adafruit/circuitpython 10.3.0-rc.0

CircuitPython 10.3.0-rc.0

on GitHub

This is CircuitPython 10.3.0-rc.0, a release candidate for CircuitPython 10.3.0 final. CircuitPython 10.3.0 will be the latest minor revision of CircuitPython, and will be a new stable release.

Notable additions, changes, and fixes in 10.3.0 from 10.2.1

Gaming and Display

• picogame game engine module, a performant game-oriented alternative to displayio.
• E-ink display quality improvements, including on MagTag 2025.

Audio

• audio.AudioOut, using DAC, now available on STM.
• audio_i2sin, available on Espressif and RP2xxx.
• audiofilewriter, to send an audio pipeline stream to a file.
• audiodelays.Flanger, audiodelays.GranularPitchShift.
• audiospeed.Resampler.
• audiodelays, audiofilters, and audiofreeverb now available on RP2xxx.
• synthio.Biquad filters now available in audiodelays.Echo and audiofreeverb.Freeverb.
• usb_audio.USBMicrophone and usb_audio.USBSpeaker, which provide audio source and sink USB devices.
• Duplex I2S.

settings.toml

• CIRCUITPY_BLE_WORKFLOW toggle.
• CIRCUITPY_HEAP_SRAM_SIZE.
• CIRCUITPY_SAFE_MODE_DELAY time value.
• CIRCUITPY_SDCARD_USB toggle.
• CIRCUITPY_WIFI_HOSTNAME.
• Float values can now be specified.

Storage

• sdioio now available on RP2xxx.
• storage.unsafe_disable_usb_drive() can disable the USB CIRCUITPY drive after the host has mounted it.

Fixes

• ESP-NOW works again.
• USB host fixes.
• BLE workflow fixes (more to come).

Highlights of this release

• Add picogame game engine module.
• Add CIRCUITPY_HEAP_SRAM_SIZE setting in settings.toml.
• Add audiodelays.Flanger.
• Add synthio.Biquad filters to audiodelays.Echo and audiofreeverb.Freeverb.
• Implement duplex I2S.
• Add stereo support to usb_audio.
• BLE workflow fixes (more to come).
• Zephyr BLE support.
• Many other Zephyr, additions, fixes, and new boards.

Incompatibility warnings when upgrading to 10.3.0 from 10.2.1

• The baudrate specified in busio.SPI.configure() is now a ceiling, and will not be exceeded. Previously, on some ports, the actual baudrate chosen could have been the nearest available baudrate, but higher than the specified baudrate, sometimes by a substantial amount. Use SPI.frequency to fetch the actual baudrate. Limitations: On Zephyr, SPI.frequency is the specified, not the actual baudrate, and some Zephyr ports may violate the ceiling behavior.

Download from circuitpython.org

Firmware downloads are available from the downloads page on circuitpython.org. The site makes it easy to select the correct file and language for your board.

Installation

To install follow the instructions in the Welcome to CircuitPython! guide. To install the latest libraries, see this page in that guide.

Try code.circuitpython.org or the latest version of the Mu editor for creating and editing your CircuitPython programs and for easy access to the CircuitPython serial connection (the REPL).

Documentation

Documentation is available in readthedocs.io.

Port status

CircuitPython has a number of "ports" that are the core implementations for different microcontroller families. Stability varies on a per-port basis. As of this release, these ports are consider stable (but see Known Issues below):

• atmel-samd: Microchip SAMD21, SAMx5x
• cxd56: Sony Spresense
• espressif: Espressif ESP32, ESP32-C2, ESP32-C3, ESP32-C6, ESP32-C61, ESP32-H2, ESP32-S2, ESP32-S3
• nordic: Nordic nRF52840, nRF52833
• raspberrypi: Raspberry Pi RP2040, RP2350
• stm: ST STM32F4 chip family

These ports are considered alpha and will have bugs and missing functionality:

• analog: Analog Devices MAX32690
• broadcom (will be removed in CircuitPython 11): Raspberry Pi boards such as RPi 4, RPi Zero 2W
• espressif: ESP32-P4
• litex: fomu
• mimxrt10xx: NXP i.MX RT10xxx
• renode: hardware simulator
• silabs: Silicon Labs MG24 family
• stm: ST non-STM32F4 chip families
• zephyr: multiplatform RTOS, running on multiple chip families

