This is a Beta Release

This is release 5.0.0 beta.1. Beta releases are largely feature-complete, but 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 improvements to BLE support, support for the STM32F4 and Sony Spresense microcontrollers, 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 Beta 0

• Add MP3 playback support and audio improvements. Thanks to @jepler, @urish, @Dar-Scott
• Various BLE fixes and improvements including pairing support, raising specific BluetoothErrors and extended advertisements. Thanks to @kattni, @tannewt and @dhalbert
• Filesystem creation now includes code.py. Thanks to @iayanpahwa
• Added Korean translation thanks to @rafa-gould and @jepler
• Additional Chinese Pinyin translations. Thanks to @hexthat
• The @micropython.native decorator will no longer throw an exception when it isn't supported. It will fallback to using byte code. Thanks to @theacodes
• Fixed displayio ePaper support that lead to displays not updating. Thanks to @tannewt
• Fixed displayio support in STM32F4. Thanks to @hierophect
• Fixed UART blocking behavior on SAMD. Thanks to @dhalbert
• Fixed crash from attempt at long living frozen code. Thanks to @dmgrime
• Removed Robo Hat MM1 M0 board. Thanks to @wallarug
• Switched to GCC 9 for builds. Thanks to @jepler

New Boards

Find downloads for all boards, including these, at https://circuitpython.org/downloads.

New since 5.0.0-beta.0

• shIRtty. Thanks to @sarfata
• PYB Nano V2. Thanks to @hierophect

Breaking Changes and Deprecations from 4.x

• 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 in _bleio since 4.0.0. Please use the latest adafruit_ble library for end-user BLE programming.
• 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.
• Moved audioio.Mixer to audiomixer.Mixer, which is only available on M4s. Moved 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.
• Added 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,including @cbyr2401, @CedarGroveStudios, @Dar-Scott, @dhalbert, @dmgrime, @hexthat, @hierophect, @iayanpahwa, @jepler, @Jerryn, @kattni, @ladyada, @makermelissa, @rafa-gould, @sarfata, @tannewt, @theacodes, @urish, @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-beta.0.

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.

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.