Arduino IDE 1.6.9

Using Arduino IDE 1.x
1

I recently upgraded my Windows 7 pro PC to Arduino IDE 1.6.9.

When I used it to compile a program that I already compiled with 1.6.7, I got the following error

Arduino: 1.6.9 (Windows 7), Board: "Adafruit HUZZAH ESP8266, 80 MHz, 115200, 4M (3M SPIFFS)"

C:\Program Files\Arduino\arduino-builder -dump-prefs -logger=machine
-hardware "C:\Program Files\Arduino\hardware"
-hardware "C:\Users\Main User\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages"
-tools "C:\Program Files\Arduino\tools-builder"
-tools "C:\Users\Main User\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages"
-built-in-libraries "C:\Program Files\Arduino\libraries"
-libraries "C:\Users\Main User\Documents\Arduino\libraries"
-fqbn=esp8266:esp8266:huzzah:CpuFrequency=80,UploadSpeed=115200,FlashSize=4M3M
-ide-version=10609
-build-path "C:\Users\MAINUS~1\AppData\Local\Temp\buildbd8cd7232fa3fa28ec64aa67052c1903.tmp"
-warnings=default -prefs=build.warn_data_percentage=75
-verbose "C:\Users\Main User\Documents\Arduino\myprogs\newESPtempRead\newESPtempRead.ino"

Board huzzah (platform esp8266, package esp8266) is unknown

Error compiling for board Adafruit HUZZAH ESP8266.

Now the board manager allowed me to select the ESP Huzzah board with no problem, bu the compiler can't find the board. It was there with 1.6.7!

Jim

2

For anything with ESP 8266 I only use IDE 1.6.5 R5 from an unzipped install with a shortcut to the IDE.

Win 7 X64 pro here.

I presume you have the ESP8266 listed in additional board manager

"http://arduino.esp8266.com/stable/package_esp8266com_index.json"

There are some issues I have found with other IDE's and ESP boards.

3

OK, I checked the .json in preferences and it was correct.
However, the board manager showed all the ESP8266 boards, obviously, as the verbose output from the compiler shows:

Arduino: 1.6.9 (Windows 7), Board: "Adafruit HUZZAH ESP8266, 80 MHz, 115200, 4M (3M SPIFFS)"

So I fumbled around, closed the Arduino IDE and restarted. I got:

Could not find boards.txt in C:\Users\Main User\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\esp8266\hardware\esp8266\2.2.0. Is it pre-1.5?
Could not find boards.txt in C:\Users\Main User\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\esp8266\hardware\esp8266\2.2.0. Is it pre-1.5?
Could not find boards.txt in C:\Users\Main User\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\esp8266\hardware\esp8266\2.2.0. Is it pre-1.5?

So I went into boards manager and deleted the ESP8266 boards (2.2.2 and 2.3.0).
All ESP references disappeared. I looked in the Arduino15/packages and found zips of 2.2.0 and 2.3.0 in the subfolder "staging". I used the install zip library option but it didn't work. So I installed ESP8266 version 1.0, and the ESP8266 libraries reappeared. Then I updated to version 2.3.0 and the boards manager showed version 2.3.0 as the current version.

I attempted to compile the program and still got:

Arduino: 1.6.9 (Windows 7), Board: "Adafruit HUZZAH ESP8266, 80 MHz, 115200, 4M (3M SPIFFS)"

C:\Program Files\Arduino\arduino-builder -dump-prefs -logger=machine -hardware "C:\Program Files\Arduino\hardware" -hardware "C:\Users\Main User\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages" -hardware "C:\Users\Main User\Documents\Arduino\myprogs\hardware" -tools "C:\Program Files\Arduino\tools-builder" -tools "C:\Users\Main User\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages" -built-in-libraries "C:\Program Files\Arduino\libraries" -libraries "C:\Users\Main User\Documents\Arduino\myprogs\libraries" -fqbn=esp8266:esp8266:huzzah:CpuFrequency=80,UploadSpeed=115200,FlashSize=4M3M -ide-version=10609 -build-path "C:\Users\MAINUS~1\AppData\Local\Temp\buildbd8cd7232fa3fa28ec64aa67052c1903.tmp" -warnings=default -prefs=build.warn_data_percentage=75 -verbose "C:\Users\Main User\Documents\Arduino\myprogs\newESPtempRead\newESPtempRead.ino"

Board huzzah (platform esp8266, package esp8266) is unknown

Error compiling for board Adafruit HUZZAH ESP8266.

