CircuitPython 6.1.0 Beta 0

We only released beta 0 to GitHub because it had a severe bug. It was never on the website or blog. So, please see Beta 1 for full details.

CircuitPython 6.0.0

This is CircuitPython 6.0.0, the latest major revision of CircuitPython, and is a new stable release.

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. Downloads are no longer available from the GitHub release pages because of the large number of files for each release. (If you see the unstable release 6.0.0-rc.2 when you browse circuitpython.org, that release is older. Use this one.)

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).

Port status

CircuitPython has a number of "ports" that are the core implementation for a variety of microcontroller families. Stability varies on a per-port basis. As of this release, atmel-samd, nrf, and stm for the F4 family are stable. cxd56, esp32s2, and stm for other chip families are being actively improved but may be missing functionality and have bugs. litex and mimxrt10xx are in an alpha state and will have bugs and missing functionality.

Major new features and improvements since 5.x

• New port to ESP32-S2 chip.
• RGBMatrix display support.
• countio module to count pulses.
• watchdog controls hardware watchdog timer. Only on certain ports.
• vectorio provides native displayio shapes.
• canio provides support for CAN bus operations.
• _bleio adds support for HCI-based BLE co-processors, such as AirLift boards.
• aesio provides support for AES computations.
• async/await made available by default in many builds; support improved.
• Network modules are revamped, adding wifi, socketpool, ssl, and other modules. Disabled socket, wiznet5k and network modules. They will be removed in 7.x in favor of networking libraries.
• Updated stage and pew libraries.
• _pixelbuf improvements.
• Improved USB serial detection.
• json can now read from stream objects.
• pulseio.PWMOut is split out into pwmio.PWMOut. It is still available in pulseio, but that is deprecated and will be removed in 7.x.
• Added memorymonitor for memory debugging. It is not enabled by default.
• Reduced power consumption (light sleep) during time.sleep() when possible.

Breaking changes since 5.x

• i2cslave is now i2cperipheral and the class in it is changed as well.
• The stop kwarg has been removed from I2C.writeto(). If no stop is desired, then use writeto_then_readfrom.
• The default speed of busio.I2C and board.I2C() is now 100khz, not 400khz as before. Use busio.I2C to set the speed explicitly.
• _bleio.ConnectionError has been removed. Code will now raise the native ConnectionError instead.
• Removed Mixer, RawSample, and WaveFile from audioio. They are now only available in audiocore. 5.x has them in both modules.

New boards since 5.3.1 (38 boards)

• Adafruit BLM Badge
• Adafruit Feather M4 CAN
• Adafruit Matrix Portal M4
• Adafruit Metro ESP32S2
• Adafruit Metro M7 1011
• Adafruit QT Py
• Adafruit QT Py Haxpress
• AloriumTech Evo M51
• Atmel SAME54 Xplained
• BDMicro Vina D51
• BH Dynamics DynOSSAT-EDU-EPS
• BH Dynamics DynOSSAT-EDU-OBC
• BLE-SS Dev Board Multi Sensor
• Electronic Cats Bastwifi
• Espressif Saola 1 w/WROOM
• Espressif Saola 1 w/WROVER
• Fluff M0
• HiiBot BlueFi
• Ikigaisense Vita nRF52840
• Loc Ber M4
• MakerDiary M60 Keyboard
• MakerDiary nRF52840 M.2 devkit
• Makerdairy Pitaya Go
• Muselab nano ESP32-S2
• Nice Nano
• Nordic PCA10100
• OpenMV H7
• Picoplanet
• PyCubed MRAM
• Raytac MDBT50Q-DB-40
• STM32F746 Discovery
• STM32F746 Nucleo
• Seeeduino Wio Terminal
• Simmel
• Teensy 4.1
• TinkeringTech ScountMakes
• UnexpectedMaker FeatherS2
• microDev microS2 (ESP32-S2)

Known issues

• We are not aware of any show-stopper issues.
• See https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/issues for other issues.

Thanks

Thank you to all who used, tested, and contributed since 5.3.1. See the 5.4.0 and 6.0.0 alpha, beta and RC releases for all who contributed. Join us on the Discord chat to collaborate.

Documentation

Documentation is available in readthedocs.io.

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

Translations

One important feature of CircuitPython is translated control and error messages. With the help of fellow open source project Weblate, we're making it even easier to add or improve translations. Sign in with an existing account such as Github, Google or Facebook and start contributing through a simple web interface. No forks or pull requests needed!

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.

CircuitPython 6.0.0 Release Candidate 2

This is the third release candidate of CircuitPython 6.0.0. We don't know of any stability issues overall. See port status below for more stability detail. If you find any issues with it, please file an issue. If no issues are found in the near future, we'll release this version as stable.

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. Downloads are no longer available from the GitHub release pages because of the large number of files for each release.

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).

Port status

CircuitPython has a number of "ports" that are the core implementation for a variety of microcontroller families. Stability varies on a per-port basis. As of this release, atmel-samd, nrf, and stm for the F4 family are stable. cxd56, esp32s2, and stm for other chip families are being actively improved but may be missing functionality and have bugs. litex and mimxrt10xx are in an alpha state and will have bugs and missing functionality.

