microcontrollers

[dense egret]

I bought a motor driver shield for Raspberry Pi and it is not working

[summer ridge]

which shield is it? check your wiring and power supply first honestly

[dense egret]

LK COKOINO 4WD motor driver shield. It requires 7V-9V; i have power supply set at 8.5V. I will check the wiring next.

[summer ridge]

nice, also double check if that shield handles the pi's 3.3v logic okay

[dense egret]

The first 2 terminals: M1/M2 are for the rear motors. The last 2 terminals: M3/M4 are for front motors. I have it reversed.

[elfin sphinx]

from your profile it looked like you have already done those projects so you already have a lot of the hardware ?

even if you dont , you can use one of the emulator sites , right ? ofc, they wont have models for every sensor or mcu u want , but sites like wokwi are pretty good for ESP32 simulations

[muted wigeon]

Good question 🙂
Yes, I already own some basic hardware like ESP32 boards and a few sensors from previous projects.
But for the 100 Days 100 IoT Projects, I’m constantly testing new sensors, displays, modules, power systems, and real-world setups that simulators can’t fully replicate (like power consumption, noise, timing issues, hardware bugs, and real deployment challenges).
Wokwi is great for prototyping, but my goal is to build real working hardware projects that students can replicate physically, with real wiring, debugging, and hardware limitations documented.
Sponsorship mainly helps me buy additional sensors, displays, and components, and keeps the project sustainable as a student.
Even small support means I can share more real-world educational content for free.

[elfin sphinx]

you mentioned you want to measure noise , timing issues , hardware bugs , power consumeption etc
how will you do this by lets say buying a new display ?
You need oscilloscope for that
also i noticed you use micropython and existing wrapper libraries. Talking to one I2C sensor is similar to talking to other , what are you learning by doing this ?
just doing more projects by using wrapper libraries doesnt necessarily teach you a lot
You should try writing your own HAL , write your own drivers and libraries. And you can do that with the components you already have.

Electronics in general is an expensive hobby because you need tools , which can get expensive and new things constantly. I would suggest making stuff with the things you already have rather than focus on things you dont have. Look into ditching micropython , using C++ ,prefereably without the arduino framework. When you do that , you will learn A LOT more

[muted wigeon]

That’s a great point. You’re right—oscilloscope and low-level tooling are needed for real signal/timing analysis. My focus is beginner-friendly projects, but personally I’m moving toward writing custom drivers and lower-level firmware too. Thanks for the technical advice, it’s exactly the direction I want to grow into.

[elfin sphinx]

just a question , are you using AI to assist you in writing your conversation ?

your replies sound very AI-like

[elfin sphinx]

and yes, you can do that , right now , with the ESP32 you have and any sensor you have , you do not need to buy anything

[muted wigeon]

I use AI occasionally to help with wording and communication since English isn’t my mother tongue 🥲

[elfin sphinx]

just embrace it as is , a lot of people here dont have english as first language including me , its fine to speak english however u can , you dont need AI to enahnce it , it feels very unnatural to with to AI like text

[muted wigeon]

Ohk sir 🙏

[dense egret]

Can outdated raspberry pi software cause ssh to fail when running scripts?

[lament knoll]

Yeah it can

Probably better to ask in the RasPi server or forum though

[native narwhal]

It's hard to get esp32 and flipper zero gadgets

[urban junco]

You gotta upgrade yourself bruh...esp32 is outdated
Since you a 3rd yr student now

[formal lantern]

Hey guys, anyone know anything about using python for low level programming? I know there is circuit python, but what I am looking for is a board like Arduino, well, the uno 3 like, as I like the socketed chip. The only thing I am finding is SMT boards and I am not interested in having my chip go bad and I have to toss the whole circuit board. Anyone know about DIP package chips that can run python? I would also like to know if one can put python on PIC, I have looked and looked but I am finding boards from adafruit with circuit python and not much else.

[wet mason]

can the ESP32 CYD use the Adafruit IO API?

[formal lantern]

what is CYD?

Nevermind, I looked it up and yes you can.

@wet mason It looks like ESP32 has its own Espressif-IDE, why not use that instead of Arduino?

[wet mason]

Mainly because of the API thing

[formal lantern]

@wet mason Espressif does not have its own support for API for the its own IDE?

I don't use Esp32 but the website for Espressif-IDE has its own api guidlines if you did not know. I would think Arduino abstracts a lot of stuff from what you really can do with chips.

[tacit badger]

Guys can yall help me find a cheap robotic arm chasis from amazon or some trustworthy site? cuz i cant find a good one :/

[hallow igloo]

can you state specifics of desired specs?

and uh purpose ?

[tacit badger]

i want to integrate ML/DL with it

like

im gonna make a robotic arm thatll point the laser at a specific object or human using ML/DL and those models with run on my laptop, ill use a 512mb raspy zero 2 W as a middleware processing data and providing communication between ESP32 and the laptop, the ESP will be connected to raspy and servo motor driver and ill need like 4 or 5 D.O.F. robotic arm so that i can attach 4 or 5 servos to it

thats my plan ig

[primal vortex]

so what is the modern thing if esp32 is outdated?

[formal lantern]

@tacit badger You can make one out of any materials, I made on out of paint sticks and cans that was able to lift abit less than one pound. It is even better if you have 3d printer as there are cad files for this. To me this looks like you are just plugging in Lego and hoping for the best. What is your objective exactly?

[tacit badger]

Lmao I obv dont have a 3d printer

Idk its gotta look real good

Cuz my internals will be decided on that

:/

[formal lantern]

I am reading this again and I am not sure what exactly you want the robot arm to do?

@tacit badger Are you lifting something, scanning something or something else?

[tacit badger]

Well it must lift things, by YOLO detection and im thinking to make a controller to control it manually too using joystick/potentiometer

[formal lantern]

All right, how much dose it need to lift?

[tacit badger]

And well i want it pointing a laser light on the faces/objects too

[tacit badger]

Not much, maybe like 1 pound?

Atmost

[formal lantern]

You will need to reason this out then, how much can the servo lift, how long does it need to hold it, you need 4 to 5? Having 4 or having 5 is very important. Why do you need so much freedom of movement. That will require A LOT of power...

[tacit badger]

Yeah well im looking for 5 to 6 DOF robotic arm and ill see about the servos tho

Haven't seen what weight it can hold

Cuz till now ive used microservos the cheap ones

[formal lantern]

That is a lot for DOF that will required some power. the cheap ones are not going to do jack sht for you. If its the ones I know, they will struggle and jitter a lot due unstable voltage, current, voltage drop or some other.

[tacit badger]

Hmm ill think bout it

[pseudo sinew]

I found lots from amazon and you aren't able to find any? The ones I found look really good but are quite pricey.

[pseudo sinew]

I thought MicroPython is Python but low level so that it can be run on like ESP32 and Raspberry Pi Pico?

[pseudo sinew]

Huh??? ESP32 is outdated? What's new then? What's everyone using right now that is modern? Totally not Raspberry Pi Pico which is still same as ESP32. Also Raspberry Pi Pico is too expensive compared to cheap ESP32.

[formal lantern]

@pseudo sinew It is, but I am looking for DIP pakage based chip so I can build the microcontroller directly rather than having premade board since it will be for specific chip with TH in mind

[elfin sphinx]

why does it have to be DIP package ? most chips which are powerful enough to run micropython dont come in DIP packages

you are better off using a SMT chip
if it HAS to be DIP , then u can make a little adapter board to convert it to DIP , it shouldnt bbe that hard

[formal lantern]

I know, which is useless for prototyping. SMT is good for final stage but for bread boarding its annoying.

[elfin sphinx]

make a breadboard adapter for the chip in your mind

[formal lantern]

If the chip goes bad you then have to by ANOTHER board. Nevermind that it could be just the chip, or a cap. Total waste

[elfin sphinx]

you can replace just the bad component

[formal lantern]

WITH SMT?

[elfin sphinx]

yes ?

[formal lantern]

LOL

[elfin sphinx]

why is that surprising ?
if you broke your laptop , would you buy a new laptop or go to a repair shop guy and ask him to replace just the bad componenets ? what do you think they do ?

there is a reason why breadboards etc dont work well when you have a chip communicating with 40+ Mhz with your flash IC , finnicky, unstable connections

[formal lantern]

Yes, tell me how are you supposed to do that exactly, LOOK how close these are, FOR PROTOYPING? WHy do you think no one repairse things anymore.

[elfin sphinx]

this is nothing , every single component in this picture is pretty easy to replace

anyways

[formal lantern]

You clearly never actually tried repairing this, with hot gun or needle nose twizzrs and foil tape

[elfin sphinx]

i do it for work lmfao

[formal lantern]

WHO WOULD ever ask you that dude, NO one, it would be cheaper to just get a new board. NO way.

[elfin sphinx]

i mean i dont exclusively repair , but i have soldered stuff like this countless times

[elfin sphinx]

no ?

[formal lantern]

Yes, so have I a few times.

You are not getting my point,

TH components are way better for prototyping

[elfin sphinx]

sure , i dont deny that

[formal lantern]

Why do you think breadboards are the way they are? \

[elfin sphinx]

to experiment around

but at some point you reach the breadboard limit with those finnicky connections

[formal lantern]

Right so have you seen ones for SMT? please share.

[elfin sphinx]

breadboards for SMT ? what ?

breadboards work with through hole componenets , not SMT components

if you want to use a SMT component on breadboard , you make an adapter for it

but if you are going to use ESP32 , its cheaper to buy a whole new board because its literally like 3 USD

[formal lantern]

For fast programming and designs and test you just do not do SMT ever, its always TH. Unless they are so cheap that you just toss a 1$ board for 0.1C cap.

[elfin sphinx]

i use an existing dev board when im prototyping , i dont remake the dev board from scratch

[formal lantern]

Why take extra steps for adapter, but all right, tell me what adapter lets you do SMT?

Have you ever JSUT used the chip direclty?

You can have certain clock speeds that you need and use EXTERNAL crystal.

You cannot do that with SMT unless you get the board direclty, but fi you do that and the cap is done or resistor or the chip, you toss the board and get a new one...total waste is my point.

Most chips have internal or external crystals you can use with them depending on speed you need for said timers

[elfin sphinx]

this is you saying " its too hard to do so i wont do it "

im not tossing a 10 USD board in bin if i can replace a 0.1 cent resistor on it

[elfin sphinx]

....... are you trying to understand if i know what im talking about ?
well i have done my Bachlore's in electronics and communication engineering
i currently work at a place where we design electronic products, i have designed multiple custom boards around ESP32 and STM32
i hope that is enough to answer your query

[formal lantern]

HOW would you do that? They would have to be way aprt, the amount of time it takes you to do that would be WAY faster to just put a new resister in if its TH..

