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Hack Chat Transcript, Part 3

A event log for Python and the Internet of Things Hack Chat

The power of Python on microcontrollers

dan-maloneyDan Maloney 04/03/2019 at 20:070 Comments

tannewt12:36 PM

https://github.com/mithro/valentyusb

GITHUB

mithro/valentyusb

USB Full-Speed core written in migen/LiteX. Contribute to mithro/valentyusb development by creating an account on GitHub.

Read this on GitHub

todbot12:36 PM
too bad there isn't a "BLE mass storage" class

Hendra Kusumah12:36 PM
@Dan Halbert great. Thanks for all the answer

Dan Maloney12:36 PM
FYI everyone, Adafruit is kindly giving away one-year Adafruit.io passes to five random Hack Chat attendees. I'll do the drawing for that in about 15 minutes, so stay logged on for that.

happyday.mjohnson12:36 PM
@deshipu hmmm.. that doesn't make sense for iot devices. Don't we have to "python family" choices for a microcontroller? CP or mp.

David12:36 PM
artix might be too expensive, probably $70+ starting prices

Dan Halbert12:37 PM
CircuitPython is great for learning about physical computing and doing maker projects; it is not our objective to be an OEM programming language, but we're happy when it happnes

tannewt12:37 PM
@todbot agreed. I want to add file transfer later in the year for that reason

todbot12:37 PM
@tannewt sort of like rshell for CP?

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Dan Halbert12:37 PM
@todbot "BLE mass storage" we want to provide a BLE-based workflow so you can program a CircuitPython board via BLE on a tablet or phone.

deshipu12:37 PM
@happyday.mjohnson I dont' think there is any particular curriculum or development plan yet, but thanks for bringing it up, it's probably a good thing to think about

jkshaffstall12:38 PM
Just join chat.

pt12:38 PM
the latest io updates are here: https://blog.adafruit.com/2019/04/02/adafruit-iot-monthly-april-2019-adafruitio-iot-adafruitio/

happyday.mjohnson12:38 PM
@Dan Halbert thank you. it really helps me to understand the vision. That does mean there is a spot of chasm between CP and "iot product ship." But how beautiful to learn with!

Dan Smith12:38 PM
@Dan Halbert elementary teacher question here: Is circuit Python a fork of MicroPython?

deshipu12:38 PM
it is

Dan Halbert12:38 PM
@Dan Smith Yes

Dan Smith12:38 PM
thanks!!

limor12:38 PM
here's another good link - FAQ for circuitpython https://learn.adafruit.com/welcome-to-circuitpython/frequently-asked-questions

Dan Halbert12:39 PM
the base language is the same; we have different native I/O libraries; we are a "friendly" fork

pt12:39 PM
here is the IoT project that works with the hackchat api, when you click like you can see the skulls go up - https://hackaday.io/project/163309-circuitpython-hackaday-portal-pyportal

limor12:39 PM
for IoT projects, its super fast to get started and design your project

JustTheDazz12:39 PM
Is there a book(s) you recommend for learning more with CircuitPython & also MicroPython?

jkshaffstall12:39 PM
I got a send and receive socket working in Python the other night using the socket library. Are you going to port that library?

Dan Smith12:39 PM
@limor awesome. More about convincing the parents, you're a hero to the students :)

pt12:40 PM
@JustTheDazz mike b had "Getting Started with Circuit Playground express..."

pt12:40 PM
AND

deshipu12:40 PM
http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920056515.do <-- Programming with MicroPython by Nicholas Tollervey

Chris12:40 PM
Is there anything to share about the airlift devices mentioned in one of the recent CP emails?

limor12:40 PM
jk, we have socket support for the ESP32 coproc working that's how we implemented requests

pt12:40 PM

https://github.com/adafruit/awesome-circuitpython

GITHUB

adafruit/awesome-circuitpython

A curated list of awesome CircuitPython guides, videos, libraries, frameworks, software and resources. - adafruit/awesome-circuitpython

Read this on GitHub

pt12:40 PM

https://github.com/adafruit/awesome-circuitpython#books

GITHUB

adafruit/awesome-circuitpython

A curated list of awesome CircuitPython guides, videos, libraries, frameworks, software and resources. - adafruit/awesome-circuitpython

Read this on GitHub

limor12:41 PM

https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_ESP32SPI/blob/master/adafruit_esp32spi/adafruit_esp32spi_socket.py

GITHUB

adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_ESP32SPI

ESP32 as wifi with SPI interface. Contribute to adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_ESP32SPI development by creating an account on GitHub.

Read this on GitHub

deshipu12:41 PM
(that book also covers CircuitPython)

limor12:41 PM
thats's socket ^

jkshaffstall12:41 PM
Right, thanks, I had my Huzzah sending out pages. Worked great.

JustTheDazz12:41 PM
Thanks!

limor12:41 PM

https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_ESP32SPI/blob/master/adafruit_esp32spi/adafruit_esp32spi_requests.py

GITHUB

adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_ESP32SPI

ESP32 as wifi with SPI interface. Contribute to adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_ESP32SPI development by creating an account on GitHub.

Read this on GitHub

happyday.mjohnson12:41 PM
@limor the challenge i have with designing iot w/ CP is i typically have many devices hooked up to a battery (power drain)...and best way to connect to wifi - e.g.: there was the esp826 but support is being dropped. There is RFM95, but Things Gateways are limited...?

limor12:41 PM
that' how to use sockets ^

KingerNorth joined  the room.12:42 PM

limor12:42 PM
happy, circuitpython isn't optimized for battery usage yet. you can plug into the wall, or wait till we have more lower mode supported.

