardware and firmware. Programmed it with an Console cable i had for my Raspberry Pi.

 

I have connected both to FuSiON BBS and Heatwave at 38.4K with standard AT commands. This thing can easily change baudrate on the fly and will use DNS resolution. Currenly I have it default to 9600, but I can change that easily.

 

Will be doing a full complete writeup on it step by step for all to follow if they like.

 

I will be testing it via the uberGROM hopefully later tonight.

 

Here are some pics of it working...

Edited April 18, 2017 by Shift838

[+acadiel]

That's one I was evaluating for replacing the WiFy on the UberGROM board. Good to know it works... will be ordering one from Sparkfun! BTW, the WiFly is buggy. I ended up having to enable WPA1/TKIP on my router to get to connect, and it still kept losing the AP connection.

[Shift838]

That's one I was evaluating for replacing the WiFy on the UberGROM board. Good to know it works... will be ordering one from Sparkfun! BTW, the WiFly is buggy. I ended up having to enable WPA1/TKIP on my router to get to connect, and it still kept losing the AP connection.

 

so far what minimal testing I have done the ESP8266 HUZZAH board is rock solid. I did not have to enable anything extra on my router. it just works.

 

Need an external power source of course. But what is good about it is it has a 3.3v voltage regulator built on the board. so you can supply it with a usb cable or 5v DC and it will step down for the TTL converter board.

Edited April 18, 2017 by Shift838

[+InsaneMultitasker]

Way to go! PM me if you do not have the UberGROM version with the 4K circular buffer.

[+jedimatt42]

I had something like this running before we had a version of TIMXT that did 38400... So +1 for a writeup that works. I think I lost steam when Stuart's Browser released. It expects to configure a UDS-10... and the Huzzah will have different configuration and dialing commands.

 

This sort of WiFi to Serial device should work well with any Retro computer with a serial port, or serial based dev board. You might consider posting your instructions one floor up.

 

-M@

[Opry99er]

Hey, this is sweeeet!!!!

[Grimakis]

So basically this works as a Wi-Fi Modem that is controlled with Hayes commands?

 

Please provide more info on what software you flashed to it. I would consider making one of these for my Tandy 102 Portable computer to use as a wireless laptop at Starbucks.

[+acadiel]

It opens up raw TCP connections. Since all of this is offloaded to the board, we can easily write assembly programs for web browsing, ftp, tftp, telnet, etc. No TCP overhead.

 

Tim, Tursi, myself and Jim have been working in a private message thread to get TIMXT working with the UberGROM. That was the first PoC step of doing Wifi, RS232, etc. Now, we need to get the supporting utilities written or rewritten to work with whatever board we want to put our efforts behind. Step 3 is likely Jim and I making an UberGROM Serial Edition board that has pin headers for the ESP or whatever boards (including the RS232 ones). Likely it will be a 3.3V regulated board without ROM. However, 32K programs can unroll from GROM thanks to Tursi.

Edited April 21, 2017 by acadiel

[+Ksarul]

It will definitely have to go without the ROM, as I'll be stealing that board space for the WiFi components (and so that everything has a chance of fitting into a cartridge case). This one has been a lot of fun so far. It also gives the possibility of someone writing all of the control software in GPL to make it a true stand-alone console enhancement. WIth David, Rich, and Tursi having some facility with GPL, such a solution may even pique their curiosity enough that one of them (or someone else interested in learning GPL) will eventually want to try that. . .

[Grimakis]

Why do you need serial to TTL, if the board outputs 3.3V?

[+InsaneMultitasker]

It will definitely have to go without the ROM, as I'll be stealing that board space for the WiFi components (and so that everything has a chance of fitting into a cartridge case). This one has been a lot of fun so far. It also gives the possibility of someone writing all of the control software in GPL to make it a true stand-alone console enhancement. WIth David, Rich, and Tursi having some facility with GPL, such a solution may even pique their curiosity enough that one of them (or someone else interested in learning GPL) will eventually want to try that. . .

Not to sound overly optimistic, but the space situation may depend on the wifi device, as there are some fairly small ones out there.

 

Would it be possible to lay out the ubergrom 'cart' onto an expansion board that would piggy-back onto JediMatt's 32K board? I don't know if the FG99 and ubergrom can play together in the same system, but I would think a side board would give some extra room for wifi and/or a max232 chip for a wired connection. (I am also curious about whether the FG99 could be put into a side port form factor though I'm not sure of the benefit).