New features and improvements since 6.0.0 Release Candidate 0

Full commit log is here.

Fixes and enhancements

• RGBMatrix: validate bit-depth argument in constructor (#3661). Thanks @aocole for the issue, @jepler for the fix, and @FoamyGuy for testing.
• Update protomatter library, used for RGBMatrix (#3666). Thanks @maxmckinney for the issue, @jepler for the fix.

Board- and port-specific changes

• Nothing in this release.

Documentation

• No changes in this release.

Internals and build process

• No changes in this release.

Breaking changes since 5.x

• i2cslave is now i2cperipheral and the class in it is changed as well.
• The stop kwarg has been removed from I2C.writeto(). If no stop is desired, then use writeto_then_readfrom.
• The default speed of busio.I2C and board.I2C is now 100khz, not 400khz as before. Use busio.I2C to set the speed explicitly. #3471 Thanks @caternuson, @ladyada, @hierophect and @tannewt
• _bleio.ConnectionError has been removed. Code will now raise the native ConnectionError instead.

New boards since 6.0.0-rc.1

• No new boards in this release.

Known issues

• No show-stopper issues.
• See https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/issues for other issues.

Thanks

Thank you to all who used, tested, and contributed since 6.0.0 Release Candidate 1, including @jepler, @aocole, @FoamyGuy, @tannewt, @maxmckinney, and many more on Discord. Join us on the Discord chat to collaborate.

Documentation

Documentation is available in readthedocs.io.

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

Translations

One important feature of CircuitPython is translated control and error messages. With the help of fellow open source project Weblate, we're making it even easier to add or improve translations. Sign in with an existing account such as Github, Google or Facebook and start contributing through a simple web interface. No forks or pull requests needed!

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.

CircuitPython 6.0.0 Release Candidate 1

This is the second release candidate of CircuitPython 6.0.0. We don't know of any stability issues overall. See port status below for more stability detail. If you find any issues with it, please file an issue. If no issues are found within a week or so, we'll release this version as stable.

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. Downloads are no longer available from the GitHub release pages because of the large number of files for each release.

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).

Port status

CircuitPython has a number of "ports" that are the core implementation for a variety of microcontroller families. Stability varies on a per-port basis. As of this release, atmel-samd, nrf, and stm for the F4 family are stable. cxd56, esp32s2, and stm for other chip families are being actively improved but may be missing functionality and have bugs. litex and mimxrt10xx are in an alpha state and will have bugs and missing functionality.

New features and improvements since 6.0.0 Release Candidate 0

Fixes and enhancements

• USB serial detection improved. Fixes REPL not available after host computer sleeps, and supervisor.runtime.serial_available is more accurate now (#3624). Thanks @dhalbert.
• board.I2C() and board.SPI() now can be de-inited and re-inited safely, and their lifetimes are correct in the presence of displays (#3603). Thanks @cwalther.
• ulab is updated to 0.54.5 (#3602). Thanks @jepler.

Board- and port-specific changes

• Feather M4 CAN: revised pins (#3636). Thanks @ladyada and @dhalbert.
• analogio is restored to the M0 RFM boards, due to increased space available (#3603). Thanks @jerryneedell.
• MatrixPortal ESP32 TX and RX pins were reversed (#3618). Thanks @dhalbert.
• CPB SPI pin mappings were not correct (#3590). Thanks @jerryneedell.
• MatrixPortal: Fix which pins not to reset (#3574). Thanks @tannewt.

Documentation

• No changes in this release.

Internals and build process

• mpy-cross-mac build fixed after change in awscli (#3578). Thanks @jepler.

Full commit log is here.

Breaking changes since 5.x

• i2cslave is now i2cperipheral and the class in it is changed as well.
• The stop kwarg has been removed from I2C.writeto(). If no stop is desired, then use writeto_then_readfrom.
• The default speed of busio.I2C and board.I2C is now 100khz, not 400khz as before. Use busio.I2C to set the speed explicitly. #3471 Thanks @caternuson, @ladyada, @hierophect and @tannewt
• _bleio.ConnectionError has be removed. Code will now raise the native ConnectionError instead.

New boards since 6.0.0-rc.0

• No new boards in this release.

Known issues

• Nothing major.
• See https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/issues for other issues.

Thanks

Thank you to all who used, tested, and contributed since 6.0.0 Release Candidate 0, including @cwalther, @dhalbert, @jepler, @jerryneedell, @ladyada, @makermelissa, @tannewt, and many more on Discord. Join us on the Discord chat to collaborate.

Documentation

Documentation is available in readthedocs.io.

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

Translations

One important feature of CircuitPython is translated control and error messages. With the help of fellow open source project Weblate, we're making it even easier to add or improve translations. Sign in with an existing account such as Github, Google or Facebook and start contributing through a simple web interface. No forks or pull requests needed!

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.

CircuitPython 6.0.0 Release Candidate 0

This is the first release candidate of CircuitPython 6.0.0. We don't know of any stability issues overall. See port status below for more stability detail. If you find any issues with it, please file an issue. If no issues are found within a week or so, we'll release this version as stable.

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. Downloads are no longer available from the GitHub release pages because of the large number of files for each release.

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).

