Two OLIMEX MOD-WIFI-ESP8266-DEV boards in the mail

When a CaptiveIntraweb experimenter from Chicago pointed out that he had problems with Olimex ESP8266 modules, we looked into the problem and it seemed like a file system related issue.
The cool thing is that these modules come with 2MByte of i2c flash, rather than the usual 512k. And that might just be the source of the problem.

I wasn't aware these modules existed and immediately ordered a pair. Despite the fact that the German postal service is on strike, the modules arrived on Saturday.

Nice silkscreen 

The weekend was rather busy, so I couldn't test drive the modules. From the first look, I am impressed by the build quality and the nicely readable silkscreen. So impressed in fact, that I'll mount the headers upside-down to have an unobstructed view of the print.

One thing I didn't like at first glance was that to change to flash mode, I need to change soldered jumpers. With the number of tries I need to get things right, I considered mounting a switch.

A closer look at the schematic revealed this:

Now that's nice circuit design! I can still use a jumper cable on the breadboard to tie GPIO0 to GND manually to reflash the firmware. 

I will try that tonight and let you know how it went.

It went better than I expected. See here.