Changes since 10.3.0-alpha.4

Fixes and enhancements

• Keep BLE workflow connection alive across VM restarts when possible. #11255. Thanks @dhalbert.
• Update frozen libraries. #11244. Thanks @dhalbert.
• Fix card size for SDXC cards larger than 32 GB. #11243, #11013. Thanks @mikeysklar.
• On boards that use a button to enter safe mode or BLE discovery, provide LED feedback the user successfully entered those modes. #11232. Thanks @dhalbert.
• Fix some cross-platform BLE bugs. #11225. Thanks @dhalbert.
• Prevent MP3Decoder input corruption. #11219. Thanks @FoamyGuy.
• Report individual error code for gaierror in socketpool. #11215. Thanks @mikeysklar.
• Prevent audiomixer.Mixer from resetting all voices when played. #11211. Thanks @relic-se.
• Check traceback arguments more carefully. #11209. Thanks @dhalbert.
• Check for failures when creating web workflow listening socket. #11207. Thanks @mikeysklar.
• Add picogame game engine module. #11199. Thanks @lynt-smitka.
• Add synthio.Biquad filters to audiodelays.Echo and audiofreeverb.Freeverb. #11196. Thanks @relic-se.
• Improve usb_audio.Microphone. #11195. Thanks @mikeysklar.
• Prevent click noise on audiomixer.Mixer and synthio.Synthesizer during volume updates. #11194. Thanks @relic-se.
• Fix synthio.Note.panning. #11191. Thanks @relic-se.
• Merge overlapping dirty rectangles in busdisplay. #11189. Thanks @lynt-smitka.
• Return text errors for SSL certificat verification failures. #11183. Thanks @dhalbert.
• Fix mdns crashes. #11181. Thanks @dhalbert.
• Remove previously added I2SIn invert_bit_clock argument. #11177. Thanks @FoamyGuy.
• Add CIRCUITPY_HEAP_SRAM_SIZE setting in settings.toml. #11176. Thanks @lynt-smitka.
• Add audiodelays.Flanger. #11175. Thanks @FoamyGuy.
• Fix crashes caused by deinited audiosample objects. #11154. Thanks @FoamyGuy.
• For _bleio HCI, fill in error information for ATT Error Response. #11145. Thanks @annejan.
• Validate that an expected audiosample argument is really one, in many places. #11138. Thanks @dhalbert.
• Add raise_on_timeout=False option to usb_core.Device.read. #11137. Thanks @lynt-smitka.
• Implement duplex I2S. #11136. Thanks @FoamyGuy.
• Add stereo support to usb_audio. #11102. Thanks @relic-se.

Port and board-specific changes

Analog Devices

Broadcom

Espressif

• Read MAC address from eFuse so WiFi does not need to be enabled to fetch the address. #11238. Thanks @mikeysklar.
• Accept a BLE re-pairing request from a peer already bonded to the board. #11237. Thanks @dhalbert.
• Require encryption to write CCCD of an encrypted characteristic. #11236. Thanks @dhalbert.
• Fix busio.UART CTS flow control. #11162. Thanks @tannewt.

i.MX

Nordic

• Fix AnalogIn issue: value sometimes 0. #11253. Thanks @FoamyGuy.
• Support external_clock on I2SOut. #11252. Thanks @FoamyGuy.
• Allow SoftDevice to be optional, for boards that don't use BLE. #11251. Thanks @FoamyGuy.
• Fix some platform-specific BLE bugs. #11225. Thanks @dhalbert.
• Support two stop bits in busio.UART. #11169. Thanks @dhalbert.

renode

RP2xxx

• Add GD25Q64 flash chips as an alternative for W25Q64 on several boards. #11249. Thanks @tannewt.
• Turn off CIRCUITPY_I2CIOEXPANDER except on yoto boards. #11241. Thanks @dhalbert.
• Add Framebuffer.wait_for_vblank() to allow tear-free repaints. #11187. Thanks @lynt-smitka.
• Support multicast TTL sockets. #11174. Thanks @Daniiiil1.
• Update mbedtls from 2.28.3 to 4.2.0. #11156. Thanks @dhalbert.
• Add wiznet PIO SPI support. #10440. Thanks @wizhannah.