Port status

CircuitPython has a number of "ports" that are the core implementation for a variety of microcontroller families. Stability varies on a per-port basis. As of this release, atmel-samd, nrf, and stm for the F4 family are stable. cxd56, esp32s2, and stm for other chip families are being actively improved but may be missing functionality and have bugs. litex and mimxrt10xx are in an alpha state and will have bugs and missing functionality.

New features and improvements since 6.0.0 Beta 2

Fixes and enhancements

• Enable async and await keywords and adds __await__ support. Thanks to @warriorofwire
• Add ESP32-S2 analogio support. Thanks to @hierophect
• Add canio support to the STM32F405 boards. Thanks to @jepler
• The HCI version of _bleio is available on many non-nRF boards (nRF is not included since it already has native BLE). Thanks to @dhalbert
• Fix display memory bugs. Thanks to @jepler and @cwalther

Board- and port-specific changes

• Add ability to set hostname to ESP32-S2. Thanks to @askpatrickw, @microdev1, @UnexpectedMaker
• Fix STM sleep timing. Thanks to @tannewt, @FoamyGuy, @DavePutz
• Fix STM time keeping that lead to unnecessary I2C timeouts. Thanks to @tannewt, @jepler, @FoamyGuy, @electriczity, @mdroberts1243, @DavePutz, @hierophect
• Fix SAMD21 auto-reload issue. Thanks to @tannewt
• Fix SAMD21 timing issue causing flickering on the pew. Thanks to @tannewt, @deshipu, @cwalther, @DavePutz, @jepler
• Fix RGB Matrix crash when brightness is set to zero. Thanks to @jepler
• Rework the flash config for iMX RT boards and enable the DCache (but disable caching for the OCRAM.) Thanks to @tannewt
• Update to the latest ESP-IDF from Espressif. Thanks to @hierophect

Documentation

• Numerous translation additions and improvements. Thanks:
  • @wtuemura (Brazilian Portugese)
  • @hexthat (Chinese Pinyin)
  • @Edrig (French)
  • @oonid (Indonesian)
  • @dherrada (Spanish)
  • @bergdahl (Swedish)

Full commit log is here.

Breaking changes since 5.x

• i2cslave is now i2cperipheral and the class in it is changed as well.
• The stop kwarg has been removed from I2C.writeto(). If no stop is desired, then use writeto_then_readfrom.
• The default speed of busio.I2C and board.I2C is now 100khz, not 400khz as before. Use busio.I2C to set the speed explicitly. #3471 Thanks @caternuson, @ladyada, @hierophect and @tannewt
• _bleio.ConnectionError has be removed. Code will now raise the native ConnectionError instead.

New boards since 6.0.0 Beta 2

• BDMicro Vina D51 Thanks to @bd34n and @ladyada
• BH Dynamics DynOSSAT-EDU-EPS Thanks to @ecasadod
• BH Dynamics DynOSSAT-EDU-OBC Thanks to @ecasadod
• Adafruit Metro M7 1011 Thanks to @tannewt and @ladyada

Known issues

• Nothing major.
• See https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/issues for other issues.

Thanks

Thank you to all who used, tested, and contributed since 6.0.0 Beta 2, including @askpatrickw, @bergdahl, @bh34n, @caternuson, @cwalther, @DavePutz, @deshipu, @dhalbert, @dherrada, @ecasadod, @Edrig, @electriczity, @FoamyGuy, @hexthat, @hierophect, @jepler, @ladyada, @mdroberts1243, @microdev1, @oonid, @tannewt, @UnexpectedMaker, @warriorofwire, @wtuemura and many more on Discord. Join us on the Discord chat to collaborate.

Documentation

Documentation is available in readthedocs.io.

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

Translations

One important feature of CircuitPython is translated control and error messages. With the help of fellow open source project Weblate, we're making it even easier to add or improve translations. Sign in with an existing account such as Github, Google or Facebook and start contributing through a simple web interface. No forks or pull requests needed!

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.

CircuitPython 6.0.0 Beta 2

This is the third beta release of CircuitPython 6.0.0. It is relatively stable overall. See port status below for more stability detail. This is a quick bug fix release of Beta 1 so see it's release notes as well. Please use 5.3.x if you need a stable version of CircuitPython.

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. Downloads are no longer available from the GitHub release pages because of the large number of files for each release.

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).

Port status

CircuitPython has a number of "ports" that are the core implementation for a variety of microcontroller families. Stability varies on a per-port basis. As of this release, atmel-samd, nrf, and stm for the F4 family are stable. cxd56, esp32s2, and stm for other chip families are being actively improved but may be missing functionality and have bugs. litex and mimxrt10xx are in an alpha state and will have bugs and missing functionality.

New features and improvements since 6.0.0 Beta 1

Fixes and enhancements

• Fix RGBMatrix crash. #3507 Thanks to @jepler and @ladyada

Board- and port-specific changes

• stage and pew libraries were updated. Thanks to @deshipu

Documentation

• Numerous translation additions and improvements. Thanks:
  • @wtuemura (Brazilian Portugese)
  • @bergdahl (Swedish)
  • @nijel (Korean)

Full commit log is here.

