- Tools/Board/Boards Manager. Scroll down to the bottom of the list and find ESP8266 by ESP Community and see what version is installed.
2 & 3) Why are you using a bare ESP module rather than a dev board? You’ll have lots of difficulties powering the module and interfacing with a USB Com port.
I’d recommend a NodeMCU or Wemos D1 Mini dev board…
Which board should I choose for my first Blynk project?
Pete.