Takes you what minutes to replace smt?

[elfin sphinx]

why would i design the whole circuit of devboard on breadboard if i can just use the dev board on breadboard ?

[formal lantern]

SMT is not desing for this sort of work, EVEN if you are able to do it, its really dumb to do that. Its simpler to do TH then miniaturize it as you need

[elfin sphinx]

also the chances of just burning a random resistor for no reason are extremly low to zero

[formal lantern]

@elfin sphinx First off what sot of boards do you use? I have a feeling you don't actually know what is going on with them.

[elfin sphinx]

STM32 discovery / nucleo line and ESP32 at the moment
looking to get nrf dev boards

you are free to assume i dont know what im talking about if u want

but that doesnt change what i have said so far one bit

i hope you dont misunderstand what i said as "dont use breadboards even for prototyping"

[formal lantern]

Really so you repair THESE boards?

No fking way that it takes you more than 2 minutes to do that at best

[elfin sphinx]

i dont repair them lol , i just use them , i dont burn them in the first place

but i have repaired ESP32 boards , replaced JUST the burnt CP2102 chip with another esp32

the CP2102 chip doesnt even have pins visible , its just a die

[formal lantern]

Right and how long does that take?

[elfin sphinx]

like 15 minutes

[formal lantern]

LOL

It takes ME SECs

[elfin sphinx]

good for you ?

[formal lantern]

To replace th if I build it from ground up since most are open source..

You are not getting my point, for prototyping you do not want to spend 15m replacing cap EVER

[elfin sphinx]

i have to heat the gun up , then i have to warm up the board, then remove the bad one , then clean up the area with flux , then clean with IPA , then get a donor board, do the same , remove the chip , clean its underside , then put this donor chip in original board with flux , then hot air it down
15 minutes is fast lol

[formal lantern]

That is why I was looking for TH, if ESP32 has a TH chip, I will simply downlaod the schematic and then build it form ground up, when I am done for certain settings I can then continue making it small

[elfin sphinx]

can you tell me what exactly it is that you are trying to do ?

lets assume im making .... an MP3 player with ESP32. What are you trying to make ? and why should i not use ESP32 dev board ?

[formal lantern]

This is completely normal if you do embedded. Now if you do something like arduion where you plug and play and have no diea what caps are for or resistors or what is under the hood of the chip then sure.

[elfin sphinx]

good luck with building t he board that way

[formal lantern]

I have SEVERAL

[elfin sphinx]

sure , we setup analog setups on breadboard all the time

but we are not stupid enough to remake an ESP32 dev board on breadboard lol

[formal lantern]

AND made them SMT when I need them form egcad or other.

[elfin sphinx]

its a 4 buck board

[elfin sphinx]

can you show what u have made ? im curious

the ESP32 TH board you are talking about in specific

[formal lantern]

That is my point, if something goes wrong like the chip you are tossing 4 dollars. Go to any company and tell them that, it would be insane waste. With TH for prototyping a chip is like what 14C? or less maybe 2c prob in bluk.

Why do you think they buy them in bulk, they desing on cad and prototyping them then SMT comes next

I deal mostly with PIC though

[elfin sphinx]

not really , saving 20 hours of work is nothing in front of 4 dollars
good luck making a reliable ESP32 board from bare chip on your breadboard

it works right now
uh oh you moved the breadboard
now its spitting out garbage

gg

[formal lantern]

20 hours of work? But its ok to repair a board that takes you 15 minutes? LOL

IF you had to do 50 of them good fkn luck

NO boss would ever let you do that

That is why TH is better you just prototype and then bake them if needed.

[elfin sphinx]

when i buy a dev board , im plugging it in

you are talking about going to ESP32 website , setting it up resistor by resistor
yeah good luck

just assembling is one part , making sure it works reliably is another part lol

[elfin sphinx]

do you work somewhere that does this ?

all of this aside , im still very curious to see your ESP32 board assembled resistor by resistor on breadboard, you told me you have several of them
i would be curious to see one
ping me when you post @formal lantern

[formal lantern]

I have formal degree in this, and yes, we build them on cad, they are then given to me to put the schematic together, I test the boards, if its bad design I send it back to an EE to redising it based on what points I made, like finding parasitic caps between compnents because they are too close to transformers or some other, or some filter circuit problem low and or high pass.

[elfin sphinx]

thats a .... nice word jumble you got there at the end 😂 tells me enough

[formal lantern]

Really, you don't thikn someone selected wrong cap for low and high pass filtering for comunication system?

I don't think you know what you are talking about.

[elfin sphinx]

say to your boss
"instead of using this board , why dont we assemble this resistor by resistor on breadboard"
and see how he laughs at u

[formal lantern]

What resistor you dumbass? That is not how that works lol

EE desings a product, they then pust the schematic on me, I test them, I don't bake them for SMT becues no one does that, if you ask for SMT direclty you are making MILLIONS OF THEM

[elfin sphinx]

thats the whole point you have been saying "instead of using a dev board , we will assemble eit on breadboard so if any resistor goes bad u can just replace that resistor"

at least dont forget what u were saying ffs

[formal lantern]

What they do is test design and retest them. IF the board has something to do with communications and the EE messed up on values for say LOW pass or HIGH pass filtering...you are fked if you decided to produce it with millions in order.

Do you not know what prototyping is?

Do you think EE just desings the schematic and the boss is like oh good enouhg lest build it RIGHT away?

[elfin sphinx]

when did i ever said that lmfao

[formal lantern]

I don't think you are getting it.

Look up manufacturing on electronics will you.

[elfin sphinx]

i understood perfectly what u were trying to do and i pointed out exactly why that is stupid
but instead u refuse to understand how it works in real world

[formal lantern]

That was my job that was what I was doing, worked closely with EE on their desing. HOw do you think they test them? Why would they make them SMT first, that is the FINAL product bud.

[elfin sphinx]

it is pretty funny though , pretending you know how it works at a real job when u were asking "what is an SMT to bredboard adapter" like 10 minutes ago

[formal lantern]

Show me a picture of SMT adapter please do...

And I will point out why HOBBY people use it and not professionals \

but try again.

Since those adapters are for HOBBY USE.

[elfin sphinx]

This is the one I had on hand , but we have ones for all sorts of ICs and packages , it lets us prototype easier and faster

[formal lantern]

REALLY and you think that will be used in real devlopment? ITS HOBBY LOL

[elfin sphinx]

im at home lmao , not at office , if i were at office , i would send a pic of a real one

read what isaid

this is the one i had on hand

[formal lantern]

I actually cannot see what it is though its hard picture

[elfin sphinx]

this is like the most common component used in electronics overall..........

[formal lantern]

You would never use the 3 prongs for real dev. This is HOBBY stuff. You would have the machine solder that directly. I have a feeling you use instructables as example for what electronics prototyping is like.

[elfin sphinx]

im gonna just let you live in your fantasy world

[formal lantern]

I cannot tell what component that is, looks like a basic transistor but a lot of componets have 3 progs like voltage regulators whic can be that small.

What fantasy?

using TH for prototyping is normal. I would never use SMT if its hard to get to the components that was my point.

[elfin sphinx]

one advice i have for you is to talk to people who do it for their living and not make assumption based on the stuff u see on youtube

and when u do talk to them , actually listen to what they are saying 😂

[formal lantern]

Your idea is that you would rather throw away a $4 for a ease to replace cap or resistor or chip that you might have in your lab rather than just replacing it directly for further testing.

[elfin sphinx]

i litearlly showed you we use breadboard for prototyping lmfao

[formal lantern]

Yeah you are not doing it for a living bud no way.

You don't even know what a low pass or high pass filter is.

[elfin sphinx]

this thing wouldnt exist if we didnt prototype on breadboard

[elfin sphinx]

and now i dont even know filters , intersting 😂

dont know where we talked about knowledge of filters but alr8

[formal lantern]

What? Read up. You said I was making stuff up.

I thought you were not understanding it at all

or RC circuits

Induction reaction?

[elfin sphinx]

i love the all caps btw

[formal lantern]

RL circuits?

If you are building electronics directly and NOT electronic system like robot then you would never prototype with SMT first.

[elfin sphinx]

do you just want me throw around random words too ? its pretty easy to name unrelated terms and think you are smart

you said "cant EE mess up filter design" , sure they can , but we already have simulators for that , we simulate the behavior , so its hard to mess up, and no one just produces circuits without testing them

thats just plain stupid

[formal lantern]

NO SHIT its rare

However it does happen more often then you think. What part of EE cad desing did you not get that I said?

[elfin sphinx]

welp , i have a meeting , see you later

[elfin sphinx]

the part where you made up the flow of what happens in production

[elfin sphinx]

no one is here yet , im just chilling in call

[formal lantern]

Sure bud your hobby group meeting about plug and play electronics..

[elfin sphinx]

i wish it was that unserious

i havce office probably thursday , if you ping me , i can post some pics from the office

so u get to see what happens at real work

rather than assume stuff from made up imagination

[formal lantern]

What stuff did I assume?

[elfin sphinx]

now you want to know 😂

[formal lantern]

You showed me hobby electronics that was it...\

I showed you actual boards bud

[elfin sphinx]

i didnt see a single picture of ur board btw , i asked for it like 4 times

also i dont get what part of a SMT to TH adapter board of a simple transistor makes it look hobby but alr8

[formal lantern]

So that was a transistor?

[elfin sphinx]

with all the capitalizations
the constant "you dont know what you are talking about " , "you do hobby electronics"
to someone who actually earns money doing this is very ... self projecting if i may say so

[formal lantern]

sure, was that a transistor?

Because I have to laugh it is...why the hell would you waste that much space and materials FOR that transistor, why would not not use just a transistor directly FOR breadboard

[elfin sphinx]

yes it is , specificlaly a low Vgs one suitable for working with 3.3V logic level so that it can turn on off with 3.3V logic without needing a bigger power source and still able to sink ton of current
i hope thats enough words for you

[elfin sphinx]

because the ones that are specialized dont come in THT package

they are only avaialbe in SMT

to use them in prototyping on breadboard you make an adapter

jeez

the fact taht you think "why not just use a THT one" shows me that u have never done this past hobby

[formal lantern]

Ok why the hell would use that instead of transistor directly? Why would you even need to buy that LOL. You can get 100 pack on amazon for less than 10...

Are you telling me got 100 of those and its $4? I hope not/

[elfin sphinx]

amazon lmfao

we use digikey

amazon is trash even for hobby stuff standard

[formal lantern]

Yeah no shit if you need 100000 of them

[elfin sphinx]

you clearly have no sense of what happens in real world and are just wasting my time at this point

good luck in your endevours

[formal lantern]

You are NOT using SMT for testing, is all your components like that? Do you also have a SMT cap that has 2 breadboard prongs for testing? LOL

I know way more than you.