Breaking changes since 5.x

• i2cslave is now i2cperipheral and the class in it is changed as well.
• The stop kwarg has been removed from I2C.writeto(). If no stop is desired, then use writeto_then_readfrom.
• The default speed of busio.I2C and board.I2C is now 100khz, not 400khz as before. Use busio.I2C to set the speed explicitly. #3471 Thanks @caternuson, @ladyada, @hierophect and @tannewt

New boards since 6.0.0 Beta 1

• None

Known issues

• Nothing major.
• See https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/issues for other issues.

Thanks

Thank you to all who used, tested, and contributed since 6.0.0 Beta 1, including @bergdahl, @deshipu, @nijel, @jepler, @ladyada, @wtuemura, and many more on Discord. Join us on the Discord chat to collaborate.

Documentation

Documentation is available in readthedocs.io.

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

Translations

One important feature of CircuitPython is translated control and error messages. With the help of fellow open source project Weblate, we're making it even easier to add or improve translations. Sign in with an existing account such as Github, Google or Facebook and start contributing through a simple web interface. No forks or pull requests needed!

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.

CircuitPython 6.0.0 Beta 1

This is the second beta release of CircuitPython 6.0.0. It is relatively stable overall. See port status below for more stability detail. This release includes a new canio API, support for the 128x64 OLED and many fixes. Please use 5.3.x if you need a stable version of CircuitPython.

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. Downloads are no longer available from the GitHub release pages because of the large number of files for each release.

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).

Port status

CircuitPython has a number of "ports" that are the core implementation for a variety of microcontroller families. Stability varies on a per-port basis. As of this release, atmel-samd, nrf, and stm for the F4 family are stable. cxd56, esp32s2, and stm for other chip families are being actively improved but may be missing functionality and have bugs. litex and mimxrt10xx are in an alpha state and will have bugs and missing functionality.

New features and improvements since 6.0.0 Beta 0

API changes and additions

• Add canio API for communicating over CAN BUS #3425 #3466 Thanks @dhalbert, @jepler and @siddacious
• The default speed of busio.I2C and board.I2C is now 100khz, not 400khz as before. Use busio.I2C to set the speed explicitly. #3471 Thanks @caternuson, @ladyada, @hierophect and @tannewt
• Add SH1107_addressing kwarg to displayio.Display to support the SH1107 used in the 128x64 OLED with the new library. #3450 Thanks @mdroberts1243 and @jepler

Fixes and enhancements

• Fix memory corruption with sharp display. #3497 Thanks @jepler
• Fix hang when using OnDiskBitmap with a file on an SDCard. #3449 Thanks to @FoamyGuy and @jepler
• Update TinyUSB to get MIDI SysEx fix. #3473 Thanks @mzero and @tannewt
• Pins in board now print with their board name. #3470 Thanks @askpatrickw

Board- and port-specific changes

• ESP32-S2:
  • Fix digitalio on pins that don't default to GPIO and fix reading back output value. #3495 Thanks @tannewt
  • Fix connecting to wifi without scanning first. #3489 Thanks @astrobokonon
  • Fix SPI write_value support so SD cards work. #3448 Thanks @hierophect, @jepler and @emard
  • Fix time.time and time.localtime. #3451 Thanks @microdev1, @hierophect, @askpatrickw and @anecdata
  • Build and release UF2 files #3475 Thanks @tannewt
• NRF52: Fix SPI display issue caused by QSPI disable. #3453 Thanks @DavePutz, @jerryneedell, @cjsieh and @xiongyihui
• UnexpectedMaker FeatherS2: Pin mapping updates. #3463 Thanks @UnexpectedMaker
• Wio Terminal: Turn on 40 pin connector. #3478 Thanks to @ansonhe97
• QT Py: Turn on NeoPixel and correct pinout. #3457 Thanks to @ladyada

Documentation

• Numerous translation additions and improvements. Thanks:
  • @wtuemura (Brazilian Portugese)
  • @bergdahl (Swedish)
  • @ciscorn (Japanese)
  • @fede2cr (Spanish)
  • @tawez, @dobra-dobra (Polish)
• Add design guide note about const() use. #3481 Thanks to @caternuson

Internals and build process

• Include port directories in translation process. #3491 #3486 Thanks to @jepler and @microdev1
• _and_ and _or_ no longer replaced in QSTRs. #3456 Thanks to @jepler

Full commit log is here.

Breaking changes since 5.x

• i2cslave is now i2cperipheral and the class in it is changed as well.
• The stop kwarg has been removed from I2C.writeto(). If no stop is desired, then use writeto_then_readfrom.
• The default speed of busio.I2C and board.I2C is now 100khz, not 400khz as before. Use busio.I2C to set the speed explicitly. #3471 Thanks @caternuson, @ladyada, @hierophect and @tannewt

New boards since 6.0.0 Beta 0

• Adafruit QT Py Haxpress #3476 Thanks @jepler and @ladyada
• Adafruit Metro ESP32S2 #3495 Thanks @tannewt and @ladyada

Known issues

• RGBMatrix crashes. Please use 6.0.0 Beta 2.
• See https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/issues for other issues.

