View this email in your browser. Warning: Flashing Imagery
Welcome to the latest Python on Microcontrollers newsletter! A very busy week for Python on hardware as folks are releasing programs and projects. A new minor version of MicroPython dropped and a pull request to remove MicroPython build support for Python 2 was approved.
AI continues an invasion into programming tools with two new releases. And the Z Machine engine, famous for Zork and other games, has been ported to CircuitPython and Adafruit Fruit Jam. All this and much more in this packed issue. – Anne Barela, Editor
We’re on Discord, Twitter/X, BlueSky and for past newsletters – view them all here. If you’re reading this on the web, please subscribe here. Here’s the news this week:
MicroPython v1.26.1 Released
MicroPython v1.26.1 has been released with a number of patches – GitHub.
esp32: update esp_tinyusb component to v1.7.6tools: add an environment variable MICROPY_MAINTAINER_BUILDesp32: add IDF Component Lockfiles to git reposhared/tinyusb: fix hang from new tx_overwritabe_if_not_connected flagshared/tinyusb/mp_usbd_cdc: rewrite USB CDC TX looptools/mpremote: don’t apply Espressif DTR/RTS quirk to TinyUSB CDC dev
Python 2.7 Support Removed from MicroPython
Python 2.7 has been end-of-life since January 2020. Pythonista Jepler made a MicroPython pull request this past week to remove Python build 2.7 support in MicroPython, with lead Damien George posting “I guess it’s time to make this change!” – GitHub. Via Mastodon.
Python traveled a bumpy early road on its way to becoming the world’s #1 most popular programming language – The New Stack.
“When it first launched in 1991, Python ‘wasn’t lucrative,’ remembers long-time Python community organizer Paul Everitt (now a Python and web developer advocate at JetBrains). ‘But we believed in it. The passion was there — we were doing good in the world.’”
Why Choose Raspberry Pi for the Internet of Things (IoT)
Raspberry Pi products (ex Pi 4, Pi 5, Pico) are great for learning and building IoT projects. This article compares Raspberry Pi with other key players in the microcontroller and single board computer space – LinkedIn.
River Wang’s CircuitPython Online IDE, Version 2.2, Released
River Wang’s web based CircuitPython Online IDE has been upgraded to version 2.2 with the addition of a Library Management Tool – X, IDE and YouTube.
Python 3.14-rc3 Released Ahead Of Next Month’s Official Release
Python 3.14-rc3 is out as the final test preview ahead of a planned October 7th official Python 3.14 stable release – Phoronix and PSF.
GitHub Copilot Coding Agent 101: Getting Started With Agentic Workflows on GitHub
Copilot coding agent helps automate developer workflows. Rather than working in isolated IDE sessions, the agent operates directly within the GitHub pull request workflow. It can asynchronously automate tedious tasks like branch creation, commit writing, and pull request reviews – GitHub Blog and YouTube.
OpenAI Releases GPT‑5‑Codex: Improved AI Coding Agent for Software Engineers
OpenAI has unveiled GPT‑5-Codex, an improved AI coding agent designed for software engineers, featuring autonomous code review and software flaw detection, with multi-platform integration. It operates in a secure sandbox and includes safeguards due to its high capability in sensitive domains – NotebookCheck and OpenAI News Release.
This Week’s Python Streams
Python on Hardware is all about building a cooperative ecosphere which allows contributions to be valued and to grow knowledge. Below are the streams within the last week focusing on the community.
CircuitPython Deep Dive Stream
Last Friday, Tim streamed work on writing a CircuitPython driver for the SPA06-003.
You can see the latest video and past videos on the Adafruit YouTube channel under the Deep Dive playlist – YouTube.
CircuitPython Parsec
John Park’s CircuitPython Parsec this week is on Spyce Invaders Collision Detection – Adafruit Blog and YouTube.
Catch all the episodes in the YouTube playlist.
CircuitPython Weekly Meeting
CircuitPython Weekly Meeting for {date} (notes) on YouTube.
Project of the Week: Z Machine Emulator in CircuitPython
Dan Cogliano has ported a version 3 Z Machine Emulator to CircuitPython 10, which allows running games which used this format, such as Zork! It currently works on the new Adafruit Fruit Jam and within Fruit Jam OS – BlueSky and GitHub.
Popular Last Week
What was the most popular, most clicked link, in last week’s newsletter? 5 projects you can do for much cheaper with an ESP32 than a Raspberry Pi.
Did you know you can read past issues of this newsletter in the Adafruit Daily Archive? Check it out.
