What's the best alternative to the Arduino Wifi Shield 101?

[Katie6]

Apologies to those of you who have seen a very similar post from me recently! This is about a different component in the same project.

I'd like to get my husband the components to build the following domotic greenhouse project for his birthday as it combines two hobbies of his.

However, this project calls for the Arduino Wifi Shield 101 which has been retired. Is there something else I can use as a substitute for this, and if so how complex would it be to amend the code to suit?

Many thanks,

Katie

[westfw]

I think an "Uno WiFi 2" has functionality that is approximately similar to an Uno + the old WiFi shield.
It might be different enough to not be a completely straight-forward conversion, so it depends on how much coding expertise your husband has...

[ieee488]

See what the Arduino Uno is being used for. What pins are being used.
You may be able to replace the Arduino Uno + wifi shield combo with the Wemos D1 mini or one of its brothers. (http://www.wemos.cc/en/latest/d1/index.html). You can program the Wemos with the Arduino IDE.

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[zoomkat]

For simplicity you might consider a WeMOS D1 development board. Very simple wireless web/internet type setup. Kind of like a wifi uno. It has the USB micro port to avoid thick USB cables, and about $4 from china and $7 in the US.

[Juraj]

this is the Adafruit version of the WiFi101 shield
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-winc1500-wifi-shield-for-arduino


the MKR 1000 has the WiFi101 'shield' on-board.


both use the WiFi101 Arduino networking library

---

the new boards MKR 1010 WiFi, Uno WiFi Rev 2, Nano 33 IoT and others, use NINA module for WiFi with the WiFiNINA library

the WiFiNINA library has the same programming interface as the WiFi101 library so it is a direct replacement.

in very simple use the Uno WiFi Rev 2 is a replacement for Uno with WiFi101 shield, but it can get complicated with some sensors

[Katie6]

Ooo - thank you all for your helpful replies! My husband and I can both code in other languages (e.g. javascript-based), but haven't done that much with Arduino yet so I'm aiming to minimise the amount of changes required compared to the original project, because it's described as complex project as it is!

It looks like the options are:

• Uno Wifi 2 (downsides are that it might be complex to adapt the code?)
• Adafruit ATWINC1500 WiFi Shield (Adafruit equivalent, but not sure how much coding changes will be required?)
  
• MKR 1000 (this is part of the list of components already...would I need two? Not sure how much re-coding required)
  
• WeMOS D1

Based on what you've said, would I be correct to assume that the WeMOS D1 would require the least amount of coding changes/be the least complex replacement?

Many thanks again for your advice,

Katie

[Juraj]

Ooo - thank you all for your helpful replies! My husband and I can both code in other languages (e.g. javascript-based), but haven't done that much with Arduino yet so I'm aiming to minimise the amount of changes required compared to the original project, because it's described as complex project as it is!

It looks like the options are:

• Uno Wifi 2 (downsides are that it might be complex to adapt the code?)
• Adafruit ATWINC1500 WiFi Shield (Adafruit equivalent, but not sure how much coding changes will be required?)
  
• MKR 1000 (this is part of the list of components already...would I need two? Not sure how much re-coding required)
  
• WeMOS D1

Based on what you've said, would I be correct to assume that the WeMOS D1 would require the least amount of coding changes/be the least complex replacement?

Many thanks again for your advice,

Katie

the Adafruit shield uses the same networking library as the Arduino WiFi101 shield. it would require no change in code.

I want to add that of course all WiFi shields and modules can communicate with each other no matter what chip and library they use and of course on TCP level they can communicate with Ethernet shields and modules too.

The esp8266 WiFi library (for Wemos) has almost the same API as the Arduino WiFi libraries (WiFi101, WiFiNINA), but a little different behavior on some common commands in some cases.

[Katie6]

No coding changes for the Adafruit shield?! That's what I want to hear - brilliant! I'll go for that one then!

Thank you so much Juraj! :-)

[ieee488]

On the not linked Adafruit web page for their wifi shield, it says
It will not work/fit on other Arduinos such as 328P or 32u4-based or attiny-based boards.
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-winc1500-wifi-shield-for-arduino

The Uno uses a 328P, so I am a bit confused whether the shield will work with the Uno.

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[DrAzzy]

The Uno WiFi Rev. 2 uses a different, and fairly new processor with very different peripherals than those on the '328p. It is a more capable chip, but there are far fewer libraries that support it compared to the '328p - anything that directly manipulates registers is not compatible (the register emulation feature only works in some very simple cases, and in at least some of the cases where it "works", it obviates much of the benefit of using direct register access). So this could either be a great choice if you don't want to use any libraries that happen to not be compatible, or make things a lot harder if you do. (Compile errors complaining of undefined variables with names composed of capital letters and numbers are the symptom of this)

[Juraj]

On the not linked Adafruit web page for their wifi shield, it says
It will not work/fit on other Arduinos such as 328P or 32u4-based or attiny-based boards.
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-winc1500-wifi-shield-for-arduino

The Uno uses a 328P, so I am a bit confused whether the shield will work with the Uno.

.

it must be some outdated information. the shield uses the Arduino WiFi101 library so if the library worked on Uno in the project with Arduino WiFi 101 shield, then it will work with this shield too. both shields use the same open hardware design.