October 2026 Meetup
Matt delivers the news roundup.
Headlines
ViperIDE adds firmware flasher
Volodymyr Shymanskyy shared that ViperIDE can now flash your MicroPython firmware! Chrome-based browsers only, but it’s slick and effective. Along with the recent addition of an MCP server, ViperIDE is becoming a powerful tool to have in the kit!
v1.30 scheduled for December 7th
There are already 82 PRs merged with 11 more in the open state.
I suspect a few more will be added to the list before the end of November…
Hardware news
Kincony
I only recently discovered the Kincony brand of industrial-style devices. They seem aimed at supporting smart-home features but there is a large number of devices in the lineup.
Of interest to us; while Kincony have official firmware for their devices, they also encourage the use of Arduino and MicroPython. Since most of the devices have an ESP32 at their heart, this is pretty easy!
They also have a decent YouTube channel where you can get an idea of the features available.
I was lucky enough to borrow a colleague’s Kincony CO16 and it now has a basic web interface to toggle onboard relays - and there are drivers for all the peripherals. See kincony-co16-app for details.
If you’re looking to improve your home automation - or generally interface to devices - you might want to check out these devices.
Matts New Hardware
Seeed XIAO STM32C5
Officially launching November 5th (although available for purchase now, shhh!), Seeed have just added their first STM32 to their excellent XIAO range.
The XIAO STM32C5 is a grunty little micro in that small XIAO form factor and they’ve packed a few other features in to this one:
- STM32C5A3CG, Cortex-M33 @ 144MHz
- 256KB RAM, 1MB+16MB Flash
- Onboard CAN transceiver
- IMU
- Battery charging
There’s already a detailed Getting Started page.
I’ve also been spending time with adding a C5 port, as it’s a new addition to the MicroPython stm32 port.
US$10
Waveshare RLCD with Nuno’s firmware
I covered the Waveshare RLCD last month, but thought I’d mention that it’s running Nuno Bispo’s Weather Home Screen which looks pretty great!
Nuno has a detailed write-up on how he built it: Building a Weather Home Screen on a Reflective LCD (MicroPython, ESP32-S3)
And the repo: waveshare-rlcd-weather-article
Software
Game Boy Color on My Conference Badge
Steve Francia has an amazing blog post Game Boy Color on My Conference Badge where he explains how he created a Game Boy Color emulator in MicroPython! It runs on the GitHub Universe badge - which is a slightly modified Pimoroni Tufty powered by an RP2350.
Just bring some cartridge ROMs, copy them to the filesystem and you’re good to go!
It’s all open-source and can be found at universe-2026-badge-hacks.
…
Turning my GitHub Universe badge into an environmental monitor
Speaking of the Github Universe badge, Wild Wanderer announced that they published great writeup on how they added a couple of sensors to their badge to create an environmental monitor:
Turning my GitHub Universe badge into an environmental monitor
In addition to these projects, it turns out the badger repository encourages folks to submit apps built for the GitHub Universe badge. There are a plethora of apps to check out.
Babytalk
Babytalk is a software library that lets an ESP32-S3 or ESP32-P4 understand what you say and talk back, with no cloud and no internet, from C, MicroPython, or Erlang/Elixir. They’ve shrunk down an Nvidia model to do TTS and STT - and you still need 8MB RAM and 16MB flash - and are using 16KHz audio. Still, I’m looking forward to seeing what the quality is like!
Sharp ZQ7790 Simulator - SHAM
Gadgetoid is at it again, taking on a crazy project…this one is a simulator for the Sharp ZQ770, written in MicroPython. The ZQ770 is one of the earlier examples of a personal organiser and so this scratches some nostalgic itches. Gadgetoid has painstakingly recreated the look and feel of the original organiser and simulated a good chunk of the software that ran on the original device.
Check out sham (Sharp Handheld Approximation [MicroPython]).
pixel framebuf
Based on a similar CircuitPython module (with great documentation), I’ve created micropython-pixel-framebuf.
It simply allows you to treat a panel of RGB LEDs as a FrameBuffer - so you can use the drawing primitives in FrameBuffer but then render it on the RGB LEDs.
(The above image is a small bar dispaly, rendered with
FrameBuffer.rect
that reads a value in Home Assistant.)
mpflipdot by Simon
Friend of the meetup, Simon Prickett has a flipdot display and is not afraid to use it! He created mpflipdot so he could control it with MicroPython.
There is something special about the sound of flipdots in action!
Espressif ESP32 Chip Comparison Center
Espressif released a web tool that compares any of their various ESP32 micros. As the popular microcontroller family has become larger and more complex, a few of these comparison tools have appeared. But this one is really well done…and official!
Cyctlr
If you do any indoor cycling, this is the project for you. Cyctlr is a collection of modules to interface with hardware and allow you to do things while you ride on a trainer. Play video games, control a headwind fan, implement a stopwatch or measure your heart rate, there are a whole range of devices that have been integrated. Uses MicroPython and BLE for most comms.
Mi-Hole
Mi-Hole is like Pi-hole but written in MicroPython, running on an ESP32. That is to say it’s a DNS filtering device that can block ads and other unwanted network nasties.
It’s mostly an educational tool, since an ESP32 doesn’t quite have the network throughput of a Linux SBC, but appears to be very functional.
Python on my wrist
Michiel W Beijen shared that he wrote a blog post - Python on my wrist - on making his PineTime run MicroPython.
The best part was that he’s pushed some PRs upstream and has been able to update the MicroPython-based WaspOS so that it now runs from mainline. Open source done right!
esp32sim
From the esp32sim README:
“esp32sim is an ESP32 emulator written in Rust. It runs real ESP32 firmware on your computer or in a browser tab, without the hardware.”
It can simulate the OG, S3, C3, C6. Even Wifi & BLE are simulated!
Best of all, there’s an example showing how to run MicroPython on the simulator.
M5Brick
What do you get when you smoosh together LEGO and an M5Stack NanoC6? M5Brick!
Also revealed M5Ware, a site with dozens of user projects built with M5Stack devices.
Final Thoughts
Sam Neggs latest work has been awesome! He’s been using LLMs to help build his graphical applications.
Midjourney fun