[elfin sphinx]

.

[formal lantern]

Yeah that was my point, they SHOULD be coming with TH that is why I was asking for a CHIP for that.

[elfin sphinx]

you should apply , we are actually hiring a tester ( this is sarcasm btw , you would probably be rejected at screening stage)

[formal lantern]

Where is that?

I don't need the job though

I am just curious where exactly you work

[elfin sphinx]

the companies who produce these , dont make in THT xd

[formal lantern]

Is it in US?

I have a feeling NO

[elfin sphinx]

oh its a startup called MediForAll ,its pretty small , but we have gotten funding
although im debating if i should quit and find a stable job

[elfin sphinx]

im from india , its an india based startup

[formal lantern]

YEAH lLOL

[elfin sphinx]

and why is that 😂

[formal lantern]

I thoughts so

[elfin sphinx]

ahh , racism

always fun to see that

[formal lantern]

NO, when did I say that?

I asked if you are working in US which I said I doubt it, you said india so I was agreeing.

[elfin sphinx]

"ahh , NOT from USA , from india , thought so LOL"

[formal lantern]

US has way different standards of manufacturing lol we are not using HOBBY components but all right..

I NEVER ahh , NOT from USA , from india , thought so LOL" said that, that is what YOU interpeted dude, that is ON YOU

Has nothing to do with you being Indian

[elfin sphinx]

medical electronics standards are strict everywhere , not just USA

[formal lantern]

Sure

[elfin sphinx]

#microcontrollers message

btw i havent seen a single picture of your board which i asked for like 5 times now , you havent told me where you work , you ahve just named all the hobby stuff so far and have been throwing around low pass high pass filter and similar terms

whereas i have told u everything u needed to know

and i wonder who is the one pretending here

[formal lantern]

I don't have one, WHY the hell do you think I am asking for chips?

Lol

Are you here?

[elfin sphinx]

you said "i have dozens"

[formal lantern]

Hello? you with me there bud?

I said I have MADE dozens over my work history and life time, why would i have EVERY board I made from 2012?

[elfin sphinx]

wait , you said several not dozens

at least remembers the stuff you made up lol

[formal lantern]

The type of boards we would make are basically mother boards think on that.

[elfin sphinx]

this just making u look like a clown at this point

[formal lantern]

Why is that funny?

[elfin sphinx]

why dont you think on that 😂

[formal lantern]

Yeah you are just defelcting as you have no idea.;

[elfin sphinx]

this is like a third grader saying " I went to the mall ALL by myself " then the adult laughing and the kid asking "why are you laughing , you dont think people can go to mall on their own ? "
😂

[formal lantern]

Last time I worked we designed things like this.

[elfin sphinx]

its a google image lmfao

[formal lantern]

You want me to open up my computer and show you a motherboard? WTF?

[elfin sphinx]

no no i wouldnt ask u to do that
i know you dont have anything to show from your made up workplace

[formal lantern]

I don't think you get it...

[elfin sphinx]

update on the meeting : it is pushed back

so now i can finish writing tests

[elfin sphinx]

yes , i dont

im clearly really stupid and i only do hobby work , happy ?

[formal lantern]

The picture I showed was a producte we worked on, why would I have this at home?

Its not exact but basically a motherboard for specialized systems MOSTLY communications.

[elfin sphinx]

before u ask me "why is that funny"
it is funny for this analogy i said here

[formal lantern]

You don't think communications systems have their own computers?

I am confused

What are you on about? I don't have the boards with me you moron you think they would let me take that home wtf?

[elfin sphinx]

didnt expect to start modnay morning off by arguing with a kid but here we are

[elfin sphinx]

ahh , now im a moron 😂

[formal lantern]

I am rather sure I am older than you are but not sure why you are using kid as a derogative term as if that dismissed your dumb argument about nothing.

Show me actual product you are working on no?

[elfin sphinx]

i can just send you a google image and say "this is the kind of stuff we work , it is similiar to this specialized for XYZ" like you did earlier

then when u dont buy it , i can call u moron like u did 😂

[formal lantern]

I think because your English is not your first language you are missing a lot of context bud.

[elfin sphinx]

maybe its time <@&831776746206265384> stepped in , you seem to be going off the handle quiet a bit

[formal lantern]

I think that is mostly you...

[tidal perch]

!shh

[hasty zealot]

✅ silenced current channel for 4 minute(s).

[tidal perch]

...definitely should have been pinged earlier

Like, an hour ago would have been great honestly

We would much rather you ping us than have an hour long argument, although it probably wasn't clear when it became such except in hindsight

but definitely before calling each other names

[hasty zealot]

✅ unsilenced current channel.

[tidal perch]

@formal lantern not to single you out too much, but you did get rather aggressive rather quickly. Try to pay more attention to your temper, please.

[elfin sphinx]

didnt even realize this costed me an hour 💀

[formal lantern]

Yeah sorry, you are really busy huh with meetings...

[elfin sphinx]

only if you read the whole conversation rather than cherry picking xd

[tidal perch]

..try not to restart it by sending barbed messages?

[formal lantern]

No no, don't stop on my account, go do your important NONE hobby work sure..

[elfin sphinx]

anyways , im done , you can continue whatever u want or do personal attacks i dont really mind

[tidal perch]

People getting lost in an argument is one thing, but once you've been given a moment... sigh

!mute 376987140950851587 4h Please take a break and calm down

[hasty zealot]

:incoming_envelope: :ok_hand: applied timeout to @formal lantern until <t:1772448426:f> (4 hours).

[astral iron]

Great

[formal lantern]

That was some time a go bud, I am not muted

[verbal raptor]

I made a tool for Mac to convert PNGs to BINs for mini displays. Figured we needed once since LCD assistant is windows only.

https://github.com/Tyguy047/Micro-Helper/releases/tag/Version-0.1.0

It is signed and certified btw so shouldn’t set off gatekeeper!

[formal lantern]

Any interesting projects on here?

[fierce cedar]

greetings everyone please
my name is Clarence
a yr 1 engineering student
I'm quit new here
🌚

@formal lantern I have a project in mind that so cool ideas will be of great help 😀

[formal lantern]

@fierce cedar What sort of project?

[muted wigeon]

ESP-NOW series done! 4 projects, no WiFi, no router — just peer-to-peer MAC-to-MAC communication on ESP8266 in MicroPython.
Day 54 → Basic LED control
Day 55 → Button to LED
Day 56 → 4-channel relay controller
Day 57 → Bidirectional relay + DHT sensor on OLED
Code- https://github.com/KritishMohapatra/100_Days_100_IoT_Projects

[opal lodge]

this is not really the place to advertise your projects, the only place for such things on this server is #1468524576479641744

[plain carbon]

If you are interested in micropython check my project out 🙂

The mini yet powerful operating system for DIY projects based on micropython for ESP and Raspberry MCU-s. Integrated Socket/Web server, Interrupts, Async task manager, Package manager, Cron, etc.

Any opinions? 😊

https://github.com/BxNxM/micrOS/releases/tag/v3.0.0-0

[toxic mirage]

Are these like raspberry pis?

[brisk zodiac]

#1468524576479641744

[plain carbon]

micrOS Review: A MicroPython Framework for Connected Embedded Devices

micrOS is best described as a MicroPython-based embedded application framework for ESP32-class boards and similar hardware. It is not an RTOS in the Zephyr or QNX sense, and it is not trying to compete with bare-metal ESP-IDF development. Instead, it provides a lightweight runtime layer that turns a microcontroller into a modular, network-accessible device with built-in shell access, web features, scheduling, and loadable application modules.

That makes micrOS especially interesting for makers, advanced hobbyists, prototype teams, and smart-device builders who want to move beyond one-off firmware sketches. If you come from Arduino, the main difference is that micrOS is not just about flashing a single app. It is about building a reusable device platform where functions can be exposed over the network, modules can be extended over time, and the board behaves more like a tiny embedded service host than a fixed firmware image.

Technically, one of the framework’s strengths is its architecture. It uses a relatively small core, an async task model, configuration-driven startup, and lazy loading for optional subsystems like the web UI and extra modules. On properly dimensioned hardware, with enough memory headroom and well-behaved applications, that design can feel very responsive in practice and surprisingly deterministic from a user perspective. That said, app quality matters a lot here: the responsiveness of the final device depends not just on the framework, but on how carefully the modules, tasks, and memory usage are designed.

This is also where micrOS shows maturity. It is not only about runtime features, but about the surrounding workflow as well. Deployment support, board images, module tooling, GUI utilities, and client-facing control options make it feel more like a usable embedded platform than a loose collection of scripts.

micrOS is a strong fit for Wi-Fi-connected controllers, sensor nodes, lighting systems, robotics demos, home automation devices, and modular IoT prototypes. It is less suitable for systems that need strict hard real-time guarantees, certification-oriented architecture, or extremely tight low-level optimization. In other words, it works best where flexibility, development speed, and networked usability matter more than RTOS-class determinism.

The bottom line is simple: micrOS is for developers who want to build connected embedded devices quickly and treat those devices more like manageable application platforms than traditional monolithic firmware. And when the hardware is sized correctly and the apps are written with discipline, it can deliver a user experience that feels fast, stable, and impressively polished for this class of system.

https://github.com/BxNxM/micrOS

[shadow root]

Did you just... use LLM to "review" your own project to advertise it?

[plain carbon]

yes 😂 I am not good at it, so I have used Codex

[dry mortar]

python, hm?

doesnt seem like an os to me

[plain carbon]

and you are right, sort of 🙂 but what is your os definition? 🙂 It is a mini application execution and scheduling platform if you like it more 🙂

[dry mortar]

but what is your os definition?
a program that runs directly on the hardware, isn't dependent on any other platform or software to run on top of, and is the parent of all processes under it

pessimists, this doesn't include systemd or openrc or any init system

they depend on the kernel

and by platform i mean kernel, not hardware

[plain carbon]

in this sense micropython(kernel) + micrOS (os layer) that gives similar capabilities 🙂

Task management + configuration management + package management + Interrupts + cron + and well defined application layer (with app loading, and command execution) + communication interfaces as primary interaction surface.

[candid forge]

this just sounds like you ask a question , he puts it into AI and copy pastes what AI says back here

[pliant gale]

Just found this gem.
Open source microcontroller simulator...

It lets you connect varius boards, write code and see execution

https://www.hackster.io/news/simulate-arduino-esp32-and-more-with-this-open-source-web-tool-a117bee84721

[limber field]

mmmm , nice

[exotic wolf]

hello, i am planning to purchase a raspberry pi for my college project which should run atleast a tiny SLM smoothly. is 2GB RAM good or should i purchase a 4GB?

