# CircuitPython Weekly for November 1st, 2021

Video is available [on YouTube](https://youtu.be/v5z1-OWNhUw).


Join here for the chat all week: http://adafru.it/discord


The CircuitPython Weekly happens normally at 2pm ET/11am PT on Mondays. Check the #circuitpython channel on Discord for notices of change in time and links to past meetings. Meeting times are also available in [iCal format](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/adafruit/adafruit-circuitpython-weekly-meeting/master/meeting.ical) for use with standard calendar applications and can also be viewed [in your browser](https://open-web-calendar.herokuapp.com/calendar.html?url=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/adafruit/adafruit-circuitpython-weekly-meeting/master/meeting.ical)


If you want to be able to participate in the meeting by speaking, you will need to be added to the @circuitpythonistas role on Discord. Please ask any one of the moderators or admins to add you if you’d like to join.


CircuitPython development is sponsored by Adafruit. Please support them by purchasing hardware from https://adafruit.com.


Reminders: Podcast available on most services. Let us know if we’re missing some.
________________
## 3:09 Community News
3:24 Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W Released!
 Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W Release 

Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W was announced and released (in limited quantities) by Raspberry Pi October 28th- Raspberry Pi News.
Priced at $15, Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W uses the same Broadcom BCM2710A1 SoC die as the launch version of Raspberry Pi 3, with Arm cores slightly down-clocked to 1GHz, bundled into a single space-saving package alongside 512MB of LPDDR2 SDRAM. The exact performance uplift over Zero varies across workloads, but for multi-threaded sysbench it is almost exactly five times faster.
Links to information:
* Adafruit 2am discussion with Ladyada on the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W - YouTube and Adafruit Blog
* Look inside the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W and the RP3A0-AU with board x-rays and benchmark charts - Jeff Geerling
* A Wild Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W Appears! Liz Clark/Blitz City DIY discusses including use CircuitPython Blinka - YouTube and Adafruit Blog
* The Tom's Hardware Pi Cast: Eben Upton Talks Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W - YouTube
* Make Magazine interview with Eben Upton with a deep comparison between the original Zero W and t5he new Zero 2 W - YouTube
* Awesome Raspberry Pi Zero 2 Projects to Make This Weekend - ThePiHut.
4:29 PyLadies Talk on the Basics of Hardware with CircuitPython
 Basics of Hardware with CircuitPython 

PyLadies Southwest Florida hosts Kira Hartlage demonstrating how to use CircuitPython to control a Circuit Playground Bluefruit circuit board - YouTube.
Find the resources for the presentation - GitHub.
5:00 An Adafruit Halloween
 An Adafruit Halloween 

Adafruit loves Halloween, both in making hardware enabling people to build spooky things, and decorating & dressing the part. Adafruit's Electronic Halloween has been a staple for many years - Adafruit Blog.
 An Adafruit Halloween 

Here is a selection of pictures of the Adafruit team last Friday - Flickr.
5:24 Melbourne MicroPython Meetup
 Melbourne MicroPython Meetup 

The Melbourne MicroPython Meetup for October 27th had some interesting presentations - main slides.
Resources for topics discussed:
* A monitor for realtime MicroPython code - GitHub.
* MicroPython MessagePack - GitHub.
* μSQLite library module for MicroPython - GitHub.
* VL53L5CX MicroPython and CircuitPython Package - [GitHub](https://github.com/mp-extras/vl53l5cx]
6:20 Halloween Projects From Around the Web!
 Halloween talking clock 

Halloween talking clock based on Rpi Pico - Galopago projects and GitHub, via Hackaday.
 Jump Scare Tombstone 

Jump Scare Tombstone using an Adafruit Hallowing M4 with CircuitPython - hackaday.io.
 Door Eye 

I put the moving eyeball in our door for tonight. Super janky but should last long enough for trick-or-treating. Thanks to the Adafruit QTPy & CircuitPython - Twitter.
 Skull Prop 

A moving skull prop using an Adafruiit ItsyBitsy M0 programmed in CircuitPython - Twitter.
 Music Box 

A Halloween music box with CircuitPython on a Raspberry Pi Pico - Twitter.