Adafruit Playground
Adafruit Playground is a new place for the community to post their projects and other making tips/tricks/techniques. Ad-free, it’s an easy way to publish your work in a safe space for free.
News From Around the Web
To date, most uses of USB Host on devices like Adafruit Fruit Jam in CircuitPython have been for HID devices like keyboards, mice and game controllers. But there are whole swaths of other USB device types. Adafruit Forums user blakebr has interfaced a GPS/GLONASS U-blox7 USB receiver to Fruit Jam – Adafruit Forums.
“I was able to get my Fruit Jam to read date, time, location, etc. from the device. The information from the GPS sentences is shown on REPL. Also the Fruit Jam System Clock is set to local time based on the time zone offset from settings.toml.”
Using a 3D printer, Raspberry Pi Pico, and a custom PCB, Abhinav Golwalkar recreated the Saregama Carvaan. Reverse engineered, prototyped, and programmed using CircuitPython – LinkedIn.
Jeff Geerling built a $3,000 Raspberry Pi AI cluster with 160 GB of RAM. And regrets some of his decisions – YouTube. Via X.
KAMPi is a 3D printed digital camera, built using a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 running Python and an Adafruit KB2040 running CircuitPython – skkaw.blog. Via Raspberry Pi News.
Smart LED control with Adafruit.io and MQTT – hackster.io.
Programming the Oxocard Connect with CircuitPython – Make:.
Build a tiny open-source underwater vehicle with Raspberry Pi Pico and MicroPython – Raspberry Pi News.
Les Pounder tries the new Baguette S3 board with CircuitPython – bigl.es.
Accelerometer and gyroscope with PSOC™ 6 and MicroPython – hackster.io.
Getting Started with Moondream on the Pi 5: human-like computer vision with Python – Core Electronics and YouTube.
Light sensor and the Circuit Playground Express / Bluefruit (CircuitPython School) – YouTube.
Hunt the wumpus game for MicroPython calculators with 8 character row screens. You can choose any size of rectangular lair that will fit the memory of your device, and specify the number of wumpuses, bats, and pits you want – GitHub. Via X
Set up MicroPython on Raspberry Pi Pico in minutes – Instructables.
A Raspberry Pi Pico thermometer using a Pico 2W, MicroPython and WiFi AP mode + a web server to view the temperature display and operate the LCD from the browser on a smartphone – X (Japanese).
Programmer’s Python: Async Locks – i-programmer.info.
Hack to the Future — here’s how you can write BASIC code on a modern-day PC – Tom’s Hardware.
How to build a multilingual OCR AI agent in Python with EasyOCR and OpenCV – MarkTechPost.
New
The XIAO ESP32C3 is an ultra-mini development board built around the Espressif ESP32-C3 dual-mode WiFi/Bluetooth chip, featuring a high-performance 32-bit RISC-V CPU. With robust RF capabilities, it supports IEEE 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 5 (BLE) for reliable wireless communication – OpeneLab Via X.
WeAct Display FS is an inexpensive 0.96-inch USB display dongle designed to add an information display or a tiny secondary display to your computer or SBC. WeAct provides the WeAct Studio System Monitor, based on a fork of Matthieu Houdebine’s Turing Smart Screen Python project – CNX Software.
New Boards Supported by CircuitPython
The number of supported microcontrollers and Single Board Computers (SBC) grows every week. This section outlines which boards have been included in CircuitPython or added to CircuitPython.org.
This week there was no new boards added.
Note: For non-Adafruit boards, please use the support forums of the board manufacturer for assistance, as Adafruit does not have the hardware to assist in troubleshooting.
Looking to add a new board to CircuitPython? It’s highly encouraged! Adafruit has four guides to help you do so:
New Learn Guides
The Adafruit Learning System has over 3,200 free guides for learning skills and building projects including using Python.
AS5600 Super Smooth Rotary Encoder from Liz Clark
CircuitPython Libraries
The CircuitPython library numbers are continually increasing, while existing ones continue to be updated. Here we provide library numbers and updates!
To get the latest Adafruit libraries, download the Adafruit CircuitPython Library Bundle. To get the latest community contributed libraries, download the CircuitPython Community Bundle.
If you’d like to contribute to the CircuitPython project on the Python side of things, the libraries are a great place to start. Check out the CircuitPython.org Contributing page. If you’re interested in reviewing, check out Open Pull Requests. If you’d like to contribute code or documentation, check out Open Issues. We have a guide on contributing to CircuitPython with Git and GitHub, and you can find us in the #help-with-circuitpython and #circuitpython-dev channels on the Adafruit Discord.