4GB seems expensive for me. chatgpt said 2GB ones would be too slow to run on the pi

[candid shuttle]

you generaly need the ai hat for anything LM

and more ram the better, that way you can at least scale down later

[vital sail]

Anybody can help us in developing a kernal

[shrewd shell]

Hey I wanted to make projects of microcontrollers for fun(Also learn a bit cuz the companies are asking for embedded related programming knowledge and all) and make cool stuff but I don't have funds can I make a simulation version of it and add to my GitHub as a project.
Also what is a basic project I can start with then increase the difficulty or smt

I was going to make a display magic project using esp32 or smt but I thought I should ask someone's opinion before I do it.

[half sand]

What would be the best IDE to use MicroPython?

[kindred dagger]

thonny is beginner-friendly and has built-in MicroPython support

[brisk dove]

Hello, I am looking for a raspberry pi microcontroller for my XOR encryption project but I have never used raspberry pi before and was looking for some help.

[silver swift]

Raspberry Pi isn’t actually a microcontroller like Arduino. It’s a full mini-computer

[gusty anvil]

It depends. Raspberry pi sells both mini computers and microcontrollers. For microcontrollers, they sell the pico and pico 2.

[candid forge]

getting pretty popular too

[dry mortar]

the pi is the mini computer

[candid forge]

pi is 3.14

[compact ferry]

they are talking bout rasberry pi

[kindred dagger]

no they're talking about the pi coding agent

[compact ferry]

nope rasberry pi is what his talking about read it

[lime kelp]

AY-3-8910A hardware playback powered by Furnace Tracker!

[timid bone]

Can you guys give a simple project idea please

We r using assembly languages

[hoary topaz]

Mate JSON is back end

YAML (YAML Ain't Markup Language) is a human-friendly data serialization language commonly used for configuration files, featuring key-value pairs, lists, and indentation-based structure

"Parse".... evolves spacing

PYTHON!

Bro, Python!

[topaz tiger]

guys am gonna use a llm should i use an esp 32 or arduino

which is better in general

am gonna run the llm in my laptop

but which one is better please tell me

[candid forge]

what does arduino or ESP32 have anything to do with this ?

[whole sage]

Can you run arduino on esp32

[blazing root]

yes, you can. There is an Arduino core, so you can program it with the arduino IDE

[whole sage]

Sorry I meant can you run python on arduino

[blazing root]

you also can, pyfirmata protocol

[candid forge]

Firmata is a protocol for communicating with microcontrollers from software on a computer
so no , pyfirmata doesnt allow u to run python on ur microcontroller , the program lives on ur PC

what it does is , it allows you to control your microcontroller using a python script

[unique pond]

Hi

[rotund wing]

Hi

[urban junco]

I'm building a AXI4-lite protocol and I want to test it on fpga...I recently got access to chipwisperer
Does anyone here know how to implement it on chipwisperer?

[rotund wing]

Good luck with your project.

Its gateware can probably be uploaded over USB. And there are jtag headers for directly uploading gateware. rpi pico can be used as jtag programmer.

[rotund wing]

Btw I'm working with FPGAs too as well as wishbone protocol

[limber field]

very interesting , thanks for the idea @rotund wing

[rotund wing]

You too work with FPGAs, right? Which project are you working on?

[limber field]

can i DM you @rotund wing

[urban junco]

Thanks mate, lemme try that today

And if you have any experience with performing STA on FPGAs...share that too

[cinder hawk]

hi I like food

[robust tusk]

<@&831776746206265384> offtop

[somber fox]

Please read the channel description of each channel before posting in it.

[visual frost]

Can i get Python on a stock amiga 600 with 4mb ram?

[ancient kestrel]

.7

[cinder hawk]

at that point what ide is it going to be

[storm bolt]

Is there some known pipeline to get PyTorch models running on embedded Python? Not too familiar with embedded systems

[lament knoll]

What's 'embedded Python'?

Python in general is usually used in a assisting way to a application (like with math for example).
In the case of PyTorch you'd most likely be looking at building & training a model with it, to then implement it in HDL for a FPGA.

[urban junco]

Are there any mcus who's software use python?

Haven't heard of embedded py anywhere

[lament knoll]

MicroPython exists

[clever lintel]

Other than the Pi (running Python) and Arduino (communication with a PC through the serial port), what other micro-controllers support programming or control with Python?

I have an old Pi but I don't know much about micro-controllers and how (or if) they work well with Python

[vague crane]

MicroPython & CircuitPython (derived from the former) both have a set of boards they're compatible with

http://micropython.org/
https://learn.adafruit.com/welcome-to-circuitpython/what-is-circuitpython

[opal mason]

CircuitPython looks so cool

[vague crane]

I'm on board with anything that helps me avoid C 😄

[opal mason]

I was thinking of making something for my gf's work (she's a school teacher), so I'm going to look in to that

[vague crane]

This was what was linked in #303934982764625920 yesterday: https://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/aqapmb/prototype_of_pythonpowered_iot_device_gets_how/

[opal mason]

Oh, that's cool!

[vague crane]

I'm very intrigued by the board

[opal mason]

She would like to have something like a beebot, so the children can learn planning out actions while playing

So, I'm thinking of creating something similar (but not an exact copy of course)

[tawny fiber]

but we need C for the speed and direct memory access on micrcontrollers 😦

[vague crane]

do we though

[tawny fiber]

yes

or rust (yay rust)

[vague crane]

Well, then don't use it

[lean valve]

Does assuming you need C count as premature optimization?

[languid hill]

People have been using basic on them for a long time, it's not a big deal for most projects

[lean valve]

And in terms of education, the Adafruit stuff, when plugged in, exposes a USB storage with a main.py that you can simply edit. It's literally as simple as possible

[opal mason]

Yeah, I've seen that. Sounds amazing.

There's an edited Mu editor as well, right?

[lean valve]

Don't think it's a fork

Oh, they do have a prerelease fork for support for a specific board, the NeoTrellis M4

[opal mason]

Yeah, I saw that on the CircuitPython page

Was looking at it

[long orbit]

Hi all! I'm a CircuitPython dev (sponsored by Adafruit). Feel free to mention me if you have any questions.

[vague crane]

Welcome, thanks for joining us!

[lean valve]

Hi tannewt. I will introduce myself in the adafruit #help-with-circuitpython as a gesture of solidarity. Student exchange program, maybe?

[long orbit]

haha, 😃 sure

[steel aurora]

oh hey it's @long orbit! Not just "a dev", but in fact the project lead for CircuitPython if memory serves me right.

we're very glad to have you here.

[long orbit]

Ya, I lead it. 😃 Thanks @steel aurora

[molten cosmos]

Welcome!

[stuck thicket]

hey folks!

limor (ladyada) and i (pt) will stop in here and we'll be able to answer questions etc

here's a good start for resources... https://github.com/adafruit/awesome-circuitpython

[opal mason]

That's a comprehensive page, wow

[stuck thicket]

thankya

and here is our latest newsletter that went out on tues, it's every type of python on hardware that we cover each week, there's a lot... https://www.adafruitdaily.com/2019/02/12/python-is-for-the-birds-deep-dive-raspberry-pi-store-and-more-python-adafruit-circuitpython-circuitpython-micropython-thepsf-adafruit/

archives are here: https://www.adafruitdaily.com/category/circuitpython/

AND a ton of guides - https://learn.adafruit.com/category/circuitpython

and hardware: https://www.adafruit.com/circuitpython

that'll get a lot of folks going fast to see what is possible

[silver surge]

oh man this looks awesome

i need to get my hands on a kit to get into this

[opal mason]

Yeah, for sure.

Wait, I think I can create a single message out of the links above so we can pin it to the channel. Probably a good idea to have those links ready.

[silver surge]

good idea

[opal mason]

Okay, just a sec

[steel aurora]

for the record, I did give both @stuck thicket and @long orbit pin permissions in here. but yeah @opal mason, make a megapost and pin that. :))

[stuck thicket]

@steel aurora what is the best url to use for posting an invite to this server? from our adafruit server as well regular ole' web link on a blog post, etc.?

[steel aurora]

I think we'll make you an invite so we can track usage

just a sec

[opal mason]

Are you interested in Adafruit and Python for microcontrollers? Then take a look at these links:

A great place to start is https://github.com/adafruit/awesome-circuitpython. It's a curated list of awesome CircuitPython guides, videos, libraries, frameworks, software and resources that will help you get started or find the information you're looking for.

If you're specifically interested in project guides, then check out: https://learn.adafruit.com/category/circuitpython. It has a TON of project guides and has something interesting for just about anyone.

Obviously, the hardware is also important, so check out https://www.adafruit.com/circuitpython for more information about Adafruit's line of Circuit Python products. CircuitPython is Adafruit's branch of MicroPython designed to simplify experimentation and education on low-cost microcontrollers.

Do you want to keep up with the latest news about Python for microcontrollers? Then head over to https://www.adafruitdaily.com/ and sign up for the newsletter! The archives of the Python category can be found at https://www.adafruitdaily.com/category/circuitpython/

[stuck thicket]

wow, nicely done @opal mason thanks for that

[past epoch]

Hello @stuck thicket and @long orbit Im really excited to get hand on some of your stuff 😄

[stuck thicket]

hello!

[past epoch]

Ill get one of the large boxes of things and some more for my actual project. watering my plants outside during the summer

and ill share items with people from the staff so we can get more hands on experience 😄

[stuck thicket]

oh! we'll have some python-powered plant projects and things shortly too

[past epoch]

oh that is super.. 😄

[steel aurora]

@stuck thicket you can use https://discord.gg/djuFYQA

[stuck thicket]

data logging as well as (free) iot services for things

thanks @steel aurora on it

[steel aurora]

it's a shame you don't get stats on the vanity urls

I'd love to just use discord.gg/python everywhere.

but we would have no idea who used it

[stuck thicket]

yah

[steel aurora]

what about you guys, should I swap your invite with something else or is it okay to use your vanity?

I forgot to ask you that

[stuck thicket]

one ya have is fine, all good

[steel aurora]

cool cool.

[past epoch]

where in the us are you located? like, what I'm actually wondering is, do you have a real store and can i visit if I travel over the pond?