Troy joined  the room.12:42 PM

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Cerrid joined  the room.12:42 PM

limor12:42 PM
stabiity and functionality are our priorities - then we'll be able to optimize :)

Kattni12:42 PM
@happyday.mjohnson We're simply not there yet. :)

jkshaffstall12:42 PM
Free stuff??? Oh goody...

happyday.mjohnson12:43 PM
@limor thank you. There are so many things CP does very well.

alfordimages joined  the room.12:43 PM

Kattni12:43 PM
Our priority with CircuitPython is that first 5 minute experience.

happyday.mjohnson12:43 PM
@Kattni - thank you for all your kindness and help.

todbot12:43 PM
CircuitPython is already so good. I can't believe all the progress that's been made in such a short time

happyday.mjohnson12:43 PM
@kattni - first 5 minute experience - makes sense...but iot comes in about about after 10 minutes?

limor12:43 PM
thanks tod!

David12:43 PM
is asyncio in circuitpython?

deshipu12:44 PM
not yet, there has been some discussion about it

Dan Halbert12:44 PM
@David not yet -- scroll up for some async discussion early in the chat

JustTheDazz12:44 PM
That's one of the things about CircuitPython I love, you don't have to be one a PC to use/program, cellphone or tablets work just fine

deshipu12:44 PM
there are coroutines, but no async io support yet

usman2000 joined  the room.12:45 PM

limor12:45 PM
also a lot of the things that are 'async' we sorta do with DMA. like audio playback

Charles Burnaford12:45 PM
I find that breakout boards from adafruit provides me with a lot of access to things

that give me t he data I need and CP allows me to make use of them quickly.

limor12:45 PM
displayio is also async using dma

limor12:45 PM
filesys is DMA async

Kattni12:45 PM
@happyday.mjohnson The "first five minute experience" we're referring to is the initial experience you have plugging in your new board and beginning with programming it etc. It's not necessarily a literal 5 minutes :) We want you to pick it up, get started with it, and want to stick with it because your initial experience was so positive.

usman200012:45 PM
Hi. new here

rmuller32512:46 PM
Earlier someone mentioned integration with vs code. Is this currently possible?

limor12:46 PM
another exciting thing is all the translations we're doing

Bailey Steinfadt12:46 PM
Any guides for teachers on how to use Circuit Playground in a classroom? I'm helping a few schools set up maker spaces, and I can teach them how to program them, but it'd be nice to have some instructional resources to point them at.

WRR12:46 PM
Do y'all have any thoughts on best practices for providing universal APIs for I/O-type stuff across chips with all kinds of different peripheral layouts?

happyday.mjohnson12:46 PM
@Kattni - yah...i know it's not literal...i was just jumping in on your timeline...and doing a bad job at it too.

Dan Maloney12:46 PM
Hi @usman2000

pt12:46 PM
we're also making sure there are languages / localizations too, you can see what we have here: https://circuitpython.org/downloads

Kattni12:46 PM
@rmuller325 It's possible to use VS Code with CircuitPython. I haven't done it, but we have many people who do.

Kattni12:46 PM
@happyday.mjohnson No worries :)

pt12:46 PM
@Bailey Steinfadt check out learn.adafruit.com for the guides ...

pt12:47 PM
Using Circuit Playground Express, MakeCode and CircuitPython on a Chromebook

A chromebook works just as well as oth

deshipu12:47 PM
@WRR you might want to check the issues on the circuitpython repository -- there is a lot of discussion for implementing things in there

pt12:47 PM

https://learn.adafruit.com/using-circuit-playground-express-makecode-circuitpython-on-a-chromebook?view=all

ADAFRUIT

Overview | Using Circuit Playground Express, MakeCode and CircuitPython on a Chromebook | Adafruit Learning System

Chromebooks run a small operating system called Chrome OS. A Chromebook uses Google applications for web browsing in Chrome, word processing, spreadsheets and other basic applications via cloud-based Google services. Chromebooks can also download applications via the Chrome Web Store and the Google Play store.

Read this on Adafruit

Matt12:47 PM
What is the future of WINC1500 in CircuitPython?

happyday.mjohnson12:47 PM
@kattni i've done it by running ampy w/in a terminal w/in VS Code.... but that's not really integrated. i wonder what other folks are doing.

Bailey Steinfadt12:47 PM
Aweome, thanks!

JustTheDazz12:47 PM
are there any plans to be able to program any of these devices over wifi that run on CircuitPython/MicroPython?

limor12:47 PM
matt, no future, the ESP32 is cheaper, and easier to support, more and better TLS support

Kattni12:48 PM
@happyday.mjohnson Agreed, I understand the integration you're looking for is Mu level. Hopefully it's something that happens in the future.

deshipu12:48 PM
@JustTheDazz I think there was some discussion about programming them over bluetooth

JustTheDazz12:49 PM
@deshipu that would be great as well :)

pt12:49 PM
for IDEs, check out mu - https://madewith.mu/mu/users/2019/03/25/alpha1.html

tannewt12:49 PM
@WRR I recommend designing the API around behavior you need rather than the peripherals you may have.

limor12:49 PM
@justthatdazz there's no webrepl but there's no reason you can't download a python file over wifi and execute it - woo code/data is the same thing :D

Hendra Kusumah12:49 PM
@limor about the translation. It is one of the great things CP has, I already introduce it to my students using the translation I've worked on and they understand it quite easily. Sorry I haven't update the translation recently

tannewt12:49 PM
So start from the outside in with examples to demonstrate what you want to do

Kattni12:49 PM
@Hendra Kusumah Thank you for contributing it! We understand that life happens :)

tannewt12:50 PM
it also avoids the trap of adding features for features-sake

jkshaffstall12:50 PM
As long as it's all ASCII, correct?

WRR12:50 PM
@tannewt Thanks - sounds a lot like the Lotus model, 'simplify and add lightness' :)

JustTheDazz12:50 PM
@limor good point!!

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