SAMx

• Handle SAME51 board builds properly. #11143. Thanks @dhalbert.

SiLabs

Spresense

• Raise NotImplementedError for os.urandom() instead of returning a non-TRNG value. #11184. Thanks @dhalbert.

STM

Zephyr

• Support saved words across hard resets. #11254. Thanks @tannewt.
• Use WiFi MAC for cpu.uid when hardware unique ID is not available. #11246. Thanks @mikeysklar.
• Add ulab. #11245. Thanks @mikeysklar.
• Fix BLE name. #11239. Thanks @tannewt.
• Keep board overlays and Kconfig fragments in the board folder. #11235. Thanks @lynt-smitka.
• Fix flash partition specification. #11234. Thanks @lynt-smitka.
• Turn on some MICROPY speed improvement options that were off by default. #11233. Thanks @lynt-smitka.
• Handle heap regions that are too small for use. #11230. Thanks @mikeysklar.
• Add WiFi station connect, IPv4 address fetching, wifi.radio.addresses, proper authmode reporting, MAC address fetching. #11228. Thanks @mikeysklar.
• Route WiFi diagnostics through the log subsystem. #11227. Thanks @mikeysklar.
• Enable BLE workflow. #11226. Thanks @tannewt.
• Fix WiFi network scanning. #11223. Thanks @mikeysklar.
• Handle reading vendor index from vendor directory. #11220. Thanks @mikeysklar.
• Handle missing labels for keys/buttons. #11210. Thanks @mikeysklar.
• Add usb_hid. #11201. Thanks @tannewt.
• Add BLE pairing and bonding. #11200. Thanks @tannewt.
• Enable asyncio, binascii, json, re, and select. #11180. Thanks @tannewt.
• Implement _bleio GATT functionality. #11179. Thanks @tannewt.
• Update to latest version of Zephyr. #11171. Thanks @tannewt.
• Fix left justified I2SIn with external clock. #11170. Thanks @relic-se.

Individual boards

• Adafruit Memento: turn off presenting SD card on USB by default. #11240. Thanks @dhalbert.
• M5Stack CoreS3: fix crash on boot. #11155. Thanks @CDarius.

Documentation changes

• Remove obsolete CIRCUITPY_RESERVED_PSRAM documentation. #11144. Thanks @dhalbert.

Build and infrastructure changes

• Allow sys.platform to contain spaces in detect_test_platform(). #11242. Thanks @mikeysklar.
• Update to tekktrik/issue-labeled-ping@v3. #11208. Thanks @tekktrik.
• Handle CI check suites with no workflowRun when determining which jobs to run. #11205. Thanks @mikeysklar.
• Stop doing Windows test builds. #11173. Thanks @dhalbert.
• Fix build error when BLE workflow serial is enabled but BLE file service is not. #11147. Thanks @annejan.

Translation additions and improvements

New boards

• Adafruit CLUE on Zephyr (already has nordic build). #11206. Thanks @tannewt.
• Espressif ESP32-S3-DevKitC-1-N32R16. #11192. Thanks @mikeysklar.
• Ikea Alpstuga Drop-In board: ESP32S3 4MB Flash 2MB PSRAM. #11163. Thanks @BlitzCityDIY.
• Nordic nRF54L15Tag. #11166. Thanks @tannewt.
• Nordic nRF54LM20DK. #11166. Thanks @tannewt.
• Seeed Studio TRMNL 7.5" (OG) DIY-Kit. #11222. Thanks @bablokb.
• Silicon Labs SiWx917-DK2605A, on Zephyr. #11218. Thanks @mikeysklar.
• Teenage Engineering EP2-350: #11153, #11136. Thanks @FoamyGuy.
• WIZnet W55RP20-EVB-Pico. #10440. Thanks @wizhannah.

Known issues

• See https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/issues for other issues, including issues still to be addressed for:
  • 10.3.0
  • 10.x.x
  • 11.0.0
  • long term

Thanks

Thank you to all who used, tested, and contributed toward this release, including the contributors above, and many others on GitHub and Discord. Join us on the Discord chat to collaborate.