WLEDSR - ESP8266 Deprecation since beta 3 of WLED 0.13.0

[brimmasch]

I see in the release https://github.com/atuline/WLED/releases/tag/v0.13.2 that there is still mention of ESP8266. I also see notes that going forward ESP8266 isn't supported. What was the last build for ESP8266? A compiled version of the ESP8266 branch here (https://github.com/srg74/WLED-wemos-shield/tree/master/resources/Firmware/Sound_reactive/v0.13.2) doesn't seem to have any of the SoundReactive bits.

For sure there 0.13.0 beta 3 release had ESP8266 binaries but i don't see them as assets here (https://github.com/atuline/WLED/releases/tag/v0.13.0-b3). Any help figuring out what's going?

[softhack007]

Sorry, the line "and all ESP8266 update methods" was simply overlooked; it's wrong, and I've just deleted it from the release notes. Thanks for spotting.

About your question: The newest source code of our 8266 branch is here: https://github.com/atuline/WLED/tree/ESP8266. It is based on WLED-v0.13.0-b3 (i.e. beta-3 of 0.13.0).

The SoundReactive Wiki explains:

Due to the performance limitations of the ESP8266, we decided to separate the ESP8266 and ESP32 code in order to provide a more stable build for the ESP8266. Beginning with version 0.10.2 and moving forward, ESP8266 support has been removed from the master branch. It receives very limited support and updates and is located at ESP8266 Branch.

Our latest 8266 code changes are from November 2021:

• some basic support for I2S digital mics was added, and
• some improvements to RGBW support were made.

We never did an official release with these last changes, as they were still considered experimental. I don't know if some (3rd party) firmware builds of our latest 8266 code are still around - these may or may not work for you.

If you want to try the latest changes for 8266, you have to compile the source code yourself using VSCode + PlatformIO. There is a nice step-by-step guide from Aircoookie: https://kno.wled.ge/advanced/compiling-wled. For SR, just select one of the "sound reactive board configurations": soundReactive_nodemcuv2, soundReactive_d1_mini, anavi_miracle_controller.

Sorry to say, but we don't have any 8266 builds of the current versions (SR-0.13.1 or later).
Technically speaking, improvements we made during the last year will not run on 8266 - that MCU is simply too slow. Actually, we are still discussing with the upstream WLED team about creating a "stripped down" audioreactive usermod for 8266, after the next WLED 0.14.0 has been released. It could take another 6 months or so before this happens. If it happens. see https://github.com/blazoncek/WLED/issues/37.

Hope this helps to clarify the situation.