network.hostname() seems useless... does mDNS work?
Current target: esp8266
On the official docs:
https://docs.micropython.org/en/latest/library/network.html
network.hostname([name])
Get or set the hostname that will identify this device on the network. It is applied to all interfaces.
This hostname is used for:
Sending to the DHCP server in the client request. (If using DHCP)
Broadcasting via mDNS. (If enabled)
It seems to me that there are no references in the esp8266 pages regarding this function:
https://docs.micropython.org/en/latest/esp8266/quickref.html
I tried to use network.hostname() both before and after the wifi initialization (AF_STA mode), but it doesn't seem to work.
With a packet sniffer, enabled in promiscuous mode on the wifi interface, I see the packets (also broadcast and multicast) of other devices but not the packets that esp8266 should send to publish its hostname.
I'm specifically interested in mDNS.
I am available for any test and feedback.
mDNS support for ESP8266?
It doesn't seem to be possible to assign a hostname to a device on the local network, so you can connect to it via webREPL instead of setting a static IP or configure the router's DHCP. On the Arduino core for ESP8266 you can use the mDNS library.