adafruit/circuitpython 9.0.0-alpha.5

CircuitPython 9.0.0 Alpha 5

on GitHub

This is CircuitPython 9.0.0-alpha.5, an alpha release for 9.0.0. It has significant known bugs, and will have further additions and fixes before the final release of 9.0.0.

NOTE: CircuitPython 9.0.0-alpha.4 and later use a new internal dynamic storage mechanism ("split heap"), which is being tuned. You may find that some CircuitPython programs fail with MemoryError. 9.0.0-alpha.5 includes fixes which make this less likely. If you encounter programs that work in 8.x.x but get MemoryError exceptions, consider filing an issue with details.

WARNING for nRF52 boards only: If your board has an nRF52 UF2 bootloader whose version is before 0.6.1, you will not be able to load CircuitPython 8.2.0 and later, due to increased size of the firmware. See these instructions for updating your bootloader.

Notable changes to 9.0.0

• New split-heap internal dynamic storage mechanism.
• Merge updates from MicroPython v1.19.1, v1.20.0, and v1.21.0.
• Espressif: update to ESP-IDF v5.1.
• Reorganize and split displayio. 8.x.x naming structure is available in 9.x.x, but will be removed in 10.0.0.
• CIRCUITPY drives now mount on Android.
• Increased file capacity on CIRCUITPY drives <= 128kB.
• Further USB host support, on i.MX and RP2040.
• Remove 8.x.x deprecations: displayio.*.show(), I2CPeripheral renamed to I2CTarget.
• Add repl.py, which runs just before the REPL starts up.
• Add OrderedDict.move_to_end().
• Add synthio.Synthesizer.note_state.
• Add warnings module, similar to what is in CPython.
• Add locale.getlocale().
• Add I2S MCLK support on Espressif.
• Add mDNS TXT record support.

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 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-S2, ESP32-S3, ESP32-C3
• nrf: Nordic nRF52840, nRF52833
• raspberrypi: Raspberry Pi RP2040
• stm: ST STM32F4 chip family

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

• broadcom: Raspberry Pi boards such as RPi 4, RPi Zero 2W
• litex: fomu
• mimxrt10xx: NXP i.MX RT10xxx
• silabs: Silicon Labs MG24 family
• stm: ST non-STM32F4 chip families

Changes since 9.0.0-alpha.4

Fixes and enhancements

• _asyncio: Fix ticks to match adafruit_ticks. #8609. Thanks @jepler.
• Add locale.getlocale(). #8608. Thanks @jepler.
• Fix split-heap pystack allocation. #8598. Thanks @tannewt.
• Remove remaining obsolete code and documentation about reserved PSRAM and supervisor allocations. #8596. Thanks @jepler.

Port and board-specific changes

Broadcom

Espressif

• Fix split heap storage allocation to include PSRAM. #8605. Thanks @tannewt.
• Fix WiFI on ESP32-C6. Thanks @bill88t.

i.MX

nRF

RP2040

SAMx

SiLabs

• Work around intermittent build failures. #8615. Thanks @silabs-ChatNguyen.
• Allow local write to characteristic without read property being set. #8601. Thanks @silabs-ChatNguyen.
• Fix pwmio deinit crash. #8591. Thanks @silabs-ChatNguyen.

Spresense

STM

Individual boards

• Adafruit QT Py ESP32-S3 4MB Flash 2MB PSRAM: Fix build. #8611. Thanks @dhalbert.

Documentation changes

Build and infrastructure changes

• Merge fetch-submodules.sh into ci_fetch_deps.py and use the latter in makefiles. #8589. Thanks @jepler.

Translation additions and improvements

• Fix untranslatable error string. #8613. Thanks @elpekenin.

New boards since 9.0.0-alpha.4

• Heltec ESP32-S3 WiFi LoRa V3. #8583. Thanks @imnotjames.
• Keeb.io Elite-Pi. #8541. Thanks @alextremblay.
• Oxocard Artwork. #8600. Thanks @supcik.
• Oxocard Connect. #8600. Thanks @supcik.
• Oxocard Galaxy. #8600. Thanks @supcik.
• Oxocard Science. #8600. Thanks @supcik.

Known issues

• See https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/issues for other issues, including issues still to be addressed for:
  • 8.2.x
  • 9.0.0
  • long term

Thanks

Thank you to all who used, tested, and contributed since 9.0.0-alpha.4, including the contributors above, and many others on GitHub and Discord. Join us on the Discord chat to collaborate.