adafruit/circuitpython 9.0.0-beta.2

CircuitPython 9.0.0 Beta 2

on GitHub

This is CircuitPython 9.0.0-beta.2, a beta release for 9.0.0, and is a new unstable release. This release has known bugs that will be addressed before 9.0.0 final.

Note for MEMENTO Camera Board users: This release contains an important fix for MEMENTO. If you originally installed a version of CircuitPython older than 9.0.0-beta.2 on your board, your CIRCUITPY drive thinks it is larger than it really is. This can cause crashes. To fix this, back up what is on your drive, install CircuitPython 9.0.0-beta.2 or later, and then erase and reformat CIRCUITPY by running this code from the terminal or in a program

import storage
storage.erase_filesystem()

Or, use the factory reset procedure described in the MEMENTO Learn Guide. But the simple code above will work just as well.

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 since 8.x.x

Incompatibility warnings

• New storage management. See Internal below about possible new memory errors with existing programs.
• Filesystems such as SD cards must now be mounted on an existing directory as a mount point. See Storage below.
• Incompatible change in socket behavior: Sockets must be explictly made reusable. See Networking below.

Audio

• Add synthio.Note .loop_start and .loop_end properties.
• Add synthio.Synthesizer.note_state.
• Add I2S MCLK support on Espressif.
• Allow signed amplitude in synthio.

Built-in modules

• Add OrderedDict.move_to_end().
• Add warnings module, similar to what is in CPython.
• Add locale.getlocale().
• Add codeop.compile_command().
• Remove 8.x.x deprecations: displayio.*.show(), I2CPeripheral renamed to I2CTarget.

Graphics

• Reorganize and split displayio. 8.x.x naming structure is available in 9.x.x, but will be removed in 10.0.0.
• Add jpegio JPEG decoder support.
• Add bitmapfilter image manipulation.

Internal

• New split-heap internal dynamic storage mechanism. Some CircuitPython programs may fail with MemoryError. If you encounter programs that work in 8.x.x but get MemoryError exceptions, consider filing an issue with details.
• Merge updates from MicroPython v1.19.1, v1.20.0, and v1.21.0.
• Espressif: update to ESP-IDF v5.1.2.

Networking

• Allow specifying protocol for raw sockets.
• Add mDNS TXT record support.
• Make SD cards available over web workflow.
• Incompatible change: Require explicit socket port reuse. Use socket.setsockopt(pool.SOL_SOCKET, pool.SO_REUSEADDR, 1), as in CPython.

Python interpreter

• Use terser error messages on small builds.

Storage

• CIRCUITPY drives now mount on Android.
• Increased file capacity on CIRCUITPY drives <= 128kB.
• Incompatible change: Require filesystem mounts to be on existing directories. Create /sd in fresh filesystems to provide a mount point.

Supervisor

• Add repl.py, which runs just before the REPL starts up.

USB

• Video device ("Webcam", UVC) support.
• HID can wake up sleeping host computer.
• Further USB host support, on i.MX and RP2040.

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-beta.1

Fixes and enhancements

Port and board-specific changes

Broadcom

Espressif

• Correct CIRCUITPY size on non-OTA boards, notably MEMENTO. #8952. Thanks @dhalbert and @jepler.

i.MX

nRF

RP2040

SAMx

SiLabs

Spresense

STM

Individual boards

• Adafruit MEMENTO: Fix CIRCUITPY size. Requires storage.erase_filesystem(). #8952. Thanks @dhalbert @jepler.
• Cytron Maker Uno RP2040: Change name; remove RGB status LED. #8950. Thanks @noqman.

Documentation changes

Build and infrastructure changes

• Add tests for bit_length(). Thanks @kbsriram.

Translation additions and improvements

• Thanks for translations:
  • @hexthat (Chinese - Pinyin)

New boards since 9.0.0-beta.1

Known issues

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

Thanks

Thank you to all who used, tested, and contributed since 9.0.0-beta.1, including the contributors above, and many others on GitHub and Discord. Join us on the Discord chat to collaborate.