Edited April 21, 2017 by InsaneMultitasker

[RickyDean]

Not to sound overly optimistic, but the space situation may depend on the wifi device, as there are some fairly small ones out there.

 

Would it be possible to lay out the ubergrom 'cart' onto an expansion board that would piggy-back onto JediMatt's 32K board? I don't know if the FG99 and ubergrom can play together in the same system, but I would think a side board would give some extra room for wifi and/or a max232 chip for a wired connection. (I am also curious about whether the FG99 could be put into a side port form factor though I'm not sure of the benefit).

Maybe a GRIM board- Grom, Ram,Image Machine

[Shift838]

An update.

 

Over the last few days I have been testing this thing pretty hard and ran into an issue that I could not XFER on FuSiON or Heatwave BBS. After some toying around and emailing the developer of the code he made a suggestion about how my UDS was setup for the BBS. In short when the UDS is set to port 23 then it throws itself automatically in TELNET mode for transfers. This was causing a problem where the transfers would start but error out soon after.

 

So i switched it to port 9640, updated my firewall forwarding rule and ensure my disconnect mode was disabling TELNET mode (Setting = 80) and BAM. I can now upload and download on FuSiON.

[+acadiel]

It will definitely have to go without the ROM, as I'll be stealing that board space for the WiFi components (and so that everything has a chance of fitting into a cartridge case). This one has been a lot of fun so far. It also gives the possibility of someone writing all of the control software in GPL to make it a true stand-alone console enhancement. WIth David, Rich, and Tursi having some facility with GPL, such a solution may even pique their curiosity enough that one of them (or someone else interested in learning GPL) will eventually want to try that. . .

 

My thoughts are that we can unroll any 32K stuff with Tursi's cart saver (GROM->32K) as needed, and likely also have GPL stuff in the GROM banks as well. We could also have a couple standard pin headers (one for the ESP solution; 8 pin female) and one right in front of it with four male pins with RX/TX/GND/VCC. So really, the only thing this won't work with is existing carts that need a ROM for something specific (like XB).

[+acadiel]

Why do you need serial to TTL, if the board outputs 3.3V?

 

 

Not quite following you, unless you're wondering how Shift838 daisy chained them/hooked them together.

 

My regulator mod brings the whole UberGROM down to 3.3V. UberGROM and TTL serial signals. You can hook any 3.3V TTL Serial gizmo up (ESP8266, DB9 RS232, WiFly, whatever) directly to the serial pins and power. The TI can handle the 3V logic signals just fine from the 1284P.

 

By default, the non hacked UberGROM is 5V TTL serial. There's still plenty 5V TTL serial DB9 ports out there or TTL-> USB converters that can be used. They key is you need one with a MAX3232EPE chip that can handle 3.3V or 5V TTL. That way it'll work with your UberGROM no matter what voltage you use. Regards to the ESP8266, you can also use a level shifter to get it from 5V to 3.3V with something like this: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12009and not have to regulate the whole board. You just need to also regulate a 3.3V part of the 5V as well to give the level shifter both voltages for reference.

Edited April 21, 2017 by acadiel

[Shift838]

I have not been able to get it working on the UberGROM board yet.

 

My current testing is limited to a stock RS232 and a HDX modded RS232 card with a cable to the Serial to TTL converter board, the Converter board hooks to the WIFI module.

 

With that being said, I think I need to be able to pull the signals down on the huzzah wifi module as the TTL signals are only good for up to 3.3v. I should be able to hook the TX > RX, RX>TX and Ground to Ground from the wifi module to the UberGROM. But... I have tried that and no go and I may need to supply specifically a 3.3v to the wifi board for the TTL signals. But I am not sure yet.

 

The module I have that I think can be hooked directly tot he UberGROM is HERE

 

any enlightening comments to help are welcome.

[Grimakis]

I'm not sure what UberGROM is but i thought the WiFi module(3.3v) was being connected directly via RS-232(also 3.3v).

 

 

Feel free to ignore me.

Edited April 21, 2017 by Grimakis

[+acadiel]

I have not been able to get it working on the UberGROM board yet.

 

My current testing is limited to a stock RS232 and a HDX modded RS232 card with a cable to the Serial to TTL converter board, the Converter board hooks to the WIFI module.

 

With that being said, I think I need to be able to pull the signals down on the huzzah wifi module as the TTL signals are only good for up to 3.3v. I should be able to hook the TX > RX, RX>TX and Ground to Ground from the wifi module to the UberGROM. But... I have tried that and no go and I may need to supply specifically a 3.3v to the wifi board for the TTL signals. But I am not sure yet.