Thanks

Thank you to all who used, tested, and contributed since 6.0.0 Beta 0, including @anecdata, @ansonhe97, @askpatrickw, @astrobokonon, @bergdahl, @caternuson, @ciscorn, @cjsieh, @cwalther, @DavePutz, @dobra-dobra, @emard, @fede2cr, @FoamyGuy, @hierophect, @jepler, @jerryneedell, @ladyada, @mdroberts1243, @microdev1, @siddacious, @tannewt, @tawez, @UnexpectedMaker, @wtuemura, @xiongyihui and many more on Discord. Join us on the Discord chat to collaborate.

Documentation

Documentation is available in readthedocs.io.

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

Translations

One important feature of CircuitPython is translated control and error messages. With the help of fellow open source project Weblate, we're making it even easier to add or improve translations. Sign in with an existing account such as Github, Google or Facebook and start contributing through a simple web interface. No forks or pull requests needed!

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.

CircuitPython 6.0.0 Beta 0

This is the initial beta release of CircuitPython 6.0.0. It is relatively stable. The most notable additions since 5.3.x are basic lower power support when in time.sleep(), initial ESP32-S2 support, including WiFi, and and _bleio HCI support for ESP32 co-processors. The lower power work changed time keeping and may have introduced bugs. Please use 5.3.x if you need a stable version of CircuitPython.

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. Downloads are no longer available from the GitHub release pages because of the large number of files for each release.

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).

Port status

CircuitPython has a number of "ports" that are the core implementation for a variety of microcontroller families. Stability varies on a per-port basis. As of this release, atmel-samd, nrf, and stm for the F4 family are stable. cxd56, esp32s2, and stm for other chip families are being actively improved but may be missing functionality and have bugs. litex and mimxrt10xx are in an alpha state and will have bugs and missing functionality.

New features and improvements since 6.0.0 Alpha 3

API changes and additions

• Revamp network API, adding wifi, socketpool, ssl, and other modules (#3326, #3397). Thanks @tannewt.
• Implement _bleio for HCI Bluetooth adapters (#3310). Note that this supports peripheral mode only right now. Thanks @dhalbert.
• Add usb_hid.Device.last_received_report to receive HID OUT (from host) reports (#3302). Thanks @xiongyihui.
• Implement .bit_length() and 3-argument pow(), needed for a port of Decimal (#3377). Thanks @jepler.
• display.refresh() will force an immediate redraw (#3366). Thanks @kmatch98.
• supervisor.runtime.serial_connected is now more accurate, and can detect both disconnect and reconnect (#3437). Thanks @jepler.

Fixes and enhancements

• struct: improve compliance with CPython (#3404). Thanks @jepler.
• Implement improved message compression scheme (#3398). Thanks @ciscorn and @jepler.
• Add bigram message compression (#3370, superseded by #3370). Thanks @jepler.
• Fix I2C-related displayio crashes (#3392). Thanks @hierophect.
• Fix decompression of certain Unicode values (#3385). Thanks @jepler.
• Make sure board.SPI() is unlocked after a soft reboot (#3378). Thanks @DavePutz.
• Guard against NO_PIN pin numbers being passed to various routines (#3375). Thanks @DavePutz.
• Add dirty Rectangle tracking to displayio.Shape (#3374). Thanks @kmatch98.
• Fix several RGBMatrix and FrameBufferDisplay bugs (#3344). Thanks @jepler.
• Clean up a conditionally compiled part of the code for sdioio (#3435). Thanks @jepler.

Board- and port-specific changes

• ESP32-S2:
  • Add native WiFi support (#3326). Thanks @tannewt.
  • Add filesystem layouts for 8MB and 16MB partitions (#3426). Thanks @tannewt.
  • Implemented rtc (#3422). Thanks @askpatrickw.
  • Add port-specific README, with build and flash information (#3417). Thanks @hierophect.
  • Add safe mode support (#3395). Thanks @microdev1.
  • Add non-DMA SPI support (#3393). Thanks @tannewt.
  • Add openocd and gdb debugging support (#3392). Thanks @hierophect.
  • Add microcontroller.cpu.temperature support (#3382). Thanks @hierophect.
  • Allow connecting to a specific WiFi BSSID (access point) (#3433). Thanks @astrobokonon.
• Feather M4 Express was using dual-mode QSPI instead of quad-mode (#3399). Thanks @jepler.
• Feather M0 RFM69: Freeze libraries into build (#3388). Thanks @jerryneedell.
• Add SAME51 support to atmel-samd (#3384). Thanks @jepler.
• Trellis M4: Fix pins used for `board.I2C() (#3373). Thanks @dhalbert.
• Spresense: Add native camera support (#3369). Thanks @kamtom480.
• Unix: Fix import ulab.linalg crash (#3355). Thanks @jepler.
• BLM Badge: Add board.I2C() (#3348). Thanks @ladyada.
• SAME54: Disable microcontroller.cpu.voltage, as it is hanging (#3434). Thanks @jepler.
• atmel-samd: Fix SPI code that handled SAMR21 special case (#3436). Thanks @jepler.
• STM32: Make sure MOSI is high during SPI read (#3431). Thanks @hierophect.
• MakerDiary boards: Add pin aliases such as SCL and SDA, and canonicalize other names (#3438). Thanks @nitz.
• BDMICRO VINA M0 renamed to VINA D21; pins updated (#3432). Thanks @bd34n.
• STM32: Add never_reset calls to RGBMatrix init (#3441). Thanks @hierophect.

