Looks like you can now program the ESP series of boards directly from the Arduino IDE

This is a game changer for me (and I guess many others)... no longer do we require an intermediate processor to do our bidding... Most simple control applications can happily be accommodated by the little device on its own...

Looks like there are a few positives including a faster processor too... more pros and cons later...

Of course I still need a development board, with options to handle more of the ESP board revisions but basically the circuitry is greatly simplified... I guess it's back to the drawing board...

New Criteria:

• Support ESP 01, 07 and 12 (and possibly more)...
• Display status of all GPIO's (all buffered, 9 pins available)...
• Display RX/TX status (buffered)...
• Provide support for working with the ADC (LDR or similar)...
• Capable of both Testing and Programming...
• Capable of testing several ESP models (01, 07, 12, ?)...
• A well regulated 3.3 volts @ 800mA (battery & charge circuit option)...
• Breadboard connectivity (all pins are broken out)...
• Self contained? USB? TH/SM or both?...

...

More info here... https://hackaday.io/project/5150-arduino-ide-for-esp8266-quickstart-guide

Comment:

It's been noted that I design a lot of development boards but don't appear to build them.

Rational:

In the ESP world things change very quickly. This results in me having to modify designs to accommodate these changes, besides, I don't have the cash to prototype everything I design.

Old guy on fixed income...