[stuck thicket]

we are in NYC and do not have a retail store, however! microcenter in the USA stocks all our stuff

and depending where you are, local stores may have retail stock as well: https://www.adafruit.com/distributors

[past epoch]

Im going to LA in September, is there a microcenter there?

oh.. cool i found it 😄

[stuck thicket]

looks like one in CA - https://www.microcenter.com/site/stores/default.aspx

[acoustic leaf]

That's pretty far from where I am

no surprise I've never seen on around here

[silver surge]

Yeah there is one between Santa Ana and Irvine I think

I passed it last year

[acoustic leaf]

basically on the opposite side of where I live

[past epoch]

https://i.imgur.com/pX44TD8.png

yeah.. same for me 😄

[opal mason]

Haha

[acoustic leaf]

well

it's all relative

50-60km is far here 😄

with all the traffic

[opal mason]

Anyway, now I need to think of a project, too

And order me some nice stuff

[past epoch]

you should get a traffic sensor that counts cars pr hour and logs it just to be sure your statement is correct 😄

[opal mason]

I think I know what I want to do

[acoustic leaf]

I couldn't think of anything

the notion sounds neat though

[past epoch]

I also need a sensor to check for my water level in my pond, it evaporates and gets to low in a few weeks. would be nice to track that

[opal mason]

I probably want to make something educational

[steel aurora]

I also need a project

[opal mason]

Maybe my gf has some ideas for things she can use in her class

[past epoch]

and i light to scare away deers that eat my tulips

[steel aurora]

we should put our heads together and come up with some good project ideas.

maybe @stuck thicket has some food for the imagination to link us

[stuck thicket]

@past epoch check out the free iot service we have (does not need adafruit hardware, can use anything) https://www.adafruit.io

[past epoch]

cool, thanks i will 😄

[stuck thicket]

that can help with the logging, does triggers, etc

[past epoch]

I actually pay for an IOT graph service from a temp sensor i built from you guys

written in C a few years ago

[silver surge]

hey that looks awesome

[past epoch]

sends me an SMS and email if temp at work gets to high

oh.. your pricing is very nice..

howcome you can be so cheap @stuck thicket ?

[tulip comet]

i noticed that too.

[stuck thicket]

because we do not have loans or VC

we're able to price things good for everyone because we're not living and dying by service offerings

[past epoch]

I see..

[tulip comet]

oh that's neat!

i've never worked with this sort of thing at all yet i've always wanted to give it a go. is there anything in particular that you'd recommend to beginners like me who are looking for a nice way to get practical with this?

[past epoch]

Can i get the iot service bougth as a business?

might have to make a new account...

accounting gets mad if i buy stuff in my name you see

[stuck thicket]

for getting started with hardware, now that python runs on many devices, that's a good place to start since you can do a lot now, check out circuitplayground express - https://www.adafruit.com/circuitpython

@past epoch yep, make a new account for your biz

[past epoch]

will do

[tulip comet]

yeah i was looking at circuit playground express when doing a bit of research earlier. from what i've read, it sort of reminds me of python itself - capable of quite a lot of things yet easy to start with.

[stuck thicket]

yep, and check out mu for a great editor .... https://codewith.mu/

[opal mason]

Yeah, we have it on our resources list

[stuck thicket]

and check out the plotter for data stuff in mu, https://learn.adafruit.com/sensor-plotting-with-mu-and-circuitpython?view=all

[opal mason]

Yeah, that's cool

[tulip comet]

oh neat, i actually remember seeing that in mu when i used it a little while ago.

[silver surge]

Mu is awesome

[steel aurora]

@stuck thicket is there some sort of integration between Mu and CPy? and if so, are there any plans to extend that to other editors?

I'm.. not a fan of Mu.

can't live without my precious PyCharm.

[stuck thicket]

mu looks for the device(s) like microbits and adafruit devices, there are add-ons for other IDEs... for PyCharm, it's possible to do an add on, we think

[past epoch]

sublime text?

speaking of editors

[opal mason]

Sounds like a nice open-source project

[hallow igloo]

microcontrollers are cool.

all I have to say.

[stuck thicket]

seems like it would be a minor update to this: https://blog.jetbrains.com/pycharm/2018/01/micropython-plugin-for-pycharm/

might even be easier since we're basically a USB drive with the code on it

might even work now

[steel aurora]

hm. we should get someone on that. seems like a good approach would be to just fork https://github.com/vlasovskikh/intellij-micropython and mess with it until it works.

[stuck thicket]

a fork and minor update then a PR to support multiple boards would be cool

looks like a good project for someone for sure

[opal mason]

@past epoch Have you looked into ST3 packages before? Maybe we can look into that. I'd be interested, too.

[stuck thicket]

ok @steel aurora blog post is up, adding in other places, etc, etc will keep getting the word out over the next few days, and... forever https://blog.adafruit.com/2019/02/14/python-discord-server-and-adafruit-discordapp-reddit-circuitpython-python/

[steel aurora]

we love you guys, this is great. the start of a beautiful thing!

and on valentines.

[stuck thicket]

[silver surge]

that's awesome!

also, looking at this Mu integration, that plotting is genius, never seen anything like that built right into an editor for this sort of stuff

and through tuples! amazing

[past epoch]

Mu looks very beginner friendly

in a thonny kind a way

[opal mason]

Yeah, it is

Thonny has bit more IDE-ish features

I think Hemlock used Thonny for a while

When he was learning Python

[silver surge]

also i'm amazed at the pulse sensing on the circuit playground express, that's very cool

[clever spade]

Does anyone know anything about Python on NI products? I'm kind of struggling with trying to pull data from a temperature sensor from one module into another module.

[open dock]

<- Newcomer from Adafruit's server, and CircuitPython volunteer. This is an awesome convergence. Pythons of the world, Unite! 😂

[silver surge]

Welcome to the server!

[rain pine]

I bought a Circuit Playground Express, but I'm a Data Science babby and feel helpless outside of my Jupyter notebook 😄 Is there a way to get Jupyter to talk to it?

[stuck thicket]

@rain pine sorta https://learn.adafruit.com/circuitpython-with-jupyter-notebooks?view=all

[tulip comet]

just ordered a circuit playground express from pimoroni. should arrive within the next couple days, lookin forward to it.

[rain pine]

Rad, thanks!

[long orbit]

Yay @tulip comet. Let us know how it goes!

[neon sail]

hi welcome everyone, this is a great unexpected addition to the chat

[opal mason]

Hi! We're very happy about it, too!

[patent barn]

I think this channel used to exist

Then got archived

And now it's back

?

[vague crane]

There was a micropython channel, yes

[patent barn]

Ahh

While I'm hear... I want to try and make nice, slick and fast wireless buttons

I was thinking using Amazon dash buttons, but they are not very reliable or fast

Any ideas on where I can try and get the hardware for this?

[vague crane]

Adafruit! https://www.adafruit.com/

[open dock]

@patent barn which wireless protocol are you wanting to use? If wifi, look into the ESP8266/ESP32 boards (MicroPython supports them; CircuitPython is dropping firmware support and moving to co-processor support over UART/SPI). If BLE, look into the nRF52840 boards.

[patent barn]

I'm confused on what the difference is.

Ideally I'll Taylor the software for the hardware

So fastest smallest and easiest to case and seal is what I need

[open dock]

Well, Arduino will be faster software wise than xPython. Granted for just detecting a single button, it's negligible. Smallest? Probably one of the flavors of ES8266 (wifi). Like these: https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Seeed-Studio/317060016?qs=SElPoaY2y5KK6Wkw0vh95g%3D%3D

[violet valve]

Hi, everyone! Stopping in from Adafruit to say hello! 😃

[silver surge]

Welcome!

[violet valve]

Thanks!

[nocturne ferry]

just done my first ever expiriments with a breadboard (switching led on with a swich), learnt a lot 😃

had to improvise by plugging in my rpi weirdly to the GPIO because i had no battery things holders

[violet valve]

Congrats! Turns out a lot of experimentation involves improvising something weirdly 😉

[nocturne ferry]

👍

I got an electronics kit for £14 and has a suprising amount of things in

would like to hook it upto my rpi and do some python stuff with it eventually

[lean valve]

What kind of components did it include? Any sensors?

[steel aurora]

oh hey it's @violet valve! nice to see you here! I've been enjoying a lot of guides and reading material with your name on it lately. learn.adafruit.com is really excellent stuff, you guys have done a phenomenal job with that.

[nocturne ferry]

@lean valve https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01LZRV539/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It was only £12.99 & brought it at christmas

looks like they make a pretty nice audrino clone aswell for £6.99: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Elegoo-Board-ATmega328P-ATMEGA16U2-Arduino/dp/B01EWOE0UU/ref=pd_bxgy_147_img_3/262-9110862-4881308?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01EWOE0UU&pd_rd_r=fd1fda4d-31dc-11e9-8ee2-fba13add720e&pd_rd_w=ui35H&pd_rd_wg=MPddJ&pf_rd_p=a0365e62-3353-40ad-91cf-d4ca762b18a7&pf_rd_r=6HNXWVE28RWA5FCBSARV&psc=1&refRID=6HNXWVE28RWA5FCBSARV

[tulip comet]

circuit playground express just arrived, time to play around with it

[open dock]

@tulip comet woohoo! enjoy!

[tulip comet]

thanks ^~^

[lean valve]

Mine should be here next week... excited.

[nocturne ferry]

cool

me and a friend from halfway across the world are going to try and make connected lamps

[silver surge]

I think I'm going to buy my kit today

[nocturne ferry]

when we turn one on/off the other one does the same

[open dock]

since it seems many of you are in the UK, wanted to drop this link in for possibly cheaper total cost with shipping/customs.
https://shop.pimoroni.com/collections/adafruit-uk-distributor

granted, they carry more than Adafruit...but, shameless plug? 😄
note: i am not an employee of Adafruit

[steel aurora]

wait how is it a plug. are you an employee of pimoroni?

[dire stag]

[steel aurora]

for us filthy scandinavians, Elfadistrelec carries an acceptable selection of Adafruit and other boards and components. https://www.elfadistrelec.no

although they're significantly pricier

double the price of adafruit.com, but considering no shipping or customs it might still be cheaper.

or at least not much more expensive with the convenience of being able to pick it up right now at your nearest large mall

[lean valve]

There are a bunch of adafruit distributors in Canada, probably too many to bother pinning any. Digikey for example is a huge wholesaler that stocks adafruit and many smaller places do as well

[open dock]

@steel aurora hehe. no. also not an employee of pimoroni. my luck doesn't work that way. 😄

[steel aurora]

well then I would argue it was an honorable plug.

🙇

[open dock]

i'll take it!

[lean valve]

Between Element14 and Digikey you can pretty much get any component at your door

[steel aurora]

that's so nice.

[open dock]

yeah, DigiKey is my first stop if something is out of stock on Adafruit.

[lean valve]

I bought some DeOxit cleaner from Element14 and they sent me a three inch thick catalogue

I used it as a monitor stand

Guide: Getting Cheap Monitor Stands From Electronics Wholesalers #lifehack #repurpose

[stuck thicket]

in our adafruit server, we do previews of hardware that is not out yet, we'll drop them in here too

upcoming handheld gaming platform, programmable with python of course...

it's not out yet, so can't answer questions about it... yet!

