ESP8266 Community Forum

- Tue Mar 27, 2018 7:57 am #74945 How to use NodeMCU ESP8266 on Linux/Ubuntu?

I have an old PC dual-booted with Windows XP and Ubuntu 12.02.4 LTS. Using Windows XP, I attached a NodeMCU ESP8266 using LuaLoader with a USB cable to COM5 and everything works well. I can load and run LUA programs on the ESP8266 with no problems.

Now I would like to do the same thing using the Ubuntu system, but I don't know where to start. Is there a Linux program similar to LuaLoader? If not, how do I load and run a Lua program using Linux/Ubuntu on COM5? I don't know a lot about Ubuntu, so basic instructions would be helpful. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

- Wed Mar 28, 2018 8:00 am #74959 Since posting the question above, I have done the following in Ubuntu:
sudo apt-get install screen
screen /dev/ttyUSB0

This actually worked and I received the command prompt from the ESP8266 and was able to enter several commands. This was much simpler than I expected. Now I want to figure out how to upload LUA program files to the ESP8266. Any advice on the easiest way to do that would be appreciated.

- Thu Mar 29, 2018 5:14 pm #74988 ditch lua and go with arduino, its plug'n'play on linux, easier than windows/osx as no drivers to install.

- Thu Mar 29, 2018 8:56 pm #74994 sej7278: do you mean that the Ardiuno IDE communicates directly with the ESP8266 via the USB port/cable, or do I have to have a Arduino board also, and connect the ESP8266 to the Arduino board?