Documentation

• New translation started for Greek.
• Numerous translation additions and improvements. Thanks:
  • @wtuemura (Brazilian Portugese)
  • @ciscorn (Japanese)
  • @fede2cr (Spanish)
  • @bergdahl (Swedish)
  • @fetchall (Dutch)
  • @tawez (Polish)
  • @hugodahl (French)
• Fix typo in _bleio documentation (#3411). Thanks @jepler.
• Remove documentation about non-existent clock specification (#3406). Thanks @CarlFK.
• Use shared-bindings for support matrix, special-casing ulab (#3352). Thanks @jepler.

Internals and build process

• Enable diagnostic for fall-through case arms in switch statements, catching several bugs. Thanks @jepler.
• Remove debugging printout in endpoint-counting code during build (#3359). Thanks @jepler.
• Clone the esp-idf submodules explicitly in the GitHub build action to prevent build hiccups (#3358). Thanks @jepler.
• Make build script not rely on Python 3.7 features (#3443). Thanks @jepler.

Full commit log is here.

Breaking changes since 5.x

• i2cslave is now i2cperipheral and the class in it is changed as well.
• The stop kwarg has been removed from I2C.writeto(). If no stop is desired, then use writeto_then_readfrom.

New boards since 6.0.0 Alpha 3

• Muselab nano ESP32-S2 (#3427). Thanks @maditnerd.
• Py QT (#3407). Thanks @ladyada.
• Feather M4 CAN (#3384). Thanks @jepler.
• Matrix Portal M4 (#3363). Thanks @dhalbert.

Known issues

• Use of the adafruit_sdcard library can interfere with displayio operations that use read from an SD card (e.g., OnDiskBitmap). Use the native sdcardio or sdio modules instead, to avoid this problem.
• See https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/issues for other issues.

Thanks

Thank you to all who used, tested, and contributed since 6.0.0 Alpha 3, including @Andon-A, @anecdata, @askpatrickw, @astrobokonon, @bd34n, @bergdahl, @CarlFK, @ciscorn, @cjsieh, @DavePutz, @dhalbert, @emard, @fede2cr, @fetchall, @FoamyGuy, @hierophect, @hugodahl, @jepler, @jerryneedell, @julianrendell, @kamtom480, @kmatch98, @ladyada, @maditnerd, @microdev1, @nitz, @PaintYourDragon, @siehputz, @sommersoft, @tannewt, @tawez, @titoluyo, @weblate, @wtuemura, and many more on Discord. Join us on the Discord chat to collaborate.

Documentation

Documentation is available in readthedocs.io.

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

Translations

One important feature of CircuitPython is translated control and error messages. With the help of fellow open source project Weblate, we're making it even easier to add or improve translations. Sign in with an existing account such as Github, Google or Facebook and start contributing through a simple web interface. No forks or pull requests needed!

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.

CircuitPython 6.0.0 Alpha 3

This is the third alpha release of CircuitPython 6.0.0. It is relatively stable. The release is still alpha because some API changes and additions are not yet included. Upcoming in a future release but not yet included are ESP32-S2 Wifi support, and _bleio HCI support for ESP32 co-processors.

The most notable additions since 5.3.x are basic lower power support when in time.sleep() and initial ESP32-S2 support. The lower power work changed time keeping and may have introduced bugs. Please use 5.3.x if you need a stable version of CircuitPython.

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. Downloads are no longer available from the GitHub release pages because of the large number of files for each release.

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 and improvements since 6.0.0 Alpha 2

API changes

• Disable socket, wiznet5k and network modules. They will be removed in 7.x in favor of networking libraries. Thanks @tannewt.
• Add memorymonitor for memory debugging. It must be enabled on a local build. Thanks @tannewt.
• Add .find, .rfind, .index and .rindex to bytearray for CPython-compatible builds. Thanks @tannewt.
• json.load now works with any object with readinto. Thanks @tannewt.
• pulseio.PWMOUT is split out into pwmio.PWMOut. It is still available in pulseio, but that is deprecated and will be removed in 7.x (#3299). Thanks @tannewt.
• _bleio: Allow changing MAC address (#3276). Thanks @xiongyihui.
• _pixelbuf now supports iterables and floats (#3260). Thanks @rhooper.
• nrf: Turn off QSPI when sleeping (#3244). Thanks @xiongyihui.
• Add coroutine behavior for generators (#3178). Thanks @WarriorOfWire.