[vague crane]

oh man, handheld Super Potato Bruh

[violet valve]

@steel aurora Thanks! I'm glad to hear that the Learn system is helping you out!

It's a huge part of what we do. (Which is why my name is all over the place 😄 )

[dire stag]

Do you guys do house tours?

I live semi-locally, and am interested in see you guys up close.

[steel aurora]

handheld gaming device

[violet valve]

@dire stag There are no tours of factory. But every Wednesday on the Ask an Engineer live stream, we have the Made in NY segment which is video tours.

It's different clips of the different manufacturing and testing things done around the factory.

[dire stag]

Oh, alright.
Do you have a time for that?

[violet valve]

8pm ET every Wednesday evening. You should check out Show and Tell as well which is 7:30pm ET (right before AaE) - which is a live stream where anyone can join in and show off what they're working on. It's really neat to see what everyone's up to.

[open dock]

hehe. if only ?showtimes was universal, right? 😝

[violet valve]

If you ever want to show off a project or something you're working on, you can join in too 😃

[dire stag]

I'd actually be interested in that - if only my hands were steady enough for the soldering required.

[violet valve]

Doesn't have to be Adafruit related, or hardware. I remember seeing a rather fancy knitted scarf one evening.

I showed off a driver I've been working on last week. Not the hardware part, the code part. 😃

[open dock]

@dire stag i think using a rest is how some people overcome that, if needed. same principle as wood turning with a lathe.

[violet valve]

@dire stag Basically Show and Tell for whatever you're making, thinking up, wanting to do, a story you'd like to tell.

[dire stag]

@open dock It has more to do with my hands than my arms, but thanks for the info.

I'll take a look into the Show and Tell. Thanks a lot 😃

[violet valve]

How to join Adafruit Show and Tell: https://learn.adafruit.com/show-and-tell

[tulip comet]

i've looked at https://circuitpython.readthedocs.io/projects/circuitplayground/en/latest/api.html just to get a feel for how to use my CPX but i can't seem to see anything for interacting with the infrared receiver and transmitter listed on here: https://www.adafruit.com/product/3333. they appear in the board module of circuitpython, but i'm not sure how to use them.

[violet valve]

@tulip comet Search the Adafruit Learn system. The CPX library doesn't have IR incorporated into it, so that's why you're not finding anything in the API for that library. Here is a guide on using IR 😃 https://learn.adafruit.com/infrared-ir-receive-transmit-circuit-playground-express-circuit-python

There are several other examples as well in the Learn system.

[tulip comet]

oh okay neat, thanks! is there any plans to bring IR functionality to the CPX library, or is there any particular reason why it's not there?

[violet valve]

It's not included due to memory constraints. The library is already pushing the limits of the capacity of the CPX. There's nothing in that library for sound sensing either for the same reason.

It covers as much as it possibly can. IR was something I wanted to add, but after looking into it, you'd be running into memory allocation failures with projects if you used too many other features of the lib at the same time. Not a good experience!

[tulip comet]

oh i see. that's a shame really, it would have been nice to have it all bundled together. oh well, i'll have a look at that link you sent. thanks :D

[violet valve]

You're welcome!

[tulip comet]

neat, i did a thing.

[steady juniper]

it... blinks?

[tulip comet]

it turns off my room light.

or on

[steady juniper]

oh, so you got smart bulbs it controls?

[tulip comet]

yep.

[steady juniper]

alright, cool cool

[silver surge]

hey that's awesome

nice one juan

[tulip comet]

thank you :D

[prime spire]

how much was that?

the uh microcontroller thing

[tulip comet]

https://www.adafruit.com/product/3333

i got it from pimoroni because i'm in the UK and i like to avoid international orders if possible.

[prime spire]

okay

this is a weird question to ask but why cant i just get a raspberry pi instead of that since its cheaper

[tulip comet]

well, you probably could. but this is cool.

also i'm pretty sure raspberry pis are more expensive than that.

especially if you include an IR transmitter with that

[prime spire]

oh okay

[tulip comet]

and this microcontroller is capable of a lot more things, too.

you can play around with a lot of things as a beginner.

[prime spire]

like what?

[prime spire]

i thought it was just a button or something like that

oh neat

it uses python?

[silver surge]

circuitpython yep

a special type of python developed for working on microcontrollers

see it here https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython

[tulip comet]

micropython but better

[silver surge]

you can check out our partner adafruit at discord.gg/adafruit who are responsible for the development of this

[prime spire]

okay

[steady juniper]

@tulip comet Beware! https://www.commitstrip.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Strip-Ampoule-connectée-piratée-englishV2.jpg

(source page https://www.commitstrip.com/en/2019/02/04/open-door/? )

[tulip comet]

hahaha

[prime spire]

its cool but i think its limited at the same time, raspberry pi is a very sandboxy tool compared to this

theres a lot more extensions/things you can do as far as im aware

[tulip comet]

the CPX is designed to be a smooth introduction (and hell, it is smooth, they did a great job on it) to working with microcontrollers. once you've got the feel for it, you can use various other microcontrollers which can be extended in their own fancy ways. https://learn.adafruit.com/category/projects

[prime spire]

okay ill try it if i ever get into that sort of stuff

[tulip comet]

sounds great :D

[prime spire]

:^)

[tulip comet]

this was inevitable

mix of #303906096458891264 too, but whatever. :D

[open dock]

haha! nice! bringing the twitter lights to discord.

[dire stag]

Llama

[tulip comet]

they're everywhere

[woeful mauve]

Quick question regarding channel topic, would this include controlling hardware like servos or motors?

[steel aurora]

absolutely @woeful mauve

especially if you're controlling them with a microcontroller running micropython or circuitpython

@tulip comet that is very cool.

nice work!

[woeful mauve]

Well, my questions would probably be more hardware specific, but like code, I'll probably just be learning as much as I can with experimentation

[steel aurora]

well you can try. if this channel doesn't have the answer, the adafruit server in #315249263103967242 definitely will.

discord.gg/adafruit

we won't be moderating any hardware questions in here, at least.

you can ask about components, electronics and wiring, even questions about arduino C are fine with me although I can't guarantee they'll be answered.

just like our other topical channels, anything tangentially related to the topic is acceptable, although the further away from the topic you get, the lesser your chances of getting a good answer. i.e. you can ask about react.js in #web-development but there are probably better servers for it.

(also our crack team of Helpers who are dedicated to this topic are not quite up to speed yet, so it might be a little bit before we can give truly excellent answers even for strictly on-topic questions in here.)

[tulip comet]

i'm excited to learn more about this sort of thing, and i'll be sure to help people with it when i'm able to. :D

[stuck thicket]

@woeful mauve here's code and examples for controlling hardware like servos or motors - https://learn.adafruit.com/make-it-move-with-crickit?view=all

[past epoch]

@open dock just put an order from adafruit and got a 504 error during processing (last step of the order). The order is in my history, are you in a position to check if it went trough?

https://i.imgur.com/AIGFdMc.png

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/305126844661760000/546754183101939742/unknown.png?width=1223&height=675

[open dock]

@past epoch unfortunately, no i'm not (non-employee). email [e-mail]. though, with the weekend and US holdiay on monday, it may be Tuesday before you get an answer.

[past epoch]

oh that makes sense.. ill ask here on tuesday 😄

[open dock]

sorry it borked on you! technology... 😦

[violet valve]

@past epoch You won't get an answer here. Email [e-mail] to get assistance.

They'll get everything sorted 😃

[past epoch]

thanks @violet valve ill do that 😄

[violet valve]

You're welcome!

[past epoch]

I still love you guys 😄

[tulip comet]

oh i see what you mean with the memory issues from having so many things working at once. i tried to make a program which allows me to receive, save, and re-transmit up to 10 IR signals (each one represented by a neopixel on the CPX) but i run into memory issues after storing a few signals.

[open dock]

yep. the joys of limited RAM. welcome to microcontroller life! 😆

[tulip comet]

here i select two different previously-saved signals and transmit them individually. the white light is sorta like a cursor to select each signal, the blue neopixels basically show that there's a signal saved there. the switch toggles between the signal selection mode and the signal transmitting/receiving mode. hard to explain, but was really fun to make. however, after approximately four signals are saved, the chances of survival are perhaps a bit shaky. :D

i wonder if it would help to init/deinit the transmitter/receiver where possible to make it consume less RAM unnecessarily.

if that's even possible, that is.

[open dock]

that might just make it harder to handle. my first step towards freeing up memory would be to convert your code into an .mpy. that frees up the memory space that would be consumed by storing the .py in memory while the bytecode conversion happens. then, in main.py/code.py, just import it.

iirc, the array buffer(s) that hold the IR codes are the part that eat memory.

[tulip comet]

actually yeah that's a point, the .py itself is 3.7kb

[open dock]

what version firmware are you using? and which OS?

[tulip comet]

circuitpython 3.1.2, my OS is arch linux. (if that's what you mean)

[open dock]

hmm. we only have a compiled mpy-cross for ubuntu, so not sure if it'll work. https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/releases/download/3.1.2/mpy-cross-3.x-ubuntu-18.04-x64

if it doesn't, you'd have to clone the circuitpython repo and make mpy-cross yourself. which, could lead you down a rabbit hole dependency wise.

[tulip comet]

yup, that works.

[silver surge]

hm i wonder if i could make an aur package for that

[tulip comet]

only a small difference, but yeah it works.

:D

let's see if it helps at all with the memory issues

[open dock]

yay! i can't make any "+5hp" promises, but it should help. 😄

[tulip comet]

oh hey well, i got 10 signals saved. time to see if it can properly transmit them all back.

yup, it's all working now. that's surprising actually.

thanks :D

[open dock]

yw. glad it helped.

[stuck thicket]

okee dokee, this is "live" the number of people online on this server, all via python on hardware...

[vague crane]

https://tenor.com/view/jonah-hill-shriek-excited-scream-shout-gif-4705306

That's super cool

[languid hill]

yeah but wheres the source and hardware list 👀

also thats still just a microcontroller right? thats some pretty nice performance from a microcontroller

i cant wait till my stuff gets here tuesday :>

[vague crane]

Looks like the upcoming PyPortal https://www.adafruit.com/product/4116

[languid hill]

:C i figured but they have not released details on its hw yet iirc

oh good the micro controller and stuff is there

pretty quick and it supports ac97, interesting

i know computers used to use that for front panel audio before intelhd or whatever but im not sure what it really means

hw crypto, so you can have quick https i presume, neat [oh wait the wifi coprocessor has tls/ssl support anyway]

[stuck thicket]

@languid hill yep, have a post here too with some more info' https://blog.adafruit.com/2019/02/14/pyportal-projects-videos-and-more-adafruit-circuitpython-python-pyportal-badgelife/

[languid hill]

nice thanks :>

[stuck thicket]

[humble kraken]

Are there any resources on the internet explaining why Adafruit want to make their own fork of uPython rather than helping the main one grow?

