Matt presented the usual news roundup. Lachlan and Brian discussed the Parallax Propeller 2, a powerful microcontroller with some unique characteristics particularly well suited to concurrent solutions. It doesn’t - yet - run MicroPython but it could be a good fit for a port. We were fortunate enough to see a demo on one of the first 10 ‘glob top’ chips. Damien explained how to use the _thread module, recently overhauled on the ESP32 port.

News: Matt Trentini

• Congrats to Damien
  • Recently a father for the second time!
• Time to Say Goodbye to Arduino and Go On to Micropython/Adafruit Circuitpython?
  • Very popular video by Andreas Spiess that compared Arduino and MicroPython
  • Matt and Damien to supply some content for a follow-up video
• Python will be the official programming language for education in France
• Miscellaneous
  • CircuitPython 4.0.0 alpha 3
  • Decent tutorials with the M5Stack
  • Eight MicroPython Lessons
• OHS Badge
  • Fantastic badge created for the 2018 Open Hardware Summit. MicroPython, eInk, ESP32, accelerometer, capacitive touch buttons - hacking encouraged!
  • Hackaday.io, Official docs
  • HUGE thanks to Drew Fustini (@pdp7) for sending me a board, much appreciated Drew!
  • ~US$50 on Tindie
• Beetle ESP32
  • A small, affordable (~US$15) ESP32 board capable of running MicroPython
• Adafruit Trellis M4
  • Powerful SAMD51, 192KB RAM, 512KB+8MB flash, accelerometer, great audio support and 4x8 elastomer buttons lit with neopixels
  • Runs CircuitPython
  • ~US$60
• Blyst Nano
  • A tiny Nordic NRF52832 module; Cortex M4F, BT and 30 GPIO
  • ~US$20
• wESP32
  • ESP32 with Ethernet + POE
  • ~US$65
• Sensything
  • Data acquisition board
  • ESP32, TI 24bit ADC, QWIIC connectors
  • ~US$60
• Fomu
  • An FPGA inside your USB port
  • Capable of running MicroPython
• PyLife and PyGo
  • Looks to be based on FiPy? Non-cellular and cellular options.
  • ESP32, wireless charging, OLED, GPS, touchscreen, accelerometer
  • ~US$80
• Meadow
  • MicroPython competitor! .NET development on an embedded device.
  • 216MHz STM32F7, 16MB RAM, 32MB Flash, ESP32 for wifi
  • Feather form-factor
  • ~US$70
• MAKERphone
  • An amazing DIY cellular phone
  • ~US$100
• Sipeed MAIX
  • Affordable - and very feature-rich - RISC-V microcontroller
  • 400MHz, 8MB RAM, KPU, audio processor, ESP8285 for wifi
  • Breakout boards, cameras, all sorts of interesting hardware
  • ~US$5
• Interesting projects
  • Bike helmet signalling
  • SQLite in ESP-IDF
  • ISS Overhead Check
  • Flashing MicroPython on Kano Pixel Kit
  • Snakes on a bookshelf
  • 1024 LED Matrix WiFi Message Board
• Other News
  • Boochow continues to forge on with his MicroPython port on bare metal Raspberry Pi
  • TinyPICO development continues
    • Tiny board (18x32mm), ESP32 PICO D4, 4MB PSRAM, LiPo charging, 14 GPIO, onboard RGB LED

Lachlan and Brian on the Parallax Propeller 2

Damien George on Threads in MicroPython