Fixes

• UTF-8 handled properly in REPL (#3305, #3243). Thanks @dunkmann00.
• terminalio is disabled for Japanese and Korean translations, because we currently have no font available (#3295). Thanks @tannewt.
• Fix storage management in displayio (#3292). Thanks @jepler.
• nrf: Code error in _bleio (#3284). Thanks @kevinjwalters for finding it, and @dhalbert for the fix.
• nrf: SPIM3 buffer was in the wrong place. Thanks @riggs for pointing out the error, and @dhalbert for the fix.
• ESP32-S2: Fix writing sector 0 in filesystem (#3262). Thanks @tannewt.
• sharpdisplay: Prevent pin in use error (#3277). Thanks @jepler.
• Improve high-speed USB (#3225). Thanks @hathach.
• Allow assigment to 32-bit Bitmap (#3227). Thanks @cwalther.
• Prevent crashing Linux when doing storage.erase_filesystem() (#3323). Thanks @dhalbert.
• async for __aiter__ fix (#3222). Thanks @WarriorOfWire.
• Improve appearance of vectorio.Polygon (#3221). Thanks @WarriorOfWire.
• Fix displayio.Group.insert(). (#3214). Thanks @kmatch98.
• Allow larger pystack on SAMD21 (#3213). Thanks @jerryneedell.
• await must be inside an async def (#3202). Thanks @WarriorOfWire.

Board- and port-specific changes

• ESP32-S2: enable ulab (#3325), add neopixel_write (#3280, #3232), PulseOut, PulseIn (#3279), enabled random (#3324). Thanks @hierophect.
• STM: fix random (#3324). Thanks @hierophect.
• ESP32-S2: add PSRAM support (#3315). Thanks @tannewt.
• Mini Sam M4 additional flash chip (#3308). Thanks @bwshockley.
• Spresense: USB updates (#3306). Thanks @kamtom48.
• SAME54: use correct macro constants (#3303). Thanks @jepler.
• Simmel: update to reflect actual hardware (#3297). Thanks @bunnie.
• RFM9x M0: freeze in RFM library (#3251). Thanks @jerryneedell.
• Update frozen libraries for all boards (#3240). Thanks @jerryneedell.
• Open Book: updates (#3226). Thanks @joeycastillo.
• Wio Terminal: add displayio.DISPLAY (#3215). Thanks @ansonhe97.
• Fluff M0: add pin aliases (#3209). Thanks @deshpu.
• Commander: add GamePad (#3020) . Thanks @burtyb.
• Litex: improve pin handling (#3199). Thanks @hierophect.

Documentation

• Numerous translation additions and improvements. Thanks:
  • @wtuemura (Brazilian Portugese)
  • @hexthat (Pinyin)
  • @ciscorn (Japanese)
  • @fede2cr, @dherrada (Spanish)
  • @bergdahl (Swedish)
  • @ryevertigo (Dutch)
  • @NathanBnm (French)
• Translation detail and infrastructure fixes (#3283, #3282, #3241). Thanks @jepler.
• Build PDF documentation on readthedocs (#3286). Thanks @sommersoft.
• Add links to boards in the Support Matrix (#3256). Thanks @sommersoft.
• Fix readthedocs build errors (#3255). Thanks @ciscorn.
• Improve core modules documentation (#3252). Thanks @ciscorn.
• Set version and release for sphinx (#3246). Thanks @sommersoft.
• Add many type hints in documentation (#3193). Thanks @ciscorn.
• Fix order of doc build to fix readthedocs (#3335). Thanks @jepler.
• Fix and speed up support matrix generation (#3331). Thanks @jepler.

Internals and build process

• Check for too many USB endpoints needed (#3304). Thanks @jepler.
• Compress messages more efficiently by not including QSTR's (#3298). Thanks @ciscorn.
• Squeeze builds to fit new translations (#3273, #3236, #3230). #3236 in particular saved a lot of space in a math routine. Thanks @jepler.
• Report number of missing displayio font characters for messages (#3300). Thanks @jepler.
• Less verbose build logs (#3290). Thanks @jepler.
• Fix mpy-cross dependency analysis during make (#3239). Thanks @jepler.
• Fix gcc10 compilation issues (#3231, #3218). Thanks @jepler and @tannewt.
• Upload mpy-cross builds to Amazon S3 (#3220). Thanks @dhalbert.
• Fix compilation on Windows msys (#3219). Thanks @ladyada.
• Fix doc-building dependencies (#3212). Thanks @tannewt.
• Parallelize GitHub CI builds (#3203). Thanks @WarriorOfWire.
• Allow different compiler optimizations per board. Choose faster optimization on boards that have the space (#3190). Thanks @DavePutz.
• Fix same-line comment issue in makefiles (#3333). Thanks @hierophect.

Full commit log is here.

Breaking changes since 5.x

• i2cslave is now i2cperipheral and the class in it is changed as well.
• The stop kwarg has been removed from I2C.writeto(). If no stop is desired, then use writeto_then_readfrom.

New boards since 6.0.0 Alpha 2

• Picoplanet (#3267). Thanks @bleeptrack.
• BLM Badge (#3217). Thanks @dhalbert.
• Ikigaisense Vita nRF52840 (#3196). Thanks @IkigaiSense.
• microDev microS2 (ESP32-S2) (#3302). Thanks @microdev1, and thanks to @jepler for fixing a line-ending issue (#3330).
• Bastwifi by Electronic Cats (#3238). Thanks @sabas1080.

Known issues

• Use of the adafruit_sdcard library can interfere with displayio operations that use read from an SD card (e.g., OnDiskBitmap). Use the native sdcardio or sdio modules instead, to avoid this problem.
• See https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/issues for other issues.