### 6:58 Newsletter Details
The CircuitPython Weekly Newsletter is a CircuitPython community-run newsletter emailed every Tuesday. The complete [archives are here](https://www.adafruitdaily.com/category/circuitpython/). It highlights the latest Python on hardware related news from around the web including CircuitPython, Python and MicroPython developments. 
To contribute your own news or project, edit next week's draft [on GitHub](https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython-weekly-newsletter/tree/gh-pages/_drafts) and [submit a pull request](https://help.github.com/articles/editing-files-in-your-repository/) with the changes. You may also tag a tweet with #CircuitPython on Twitter, or email cpnews@adafruit.com.
## 7:54 State of CircuitPython, Libraries and Blinka
### 8:11 Overall
* 49 pull requests merged
  * 28 authors - Neradoc, microDev1, Senuros, makermelissa, kattni, aageso, lila, maholli, plugowski, arturo182, DavePutz, coloradocarlos, hexthat, process1183, ladyada, tekktrik, weblate, ronnie-llamado, tannewt, theendlessriver13, PontusO, jsymons, FoamyGuy, rhooper, dhalbert, zebular13, tylercrumpton, jepler, careyk007
  * 12 reviewers - microDev1, makermelissa, kattni, jerryneedell, tannewt, dastels, FoamyGuy, dhalbert, dherrada, ladyada, jepler, gamblor21
* 30 closed issues by 9 people, 16 opened by 12 people




### 9:12 Core
* 16 pull requests merged
  * 12 authors - microDev1, Senuros, weblate, kattni, maholli, tannewt, arturo182, DavePutz, dhalbert, hexthat, ladyada, jepler
  * 5 reviewers - microDev1, dhalbert, ladyada, tannewt, jepler
* 7 open pull requests
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/5298 (Open 58 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/5352 (Open 46 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/5422 (Open 29 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/5453 (Open 21 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/5491 (Open 10 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/5490 (Open 10 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/5519 (Open 5 days)
* 11 closed issues by 4 people, 6 opened by 4 people
* Removed Hacktoberfest label from 20 issues.
* 444 open issues
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/issues
* 5 active milestones
  * 7.x.x: 19 open issues
  * 8.0.0: 7 open issues
  * Libraries: 17 open issues
  * Long term: 398 open issues
  * Support: 5 open issues
  * -2 issues not assigned a milestone


* Core download stats available at https://circuitpython.org/stats


Overall, 7.0 has been really great. We need to do 7.1 soon so keep an eye out for a test build and hopefully a stable one soon after that.  You can also try the absolute latest on circuitpython.org/downloads.
### 11:00 Libraries
* 29 pull requests merged
  * 14 authors - Neradoc, ronnie-llamado, lila, plugowski, theendlessriver13, PontusO, jsymons, FoamyGuy, rhooper, dhalbert, process1183, tylercrumpton, jepler, tekktrik
  * 10 reviewers - kattni, jerryneedell, tannewt, dastels, FoamyGuy, dhalbert, dherrada, ladyada, jepler, gamblor21
  * Merged pull requests:
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_LED_Animation/pull/70 (Days open: 343)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_LED_Animation/pull/78 (Days open: 181)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_GPS/pull/69 (Days open: 28)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_HID/pull/84 (Days open: 23)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_AzureIoT/pull/34 (Days open: 23)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_ESP_ATcontrol/pull/44 (Days open: 7)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Logging/pull/22 (Days open: 7)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_GPS/pull/70 (Days open: 5)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_HT16K33/pull/92 (Days open: 5)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_74HC595/pull/19 (Days open: 4)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_PCF8523/pull/24 (Days open: 3)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_ADS1x15/pull/73 (Days open: 3)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Logging/pull/21 (Days open: 3)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_PM25/pull/20 (Days open: 2)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_MiniMQTT/pull/94 (Days open: 1)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Requests/pull/82 (Days open: 1)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_ESP_ATcontrol/pull/45 (Days open: 1)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_ESP_ATcontrol/pull/46 (Days open: 1)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_ST7735R/pull/27 (Days open: 1)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_datetime/pull/13 (Days open: 1)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_WSGI/pull/10 (Days open: 1)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_SSD1305/pull/14 (Days open: 1)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Waveform/pull/22 (Days open: 1)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_WS2801/pull/23 (Days open: 1)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_LED_Animation/pull/84 (Days open: 1)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_DS3231/pull/38 (Days open: 1)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_DHT/pull/76 (Days open: 1)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_AM2320/pull/22 (Days open: 1)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/CircuitPython_Community_Bundle/pull/87 (Days open: 1)
  * 58 open pull requests (Oldest: 682, Newest: 1)
* 18 closed issues by 7 people, 9 opened by 8 people
* Removed Hacktoberfest label from 266 issues.
  * 627 open issues
  * 266 good first issues
* https://circuitpython.org/contributing