[stuck thicket]

@humble kraken yep! on the circuitpython repo

https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython#differences-from-micropython

we contribute to main line, and we work with damien on micropython, including selling the pyboards for micropython

[humble kraken]

Like, why extending micropython to include options for Adafruit's wanted behaviour was deemed a no go?

[stuck thicket]

different direction for each *python

and different focus

plenty of room for both and we work together

[humble kraken]

I would've thought, very very very similar focus

[stuck thicket]

"CircuitPython is an education friendly open source derivative of MicroPython. CircuitPython supports use on educational development boards designed and sold by Adafruit. Adafruit CircuitPython features unified Python core APIs and a growing list of Adafruit libraries and drivers of that work with it."

easy to use, supports lots of platforms.

shows up as USB

etc.

[humble kraken]

would Micropython agree that Circuitpython is more education friendly than it?

[stuck thicket]

good question, ask folks who teach / create curriculum for micropython

good to have lots of choices

check out the resources online, see which flavor of python works best for you

circuitpython's goal is to be as pythonic as possible

[humble kraken]

I don't think its always good to have lots of choices, thats a careful tradeoff you always want to make

[languid hill]

when the two choices share code and compete a little at the same time its really a pretty good situation

[stuck thicket]

we're sticking close to python, so if you know python, you can do electronics with circuitpython

[humble kraken]

I appreciate how much driver code you guys have got out there to get things working for people, but it also creates a binary choice for people... does this uLibrary work with my circuitPython board? Does the library maintainer have to adapt their library imports if they want to support both? If an educator wants to teach [python on embedded systems], which details of which project do they focus on?

[languid hill]

plus micropython would break some code if they merged entierly, circuit python doesnt use the micro versions of the libraries

eg utime

in micropython they alias time to utime it looks like, while in circuit python they are more close to core python

[stuck thicket]

we have a list of all the libraries so it's clear what works

there are 133+ https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Bundle/blob/master/circuitpython_library_list.md

[humble kraken]

8 years ago there was a "choice" between good ol' trusty Python 2, and new and unproven Python 3, but I think its clear Python community is stronger and happier now, that that choice has been removed

[languid hill]

they also were made stronger when it occured

otherwise we would still have python 2 only

feel like thats by far the most important part of the 2->3 transition

[humble kraken]

when the split occured?

[stuck thicket]

based on feedback and usage, folks like working code, drivers, support, projects, and lots of platforms to run python on for hardware projects

we're going to keep doing that

[languid hill]

yeah saying that the choice being removed was good doesnt really make any sense. we gained a ton by the split since it allowed them to break the api.

[humble kraken]

Python developers, then python community, then python reputation, all took massive hits when the split occured

[languid hill]

short term

and it wasnt really a hit at all? sorry i dont really follow. it just took some work to port everything

python has exploded since then

[stuck thicket]

python is doing pretty good as far as language adoption around the world

[humble kraken]

All that was only worth it... because it was always planned for the choice to go back to 1 option evnetually, not stay as 2

[languid hill]

tbh thats a pretty shallow look at the outlook at the time. there are forks all the time in the open source world. its very common to split and then rejoin later if the fork proves to have more support or upsides than the original

they did the same with python 2 to 3

if 3 bombed they would just have dropped it

its why we make things open source

so people can take the idea and grow it on their own and everyone benifits

[stuck thicket]

😃

[languid hill]

i could see some arguments if you had specific qualms with how they split, but this seems like its just complaining about how open source works

[humble kraken]

sorry, thats completely false riffautae, the python developers never had any plan b to drop back to 2

[languid hill]

they didnt plan it but it was open source so it didnt matter what they thought. they could safely push for 3 because if people hated 3 python could continue anyway

its the community that could dump 3

and they had to do something anyway. staying in 2 locked them down. python was going to change either via a fork or a transition

[humble kraken]

yeah python itself is doing great now that there is one canonical version to recommend again

couldn't be better

...which is in contrast to current situation on embedded!

[languid hill]

thats a nice little quip, but it still isnt proof that open source fails when there is a split. and thus there is no reason to attack 'circuit python' for even existing vs issues they specifically have

[humble kraken]

Perl 5 and 6 probably nosedived the language into never growing again

because that split never coalesced

[languid hill]

did ubuntu and debian kill linux? no. did ffmpeg and libav kill either? no

both have improved long term from the forks

or because people decided they didnt like perl

[humble kraken]

libav created a hell of a lot of pain while it was debianified

which only went away not when both coexisted peacefully

but when ppl settled back on ffmpeg

[languid hill]

what pain outside of politics? they were api compatible

the user never even noticed

[humble kraken]

no they weren't

lets see if the wiki page in mpv still exists

https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/wiki/FAQ#is-ffmpeg-or-libav-preferred-for-use-with-mpv

I think that's been paired back since

It used to be "please don't use libav, we haven't tested and things tend to break"

[languid hill]

yes i am aware, but did it kill ffmpeg or did ffmpeg grow? what was the impact on the community?

but also, what does it say about open source in general? this is a core part of open source and forking micropython to make core api breaking changes is fully in the spirit, especially since they share code and work togeather

do you feel like the open source coding model is inherently flawed if forking is so bad?

[humble kraken]

my point is yes splits can be painful, yes they can also cause competition and growth, but most of the payback comes when there's a merge back or transition

not when the split is ongoing

e.g after openoffice -> libreoffice, there was like 2 years where IBM was spending unfortunate time still paying its devs to contribute to oracles fork

[steel aurora]

this discussion has run pretty far off-course and can be continued in an off topic channel if necessary.

[steel aurora]

getting my workspace set up

[outer obsidian]

nice! I have the same "helping hands", absolutely love them. truly an indispensable little, funny-looking tool 😃

[lean valve]

I have the same hands as well, and the same soldering iron stand

[outer obsidian]

it's such a funky tool I thought "surely, there must be a better option" so bought one of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Q2TTQEE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and guess which one I still use 95% of the time? my funky little helping hand

[tulip comet]

for some reason i keep getting IRDecodeException: Both even/odd pulses differ soon after i press a button to read and decode pulses (with my CPX). i'm not even sending it any signals. it works just fine in my other program, but not in this one.
here's the code for the receiving part of this program (rarely works): ```py
if cpx.button_b:
button_held = True
cpx.pixels.fill(WAITING_COLOUR)
pulses = decoder.read_pulses(pulsein)

        try:
            saved_signal = decoder.decode_bits(pulses, debug=False)
        except IR_ERRORS as e:
            print("ERROR (" + type(e).__qualname__ + "):", e)
            flash_neopixels(FAIL_COLOUR)
        else:
            flash_neopixels(CONFIRM_COLOUR)

code for the receiving part of my previous program (usually works): ```py
        if cpx.button_b:
            button_held = True
            cpx.pixels[current_index] = WAITING_COLOUR
            pulses = decoder.read_pulses(pulsein)

            try:
                received_code = decoder.decode_bits(pulses, debug=False)
            except Exception as e:
                flash_neopixel(current_index, FAIL_COLOUR)
            else:
                saved_signals[current_index] = received_code
                flash_neopixel(current_index, CONFIRM_COLOUR)

            cpx.pixels[current_index] = ACTIVE_COLOUR

they're very similar, so why might the first one be breaking so much? i can provide the rest of the code for both programs if necessary.

[open dock]

@tulip comet i haven't used the IR stuff. but having experience with the backend of pulseio.PulseIn, i would recommend trying to tweak the max_pulse and pulse_window keyword args in read_pulses(). https://circuitpython.readthedocs.io/projects/irremote/en/latest/api.html#adafruit_irremote.GenericDecode.read_pulses

[tulip comet]

they're identical in both programs but sure, i'll have a play around with it :D

[open dock]

the only difference i see that could make a difference is filling all the neopixels, vs just one. theoretically, those executions should be finished by the time you call for a read. but i'd have to dig into debugging to say for sure.

[tulip comet]

that's what i thought, but even when i removed the cpx.pixels.fill(WAITING_COLOUR) line, the errors persisted.

[open dock]

🤔

[willow kernel]

Not sure if this got mentioned here, buuuuuuuuuut https://www.humblebundle.com/books/microcontrollers-books?hmb_source=humble_home&hmb_medium=product_tile&hmb_campaign=mosaic_section_1_layout_index_2_layout_type_threes_tile_index_2

Figured it might interest a few of you here

[lean valve]

Ooh nice

[outer obsidian]

I have a python (2.7, I know I know)-based platform for managing sensor data (among other things, though its focused on that) on Raspberry Pi if anyone is interested: https://github.com/rpj/rpi

I've used it to build some "garden bots" (for monitoring ambient & soil temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, light level & soil moisture) as well as a particulate matter air quality sensor platform which I wrote about here: https://www.hackster.io/rpj/atmospheric-particulate-matter-environmental-sensing-fb31a1

I've been meaning to write something about the software platform too but haven't gotten around to it yet. Suffice it to say it works wonderfully: low resource utilization, incredibly stable and very easy to maintain and build on (because python rules of course!)

Hope it can be useful to you; if it is, please don't hesitate to let me know! [e-mail]

[languid hill]

i think the outdoors box above the bed might have some wife acceptance factor issues

[outer obsidian]

LMAO! yeah I never updated the writeup to admit that the unit was not allowed to stay there for long 😆

and that isn't even our bedroom, just the guest room! still, it was a no-go

[languid hill]

haha

[stuck thicket]

made a countdown clock with python on hardware for our newsletter, about python on hardware https://www.adafruitdaily.com

gets time via wifi/json and local ip, user just needs to set the date, image, and image to display once count down is reached and for how long

[lean valve]

Is that on the prerelease screen controller hardware thingy?

the, hmm, PyPortal?

[stuck thicket]

@lean valve yep!

[lean valve]

Google just gave me a heart attack

[prime spire]

limited time offer

[steel aurora]

man I want those pyportals.

[past epoch]

oh how useful

can i reserve it?

oh my wife will go crazy

https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/guides/cropped_images/000/001/906/medium640mp4/unicorn_gif2.mp4?1520548418

[tulip comet]

i want those pyportals too

[crystal mantle]

Hey guys, if I wanted to program a hand / arm etc, where can I buy / assemble that piece of equipment?