Thanks

Thank you to all who used, tested, and contributed since 6.0.0 Alpha 2, including @anecdata, @ansonhe97, @bergdahl, @bleeptrack, @brentru, @bunnie, @burtyb, @bwshockley, @ciscorn, @cwalther, @DavePutz, @deshipu, @dhalbert, @dpgeorge, @dunkmann00, @fede2cr, @FoamyGuy, @hathach, @hexthat, @hierophect, @jepler, @jerryneedell, @joeycastillo, @jonathanhogg, @josecastillo, @kamtom480, @kmatch98, @ladyada, @microdev1, @rhooper, @ryevertigo, @sabas1080, @sommersoft, @tannewt, @WarriorOfWire, @weblate, @wtuemura, @xiongyihui, and many more on Discord. Join us on the Discord chat to collaborate.

Documentation

Documentation is available in readthedocs.io.

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

Translations

One important feature of CircuitPython is translated control and error messages. With the help of fellow open source project Weblate, we're making it even easier to add or improve translations. Sign in with an existing account such as Github, Google or Facebook and start contributing through a simple web interface. No forks or pull requests needed!

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.

CircuitPython 6.0.0 Alpha 2

This is the second alpha release of CircuitPython 6.0.0. It is alpha because we are planning one more API change to ulab. It is relatively stable.

Feature-wise, this unstable release adds basic lower power support when in time.sleep() and initial ESP32-S2 support. The lower power work changed time keeping and may have introduced bugs. Please use 5.3.0 if you need a stable version of CircuitPython.

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. Downloads are no longer available from the GitHub release pages because of the large number of files for each release.

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 and improvements since 6.0.0 Alpha 1

API Changes

• Disable socket, wiznet5k and network modules. They will be removed in 7.x in favor of networking libraries. Thanks to @tannewt
• Add memorymonitor for memory debugging. It must be enabled on a local build. Thanks to @tannewt
• Add .find, .rfind, .index and .rindex to bytearray for CPYTHON compatible builds. Thanks to @tannewt
• json.load now works with any object with readinto. Thanks to @tannewt

Internals

• Improved performance with background task rework. Now on par with 5.3.x Thanks to @jepler
• Enable PYSTACK which separates python code state from C code state and improves memory use. Let us know if you hit a RuntimeError from an exhausted pystack. It may be too small. Thanks to @tannewt

Fixes

• ESP32S2 build can now be parallelized. Thanks to @jepler
• ESP32S2 unique IDs are now actually unique. Thanks to @jepler
• Fixed VectorShape non-transposed pixel placement. Thanks to @warriorofwire
• Fixed USB starvation during long numeric calculations. Thanks to @DavePutz
• Fixed Polygon.points. Thanks to @WarriorOfWire
• SAMD brown out levels are now configurable. Thanks to @deshipu
• MP3 playback improvements. Thanks to @jepler
• PulseIn fixed on SAMD. Thanks to @DavePutz

Board changes

• Enable analogio on PewPew M4. Thanks to @deshipu
• Seeed Wio Terminal display now init by default. Thanks to @ansonhe97

Documentation

• License documentation improvements. Thanks to @Flameeyes
• Improve generated .pyi files. Thanks to @ciscorn
• Additional type hints to the core docs. Thanks to @dherrada
• Documentation improvements. Thanks to AndrewR-L, @dkhawk and @dunkmann00
• Dutch, Indonesian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish translation improvements. Thanks to @bergdahl, @fede2cr, @oonid, @ryevertigo, and @wtuemura.

Full commit log is here.

Breaking changes since 5.x

• i2cslave is now i2cperipheral and the class in it is changed as well.
• The stop kwarg has been removed from I2C.writeto(). If no stop is desired, then use writeto_then_readfrom.

New boards since 6.0.0 Alpha 1

• MakerDiary nRF52840 M.2 devkit Thanks to @xiongyihui #3136
• MakerDiary M60 Keyboard Thanks to @xiongyihui #3136
• Raytac MDBT50Q-DB-40 Thanks to @Arudinne #3127
• TinkeringTech ScountMakes Azul Thanks to @tinkeringtech #3157
• BLE-SS Dev Board Multi Sensor Thanks to @arms22 #3135

Known Issues

• displayio operations that read from an SD card (e.g., OnDiskBitmap) will interfere with other SD card operations and can cause lockup. To work around this problem, do not read or write files on the SD while the display is updating, and vice versa.
• See https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/issues for other issues.

Thanks

Thank you to all who used, tested, contributed since 6.0.0 Alpha 1, helped out, and participated on GitHub and/or Discord, including @ansonhe97, @arms22 @Arudinne, @bergdahl, @ciscorn, @DavePutz, @deshipu, @dhalbert, @dherrada, @dkhawk, @dunkmann00, @fede2cr, @Flameeyes, @jepler, @ladyada, @oonid, @ryevertigo, @tannewt, @tinkeringtech, @warriorofwire, @wtuemura and @xiongyihui and surely more we have missed. Join us on the Discord chat to collaborate.

Documentation

Documentation is available in readthedocs.io.

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

Translations

One important feature of CircuitPython is translated control and error messages. With the help of fellow open source project Weblate, we're making it even easier to add or improve translations. Sign in with an existing account such as Github, Google or Facebook and start contributing through a simple web interface. No forks or pull requests needed!

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.