This is an Alpha Release

This is the fourth alpha release of CircuitPython 5.0.0. Alpha releases are meant for testing. Use the latest stable 4.x release when first starting with CircuitPython.

When you find a bug please check the current known issues and file an issue if something isn't already known.

5.0.0

5.0.0 is the latest major revision of CircuitPython. It features many improvements and enhancements to displayio, including grayscale OLED and e-paper displays, extensive additions and changes to BLE support, and PWM audio support.

Download from circuitpython.org

Downloads are available from circuitpython.org! The site makes it easy to select the correct file and language for your board. The downloads page is here.

Installation

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

Try 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).

New Features, Updates, and Fixes since 5.0.0 Alpha 2

• Add bare bones STM32F411 and STM32F412 support. Thanks to @hierophect, @cr1901, @pigrew and @hathach
• Add I2SOut support to nRF52840. Thanks to @jepler
• Add random dithering to ColorConverter to reduce color banding 16-bit gradients. Thanks to @matthewnewberg
• Fix board.A1 mapping on CircuitPlayground Bluefruit. Thanks to @kattni, @jepler, @caternuson and @dhalbert
• Fix misbehaving status LED and filesystem flush on SAMDs. Thanks to @dhalbert, @jerryneedell, @jackdanielsmurphy and @rdagger
• Fix PWMOut deinit on nRF52840. Thanks to @kattni and @jepler

New and Improved Boards

• PewPew M4 Thanks to @deshipu
• STM32F411E Discovery Thanks to @hierophect
• STM32F412G Discovery Thanks to @hierophect

Breaking Changes and Deprecations from 4.x!

• The displayio refresh API has been revamped to be simpler. wait_for_frame and refresh_soon have been removed. In both 4.x and 5.x, auto refresh will automatically refresh the display so they can be removed. The new auto_refresh property and refresh() function can be used to control when the screen refreshes and at a specific rate.
• The bleio module has been renamed to _bleio to indicate that it is meant to be used only for writing BLE libraries, and that its API may change between CircuitPython minor versions. There are many incompatible changes since 4.0.0. The _bleio API is a work in progress and will change as 5.0.0 progresses. Please use the latest pre-release adafruit_ble library for end-user BLE programming. The adafruit_ble library is evolving too but will hide underlying changes in _bleio.
• Move audioio.Mixer to audiomixer.Mixer and is only available on M4s. Move audioio.RawSample, and audioio.WaveFile to the new module audiocore. However, for backwards compatibility, they are still available in audioio. They will be removed from audioio in 6.0.0. Thanks @jepler.
• Add I2C.writeto_then_readfrom(). Deprecate stop= arg which will be removed in 6.x. Use I2C.writeto_then_readfrom() instead.

Known Issues

• See https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/issues.

Thanks

Thank you to all who used, tested, contributed, helped out, and participated on GitHub and/or Discord:
@_cli_ninja, @anecdata, @AnthonyDiGirolamo, @arturo182, @ATMakersBill, @bmeisels, @brentru, @C47D, @caternuson, @CedarGroveStudios, @charlesburnaford, @cr1901, @dastels, @Ddbricetti, @davep, @deanm1278, @deshipu, @devoh, @dhalbert, @fede2, @hathach, @hexthat, @hierophect, @hybotics, @jackdanielsmurphy, @jasonp, @jepler, @jerryneedell, @josh, @jp, @kattni, @kevinjwalters, @klardotsh, @ladyada, @madbodger, @makermelissa, @matthewnewberg, @MikeB, @MrCertainly, @mytechnotalent, @nickzoic, @ntavish, @ntoll, @OldCrow, @pigrew, @ptorrone , @rdagger, @reply2jh, @rhooper, @s-light, @sajattack, @siddacious, @sommersoft, @TammyMakesThings, @tannewt, @TG-Techie, @wallarug and surely more we have missed. Join us on the Discord chat to collaborate.

Documentation

Documentation is available in readthedocs.io.

Here are all the changes since 5.0.0-alpha.2.

This release is based on MicroPython 1.9.4 @25ae98f. Support upstream MicroPython by purchasing a PyBoard (from Adafruit here).

Troubleshooting

Check out this guide for info on common problems with CircuitPython. If you are still having issues, then post to the Adafruit Support Forums and join Discord.

Alpha 4 is the same as Alpha 3 with an improved upload script.

Assets

Builds are no longer stored as assets on this release page, because there are too many of them. Please see the Download from circuitpython.org section above.