Arduino: 1.6.9 (Windows 7), Board: "Adafruit HUZZAH ESP8266, 80 MHz, 115200, 4M (3M SPIFFS)"

C:\Program Files\Arduino\arduino-builder -dump-prefs -logger=machine -hardware "C:\Program Files\Arduino\hardware" -hardware "C:\Users\Main User\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages" -hardware "C:\Users\Main User\Documents\Arduino\myprogs\hardware" -tools "C:\Program Files\Arduino\tools-builder" -tools "C:\Users\Main User\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages" -built-in-libraries "C:\Program Files\Arduino\libraries" -libraries "C:\Users\Main User\Documents\Arduino\myprogs\libraries" -fqbn=esp8266:esp8266:huzzah:CpuFrequency=80,UploadSpeed=115200,FlashSize=4M3M -ide-version=10609 -build-path "C:\Users\MAINUS~1\AppData\Local\Temp\buildbd8cd7232fa3fa28ec64aa67052c1903.tmp" -warnings=default -prefs=build.warn_data_percentage=75 -verbose "C:\Users\Main User\Documents\Arduino\myprogs\newESPtempRead\newESPtempRead.ino"

Board huzzah (platform esp8266, package esp8266) is unknown

Error compiling for board Adafruit HUZZAH ESP8266.
Could not find boards.txt in C:\Users\Main User\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\esp8266\hardware\esp8266\2.2.0. Is it pre-1.5?
The library "2.3.0" cannot be used.
Library names must contain only basic letters and numbers.
(ASCII only and no spaces, and it cannot start with a number)

OK

4

jgrina:
I looked in the Arduino15/packages and found zips of 2.2.0 and 2.3.0 in the subfolder "staging". I used the install zip library option but it didn't work.

The ESP8266 platform is not a library(though it does contain multiple libraries) so you can't install it as a library, that's why that process failed. I'm not sure how you managed to get this:

jgrina:
The library "2.3.0" cannot be used.
Library names must contain only basic letters and numbers.
(ASCII only and no spaces, and it cannot start with a number)

To fix that you need to find the place where that non-library was installed and delete it. It's most likely located at {sketchbook folder}\libraries\2.3.0. You can find the location of your sketchbook folder at File > Preferences > Sketchbook location. I'm guessing it's C:\Users\Main User\Documents\Arduino\myprogs\libraries\2.3.0 you need to delete.

That's a separate issue from your real problem. My advice is to:

  • Delete the folder C:\Users\Main User\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\esp8266\hardware\esp8266
  • Restart the Arduino IDE if it's running.
  • Tools > Board > Boards Manager
  • Wait for downloads to complete
  • Scroll down to the esp8266 entry and click on it.
  • Click the "Install" button
  • After the installation finishes click the "Close" button.
  • Tools > Board > Adafruit HUZZAH ESP8266
  • Sketch > Compile/Verify
  • Keep your fingers crossed and hope that it will work!
5

I fixed it. I renamed the the ESP package - in ../appdata/local/packages - "hide_esp". This forced the .json to completely re-install the ESP package. When I used the this NEW install, the compile worked correctly. No more boards.txt errors, no more board not found. The boards mangler showed version 2.3.0 and it was available to the compiler.

The libraries found the .h files and the compile provided an up loadable file. I attempted several "remove" efforts in the boards mangler, but none remove the problem. However, my delete key worked just fine.

6

:frowning:
Library names must contain only basic letters and numbers.
(ASCII only and no spaces, and it cannot start with a number)
Sketch names must contain only basic letters and numbers.
(ASCII only and no spaces, and it cannot start with a number)

Why?
This change seems to serve no purpose other than to irritate people who
now have to manually change most of their sketch names to conform to
the new demands. Earlier IDE versions were not this restrictive, leading
to many now incompatible directory and file names.

:frowning:

CanxSomeonexPleasexExplainxWhyxWexCannotxUsexConventionalxFilexNamesxxx