I have spent hours googling the how to videos and tutorials. When I try to download the ESP8266 library I get an Arduino Master zip, which Arduino then tells me does not contain any library.
When I open my Library manager There is no “ESP8266 by esp8266 community”
Like everybody says should be there.
My preferences do have the correct link.
I must be thick but sorry, could someone help please.
The problem is, it's not a library, it's a hardware core. You can't use the same installation for a hardware core as you would for a library. Luckily, the ESP8266 folks made installation very easy and provided some nice instructions:
Follow only the instructions under Installing with Boards Manager. You can ignore any other instructions on that page.
Sometimes people refer to hardware cores as a "library", and most of them do contain libraries, but they also contain hardware definition files that make the term "library" as we use it in the Arduino world really not applicable.
Many thanks. Looks like I was tryimg too hard.
I am trying to connect my Aduino UNO to the web via wifi (esp8266) , so I can experiment with Blynk.
I'll see if I can find a tutorial which is simple enough for me :)-
Yes, you were definitely taking the difficult route!
For your goal of using an ESP8266 to connect your Uno to the web, it's likely that the ESP8266 core for Arduino will not be useful to you. The ESP8266 core for Arduino is used to directly program the ESP8266, as if it were a normal Arduino board. However, most people who want to use an ESP8266 as a WiFi adapter connected to a traditional Arduino board like the Uno do not program the ESP8266 at all. Most ESP8266 modules come with a standard AT firmware that allows the Uno to control it over a serial connection. So you upload sketches only to the Uno. The Blynk library has support for a standard Arduino board with an ESP8266 running the AT firmware.
If you want to use the ESP8266 module running the AT firmware for other purposes than the Blynk library, I recommend the WiFiEsp library, which handles the AT commands for you:
You also have the option of using the ESP8266 board on its own, without the Uno. The ESP8266 is a very powerful microcontroller with a lot of memory. The ESP8266 Core for Arduino makes it almost as easy to program the ESP8266 as your Uno. There are advantages and disadvantages to each board and certainly the Uno will always have the best support.
Many thanks for your replies.
I did find a simple tutorial but when I got to the stage of testing, the AT command came up "OK" but when I tried to connect to a Wifi, I got "ERROR"
So its back to the drawing board.