 

The module I have that I think can be hooked directly tot he UberGROM is HERE

 

any enlightening comments to help are welcome.

 

You could also try one of these:

 

https://www.amazon.com/GearMo-Header-Like-FTDI-TTL-232R-5V/dp/B004LC28G2

 

That'll get you a USB connection to the UberGROM from a PC that you can then use the HDX utility with (Fred mentioned he got a HDX UberGROM build working on Facebook.)

[Shift838]

 

You could also try one of these:

 

https://www.amazon.com/GearMo-Header-Like-FTDI-TTL-232R-5V/dp/B004LC28G2

 

That'll get you a USB connection to the UberGROM from a PC that you can then use the HDX utility with (Fred mentioned he got a HDX UberGROM build working on Facebook.)

 

I have one of these already:

 

HERE

 

which I have used to power it to hook it direct tot he 99/4A Rs232 card with no issues.

 

But when I connect this to the WiFi and do the direct connections to the UberGrom for TX,RX and Ground pins I don't get nothing in the moddified terminal for UberGROM.

[+acadiel]

I'm a little confused about how you are hooking stuff up. Can you draw a diagram as well as what your end goal is?

 

The cable you posted is 3.3V logic. It won't work on the UberGROM board as is, since it provides 5V logic. You'd have to regulate the whole board down to 3.3V like I did to use it.

 

If you want to try a HDX over the UberGROM to a PC, you need a 5V Logic to USB cable. That should work just fine (the DB9 to 5V TTL adapter that I have works awesome.)

[Shift838]

I probably just do not know enough about the UberGROM board. I thought that since the UG board accepts.TTL that I could connect it directly bjt tha sounds.like.its not the case unless I pull the ubergrom down to 3.3v.

[Shift838]

I'm not sure what UberGROM is but i thought the WiFi module(3.3v) was being connected directly via RS-232(also 3.3v).

 

 

Feel free to ignore me.

I have the esp8266 connected to a serial to TTL converter board that does 3-5v then a cable from the converter board to the TI RS232.

[Shift838]

Not quite following you, unless you're wondering how Shift838 daisy chained them/hooked them together.

 

My regulator mod brings the whole UberGROM down to 3.3V. UberGROM and TTL serial signals. You can hook any 3.3V TTL Serial gizmo up (ESP8266, DB9 RS232, WiFly, whatever) directly to the serial pins and power. The TI can handle the 3V logic signals just fine from the 1284P.

 

By default, the non hacked UberGROM is 5V TTL serial. There's still plenty 5V TTL serial DB9 ports out there or TTL-> USB converters that can be used. They key is you need one with a MAX3232EPE chip that can handle 3.3V or 5V TTL. That way it'll work with your UberGROM no matter what voltage you use. Regards to the ESP8266, you can also use a level shifter to get it from 5V to 3.3V with something like this: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12009and not have to regulate the whole board. You just need to also regulate a 3.3V part of the 5V as well to give the level shifter both voltages for reference.

I'm thinking I could use the level shifter board you linked to and connect the ubergrom to then on the other side connect the wifi too? What do you think?

 

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12009

[+acadiel]

I'm thinking I could use the level shifter board you linked to and connect the ubergrom to then on the other side connect the wifi too? What do you think?

 

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12009

Edit: Duh, that's what the level shifter is for. Lol

 

The easiest and most straight forward way is to hook the ESP board straight to the UG. This is really cheap to try if you want to:

 

1) You will need to level shift the 5V TX/RX pins from the UberGROM to 3.3V TTL levels going to the ESP board

The SparkFun board (one) should be able to do that. You will have to hook the +5V in from the UberGROM board, and the +3.3V in from the output of #2, below. Ground too. (+5V TX/RX in, +3.3V TX/RX out, +5V in, +3.3V in, GND)

2) You will need to power regulate the +5V/GND from the UberGROM board (which is the TI's 5V cartridge port output) down to 3.3V VCC going to the ESP board

These are a cool way to do it. They have jumper pins. Just jumper from the GND and +5V near the RX/TX headers on the UG to the Vin on the board, and add jumpers on the Vout on the board to the ESP board.

 

Tursi or another EE can help call me out if I'm completely off base on any of the above.

Edited April 21, 2017 by acadiel

[Shift838]

I think I have one of these which I think will work as a logic shifter.

 

http://www.microcenter.com/product/476364/33V-5V_TTL_Logic_Level_Converter_Module