Making LinkSprite LinkNode D1 as MicroPython node, pyboard

According to MicroPython Website any board having esp8266 chipset can be a pyboard. So, I decided to make my LinkSprite LinkNode D1 as pyboard to venture through the goodness of MicroPython on my Macbook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012 with OS X El Capitan Version 10.11.6)

Here is how I did,

1) Install esptool

$ pip2 install esptool

2) Download MicroPython firmware from MicroPython Download Link. Once you reach to the site, click  “ESP8266” button which will lead you the firmware for ESP8266 boards. If you board has enough flash ram, you can use esp8266-20170-v1.8.7.bin. If it has only 512kbytes of flash ram, you should use the one that for it below. In my case, I used the firmware for 512kBytes of flash.

Firmware for ESP8266 boards

• esp8266-512k-20170301-v1.8.7-334-g1f549a3.bin (elf, map) (latest)

3) Now we will flash the firmware already installed on the node as follows:

Note: I just make my command line very descriptive which can be more simple though. And the default baudrate is 115200 bps.

4) And now we need to flash the node with MicroPython. As stated above, you need to check how much flash ram you have on your board. In my case, 512Kbytes.

Flashing the board with 512kbytes flash ram.

5) Now we need to verify whether it works fine.  I used CoolTerm for mac to connect myboard. Please check “Special Character Handling” as shown below which will make your CoolTerm as good MicroPython. You can downloadCoolTerm for free.

6) Now, you can test with simple script. Now, it’s working fine.