You can check out this list of all the Adafruit CircuitPython libraries and drivers available.
The current number of CircuitPython libraries is 543!
New Libraries
Here are this week’s new CircuitPython libraries:
Updated Libraries
Here are this week’s updated CircuitPython libraries:
What’s the CircuitPython team up to this week?
What is the team up to this week? Let’s check in:
Dan
I fixed several more CircuitPython 10.0.0 issues in the past week. As of this writing, we have three remaining issues for the 10.0.0 release, and two are related. So a release candidate for 10.0.0 is in sight.
Tim
This week I started the SPA06-003 guide and will work on the CircuitPython driver soon. I tested some Fruit Jam OS audio PRs and have made some changes to the Fruit Jam library volume API and default volume levels. I fixed a small bug that was reported with the serial plotter in the code.circuitpython.org editor. I set up a Raspberry Pi with an environmental sensor to collect data into a database and will soon start experimenting with feeding this data to local LLMs to see they can offer any interesting insights into the data.
Scott
This week I made some progress on debugging the IDF 5.5.1 update and it now gets to the REPL on the C6. I also made changes to USB host to prevent passing PSRAM buffers to TinyUSB. It breaks when a PSRAM buffer is accessed during a flash operation.
Liz
This week I worked on a Fruit Jam video synth project inspired by the Atari Video Music. I have three animations: color changing diamonds, party parrots and dancing lines. One thing that stood out to me when looking at the Atari Video Music was that the animations would auto play and there was a button to increase the number of sprites on screen, so I’ve incorporated that into this project. I should have the guide next week.
Upcoming Events
The next MicroPython Meetup in Melbourne will be on September 24th – Meetup. You can see recordings of previous meetings on YouTube.
Maker Faire Bay Area 2025 will be Sep 26 – 28, 2025 in Vallejo, California, US – Maker Faire.
The Hackaday Superconference is back! Join this global conference of hardware hackers, makers, and tech enthusiasts this Oct 31st – Nov 2nd in Pasadena, California – Eventbrite.
The final KiCad conference (KiCon) will be 15 November, 2025 in Shenzhen, China – KiCad.
PyLadiesCon returns December 5–7, 2025. 100% online conference designed for our global community. Talks, workshops, panels, and community fun – PyLadies.
Send Your Events In
If you know of virtual events or upcoming events, please let us know via email to cpnews(at)adafruit(dot)com.
Latest Releases
CircuitPython’s stable release is 9.2.9 and its unstable release is 10.0.0-beta.3. New to CircuitPython? Start with our Welcome to CircuitPython Guide.
20250919 is the latest Adafruit CircuitPython library bundle.
20250919 is the latest CircuitPython Community library bundle.
v1.25.1 is the latest MicroPython release. Documentation for it is here.
3.13.7 is the latest Python release. The latest pre-release version is Python 3.14.0rc3.
4,337 Stars Like CircuitPython? Star it on GitHub!
Call for Help – Translating CircuitPython is now easier than ever
One important feature of CircuitPython is translated control and error messages. With the help of fellow open source project Weblate, we’re making it even easier to add or improve translations.
Sign in with an existing account such as GitHub, Google or Facebook and start contributing through a simple web interface. No forks or pull requests needed! As always, if you run into trouble join us on Discord, we’re here to help.
39,033 Thanks
The Adafruit Discord community, where we do all our CircuitPython development in the open, reached over 39,033 humans – thank you! Adafruit believes Discord offers a unique way for Python on hardware folks to connect. Join today at https://adafru.it/discord.
ICYMI – In case you missed it
Python on hardware is the Adafruit Python video-newsletter-podcast! The news comes from the Python community, Discord, Adafruit communities and more and is broadcast on ASK an ENGINEER Wednesdays. The complete Python on Hardware weekly videocast playlist is here. The video podcast is on iTunes, YouTube, Instagram), and XML.
The weekly community chat on Adafruit Discord server CircuitPython channel – Audio / Podcast edition – Audio from the Discord chat space for CircuitPython, meetings are usually Mondays at 2pm ET, this is the audio version on iTunes, Pocket Casts, Spotify, and XML feed.
Contribute
The CircuitPython Weekly Newsletter is a CircuitPython community-run newsletter emailed every Monday. The complete archives are here. It highlights the latest CircuitPython related news from around the web including Python and MicroPython developments. To contribute, edit next week’s draft on GitHub and submit a pull request with the changes. You may also tag your information on Twitter with #CircuitPython.
Join the Adafruit Discord or post to the forum if you have questions.