[languid hill]

if you want to diy it you can just grab some servos, some light arm material and a microcontroller. adafruit has at least the electronics part of that

i am not sure what commercial kits there are for making an arm

[crystal mantle]

ohh thanks, i'll look into that

[stuck thicket]

@crystal mantle here is a guide that shows how to do this in python as well: https://learn.adafruit.com/animatronic-hands?view=all

[crystal mantle]

OH YES TY TY

[languid hill]

ooh neat

[rain pine]

I wanna get into the intersection of Python and FPGAs https://s3.amazonaws.com/connect.linaro.org/yvr18/presentations/yvr18-311.pdf http://www.myhdl.org/

http://www.fpgadeveloper.com/2018/03/how-to-accelerate-a-python-function-with-pynq.html

[open dock]

@rain pine MicroPython on a TinyFPGA: https://twitter.com/cr1901/status/1043145532779253760

and, FuPy: https://fupy.github.io

William D. Jones (@cr1901)

As of about 3 minutes ago, I now have a Micropython prompt from TinyFPGA BX :)! Support will be pushed soon, still need to prepare a few things. Also will come up with a more meaningful demo.

cc: @TinyFPGA @mithro

Twitter

[rain pine]

Dope, thanks!

[open dock]

Yep. And, dope indeed!

[stuck thicket]

our live show with python in hardware will start at 8pm ET tonight, about 10 mins we do the python on hardware segment and at the end we answer questions live

Ask an engineer:
https://youtu.be/bp_AdLyFOM8

[stuck thicket]

SHOW AND TELL is LIVE NOW #showandtell - https://youtu.be/EOzgKCjxH74 (many python on hardware projects!)

[languid hill]

got my headers soldered on but realized that i dont have any stranded wires to run between non breadboard devices

gunna have to go on a field trip tomorrow to get and whatever other cool stuff i see at the local electronics shop

[lean valve]

I just cut up patch cables and steal the sweet, sweet 4 pairs of pre color coded wire

solid core cat5 makes great jumper wire

[languid hill]

hm thats a good idea i should have a bunch of bulk cat cable someplace

[lean valve]

I also use it for cable ties

[languid hill]

i found some 18-2 but its big and also had a huge jacket i didnt feel like dealing with

[tropic stag]

@lean valve no need to even cut them of. you get get rj45 breakout boards for pennies. I've found they come in so handy for protoyping

[stuck thicket]

for folks attending pycon, each person will be getting a circuitplayground express https://us.pycon.org/

[steel aurora]

you guys are always giving stuff away. warms my heart.

[hallow igloo]

This seems interesting to learn ngl

[tulip comet]

it is.

[tulip comet]

https://youtu.be/CLirlkh-bsk

my newest shenanigans with the CPX

[past epoch]

is that the case you can buy from adafruit?

[tulip comet]

yup, this is it. https://www.adafruit.com/product/3915

[past epoch]

cool, i got one of those in my package from adafruit 😄

how do i know? it says so on the page.. very smart

that is a very useful feature

[tulip comet]

indeed it is. :D

[steel aurora]

yeah that feature is super nice

I noticed that too when I was trying to check which thing I'd ordered.

[willow kernel]

Dumb question: Would I be able to use CircuitPython with an Arduino Uno?

Or is it just the Zero that is compatible

[tawny fiber]

https://learn.adafruit.com/arduino-to-circuitpython/simple-code-structure works

@willow kernel

[violet valve]

@willow kernel Only the Arduino Zero is supported with CircuitPython.

[willow kernel]

Dang

[lean valve]

Anybody messed around with the Wio Node platform?

[stuck thicket]

@willow kernel however, there is this project... does not help, but interesting... https://keithp.com/blogs/snek-de/

we cover all things python on hardware in the newsletter ... we've been keeping up with that work: https://www.adafruitdaily.com/2019/02/19/python-on-hardware-a-portal-to-a-world-of-fun-python-adafruit-circuitpython-circuitpython-micropython-thepsf-adafruit/

[stuck thicket]

got weather working with python and https://openweathermap.org/weather-conditions

[open dock]

also, Nina Zakharenko will be presenting MicroPython/CircuitPython at PyCascades soon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTdYyCKcI8Q

[stuck sentinel]

Quick question, could I get a python gui application to run on raspian-stretch lite (on a raspberry pi ofc), considering it doesn't have a desktop environment?

[languid hill]

you would have to install a graphics server like xorg or wayland, but then you could

you wouldnt need a full de, any lightweight windowmanager would do

technically you can write to the framebuffer and get graphics

but uhh

i wouldnt

[stuck sentinel]

Oh and also, how would I get a small touchscreen to work with raspbian?

[languid hill]

if its i2c or spi you should be able to use one of the rpi libraries to write serial data to it

depending on the screen there might be a premade library for it already

basically you would prob configure a few of the gpio and then just send the right data

if its just a tiny vga or whatever that ttf output on the rpi is, then you should be able to just plug it in and the graphics server will pick it up

then use usb or i2c/spi to read touch data

if its usb then again the graphics server should pick it up

@lean valve i got my neotrellis 4x4 working

very cool to play with

today i am doing a tiny lcd screen

[lean valve]

I took my CPE to tech lab the other night and wrote a bunch of different LED demos to show it off

General consensus was "wow that's bright"

We were streaming on twitch and it just washes out to white on the camera

[violet valve]

@lean valve Yeah, you want to drop the brightness... pretty much always unless it's meant to be viewed from afar or is diffused by something thick. I had one on a badge for a conference, and 50% brightness was too much, I dropped it to 10%.

[lean valve]

I did notice that setting the brightness to anything other than 100% has timing implications for circuitpython

A while loop that just spins one LED around the circle runs significantly slower if brightness is set to say 0.1

[open dock]

@lean valve yeah. it also has memory implications, since the brightness value has to be included with the each index of the buffer. iirc, using HSV is a better way to reduce brightness; adjusts the color values to reduce the brightness so you can leave brightness == 1.

err...maybe its not HSV. trying to find it..

yeah, not HSV. its just a matter of reducing the RGB values. theory goes:

# we want blue, so:
pixels.fill(0, 0, 255)

# but, its blinding, so make it 50% less bright
pixels.fill(0, 0, 127)

[lean valve]

Makes sense

[open dock]

using map() might make the code cleaner. pretty sure that built-in is included on the CPX.

[languid hill]

hmmm the ST7735R library code has the wrong 'offset' for my lcd

like some x columns seem offscreen and others dont display

not fully sure what its doing yet

[tulip comet]

from what i can guess pixels.brightness is just a value that is multiplied by each RGB value. i assume that's the case at least, because the pixels are dimmest when brightness is set to 1 / 254 and off at 1 / 255

[languid hill]

ok so x 2 is on the edge and 127 is two pixels in on the other side

so 0 and 1 dont display and i have random stuff in the last 2 pixels

[languid hill]

ok so i fixed that, but i have to do this basically:

class ST7735Rmini(ST7735R):
    def __init__(self, spi, dc, cs, rst=None, width=128, height=128, coloff=2, rowoff=3):
        self.coloff = coloff
        self.rowoff = rowoff
        super().__init__(spi, dc, cs, rst, width, height)
    
    def _encode_pos(self, x, y):
        """Encode a postion into bytes."""
        return struct.pack(self._ENCODE_POS, x+self.coloff, y+self.rowoff)

    def init(self):
        super(ST7735R,self).init()
        cols = struct.pack('>HH', self.coloff, self.width - 1 + self.coloff)
        rows = struct.pack('>HH', self.rowoff, self.height - 1 + self.rowoff)
        for command, data in (
                (_CASET, cols),
                (_RASET, rows),
                (_NORON, None),
                (_DISPON, None),
        ):
            self.write(command, data)```

i think adding that offset in to the core would help other people with this hmmm

still needs tweaking not quite hitting all of the pixels

[languid hill]

oh my goodness

no wonder

def _encode_pos(self, x, y):

self.write(self._COLUMN_SET, self._encode_pos(x0, x1))
self.write(self._PAGE_SET, self._encode_pos(y0, y1))

:/

:>

class ST7735Rmini(ST7735R):
    def __init__(self, spi, dc, cs, rst=None, width=128, height=128, coloff=2, rowoff=3):
        self.coloff = coloff
        self.rowoff = rowoff
        super().__init__(spi, dc, cs, rst, width, height)

    def _block(self, x0, y0, x1, y1, data=None):
        """Read or write a block of data."""
        self.write(self._COLUMN_SET, self._encode_pos(x0+self.coloff, x1+self.coloff))
        self.write(self._PAGE_SET, self._encode_pos(y0+self.rowoff, y1+self.rowoff))
        if data is None:
            size = struct.calcsize(self._DECODE_PIXEL)
            return self.read(self._RAM_READ,
                             (x1 - x0 + 1) * (y1 - y0 + 1) * size)
        self.write(self._RAM_WRITE, data)
        return None

[tulip comet]

    def init(self):
        super().init()```isn't this redundant? :D

it'll just inherit init anyways won't it?

[languid hill]

yeah lol but i was playing with the init in there until i realized that block resends COLUMN SET and stuff

[tulip comet]

oh fair enough haha

[languid hill]

but i think we need coloff and rowoff in ST7735R, the arduino library has it

i didnt copy paste my commented out init code :P

oh i guess this goes in Display actually

hmhm thats going to be quite a few changes

[stuck thicket]

here is a post that has time-code links to nina's excellent talk from pycascades - https://blog.adafruit.com/2019/02/25/video-pycascades-light-up-your-life-with-python-and-leds-nnja-pycascades2019-pycascades-pycascades/

[past epoch]

so a friend of mine is doing microcontrollers and hardware engineering at school. he has a project idea for his first term assignment. I would like to make this as a prototype using circuitpython (my friend is forced to use C) just to show him that it can easily be done.
The idea is to measure the ground temperature and gps location on the road and analyze this data. Im thinking featherwing + gps thing + IR temp sensor. with future option to expand into something like a gsm module to live stream the data to an iot backend. ideas of what hardware is needed? I have a featherwing datalogger hence my initial thought off using it, but that does not matter if there is other options.

[vague crane]

The PyPortal is live https://www.adafruit.com/product/4116

eeeeee

[violet valve]

@steel aurora Mind if I drop you a DM?

[steel aurora]

not at all, @violet valve. my DMs are always open.

oh man. pyportalpyportalpyportal

I neeeed that.

[languid hill]

yeah the pyportal is really tempting

[stuck sentinel]

Does tkinter work on raspian?

[lean valve]

It should work without any problems

[past epoch]

there.. got 2x pyportal

https://i.imgur.com/VjiRV9u.png

7 in stock atm

[lavish echo]

Going fast

[tulip comet]

damn i checked earlier and there was 24. those aren't lasting long :D

[past epoch]

thats why Im getting em now, was about to go to the gym, but had to make an order first to justify the shipping cost

[lavish echo]

It was over 50

[stuck thicket]

there are 133 ADABOXES left... https://www.adabox.com sign up before it is too late... @stuck thicket #adabox #adabox11

[steel aurora]

@stuck thicket any plans to expand those subs to more countries? I'd probably sub if Norway was on the list.