esp8266: set default softAP False (OFF)
Here is probably better place to discuss my suggestion I mentioned on http://forum.micropython.org/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=2631&start=70#p15831 only as a note.
"Note:
I would like to suggest (to @pfalcon) not to activate default softAP but to make it during WEBREPL activation. I think it's useful because I can see a room full of attendees during a training with fresh flashed MicroPython who shall solve the task BLINK_LED, while there is the air full of RF smog with e.g. activated 10 APs..., which are useless at that moment. When the trained people reach WiFi topics, they will be able to activate necessary functions."
... there are plenty of other reasons too.
esp8266: Make esp.osdebug(None) the default
I noticed with the current esp8266 builds there's a lot of debug output. There are previous issues about this like #2072 and a mention that perhaps debug output should be suppressed for later firmware builds (see https://github.com/micropython/micropython/issues/2072#issuecomment-219035113 ). I'd like to suggest that this behavior to suppress debug output become the default now (perhaps just add a call to esp.osdebug(None) to the _boot.py?).
The reason I raise this issue is that scripts like pyboard.py depend on talking to a 'clean' REPL with no debug output. The esp8266 codebase right now can print out a lot of debug output, like if the chip is trying to connect to a wifi network it can't find, and this wreaks havoc with pyboard.py's parsing which depends on getting exact response strings back from the chip. If debug output sneaks in it's game over and pyboard.py's parsing fails.
I'd like to suggest debug output suppression be the current new default for esp8266 firmware. This will allow folks to use pyboard.py and build tooling, etc. around it to improve the ecosystem. I realize folks can just call esp.osdebug(None) themselves but IMHO it would make the experience much smoother if people can load the firmware and start using tools immediately, not troubleshoot peculiar issues because their esp is in an odd state spewing debug output. Thanks!