Library updates in the last seven days:
**Updated Libraries**
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_VEML7700](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_VEML7700)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_VL53L0X](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_VL53L0X)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_Debouncer](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Debouncer)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_MiniMQTT](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_MiniMQTT)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_Requests](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Requests)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_HID](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_HID)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_GPS](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_GPS)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_ESP_ATcontrol](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_ESP_ATcontrol)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_AzureIoT](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_AzureIoT)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_PCF8523](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_PCF8523)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_ADS1x15](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_ADS1x15)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_DS3231](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_DS3231)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_Logging](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Logging)
 * [Adafruit_Python_PlatformDetect](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Python_PlatformDetect)
 * [CircuitPython_Community_Bundle](https://github.com/adafruit/CircuitPython_Community_Bundle)


Overall: Hacktoberfest went quite well - thank you so much to everyone who participated, and a special thank you to the reviewers who made it possible. We had an influx of new folks, at least one of whom has begun contributing in other ways, which is great to see. As a side note - the Hacktoberfest labels on the issues were not removed, we’re looking into why Adabot failed to do so. We may do it “manually” and sort out Adabot later. Still working through older PRs, which is also good. Finally, thanks so much to everyone who has been contributing, and persisting through CI failures and so on to get PRs passing.


### 13:34 Blinka
* 4 pull requests merged
  * 4 authors - zebular13, coloradocarlos, makermelissa, aageso
  * 2 reviewers - makermelissa, ladyada
* 3 open pull requests
  * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Blinka/pull/417 (Open 264 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Blinka/pull/496 (Open 98 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Blinka_bleio/pull/40 (Open 24 days)
* 1 closed issues by 1 people, 1 opened by 1 people
* Removed Hacktoberfest label from 1 issues.
* 65 open issues
  * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Blinka/issues
* Piwheels Downloads in the last month: 13641
Number of supported boards: 76




## 14:35 Hug reports


15:04 @tannewt
* @skerr for helping folks on Discord
* @minichre for finding a costume for me


15:38 @anecdata (lurking)
* @microDev once again for work on Monitor mode, and humoring me on my naïve questions


15:51 @danh
* @shabaz123 for reproducing the circumstances for a power-cycling flash erase bug in 7.0.0
* @todbot for trying an unusual HID devices case and finding an error


@DaveP (lurking)


16:52 @foamyguy
* @markgamblor and @KeithTheEE for helping review the type annotation PRs, and @kattni for keeping an eye out for them and tagging us.
* First time contributors from the past few weeks, many of whom worked on typing PRs for Hacktoberfest
* Group hug


17:35 @jepler
* Group hug
* Damien & Jimmo for taking some time to chat about async(io) last week
* @danh for digging into async and helping me start to understand it as well


18:21 @jerryn (just listening today)
* Group hug!


18:28 @kattni
* @tannewt for running the meeting last minute when construction picked up here without warning
* @foamyguy (again) for creating the Good First Issues heading into Hacktoberfest, and for then keeping up with reviewing, testing, requesting changes, and merging a majority of the subsequent PRs 
* @mark [gamblor] and @KeithTheEE for helping review some of the Hacktoberfest type annotation PRs
* A special extra hug report for @foamyguy for handling the last minute PRs that came in late last night
* Unrelated hug to @foamyguy for adding explicit documentation links to the library READMEs
* All of the new folks who joined us for Hacktoberfest and contributed to the libraries over the last four weeks.
* Group hug!


19:46 @makermelissa: (missing meeting)
* @tannewt for getting the mobile device BLE CircuitPython crash so quickly
* Group Hug


20:01 @mark(gamblor) [lurking]:
* @kattni and @foamyguy for helping review some PRs I had questions on
* @tekktrik for being a first time contributor and having patience when some strange issues occurred
* Group hug


## 20:18 Status Updates




20:37 @tannewt
* Sped up CircuitPython execution on Raspberry Pi
* Started working on SD Card support
* Next step is to solder onto Piunora so I can sniff the SD card lines
* Will be working on SD card and taking a break by setting up boards and adding Zero 2W support.
* Fixed BLE workflow crash when communicating with an Android device.


22:00 @danh
* Got MicroPython’s asyncio Python code running on CircuitPython, testing with simultaneous independent blinking of LEDs. Works, but some mysterious crashes.
* Next will work on adding async support to the LED animation library as a test case.


23:32 @foamyguy
* Reviewing typing PRs put in for Hacktoberfest
* Worked on Pacman style game, the bulk of the core functionality is complete now (player, walls, ghosts, pelettes) Also refactored some to separate game specific code out from the more generalized TiledGameMap helper object. Planning to add my own twist on the game in the coming weeks.
* Would like to create a simple reusable SelectableList widget for displayio. It will show a vertical list of strings and allow the user to scroll through them with a selection pointer
* Test the stubs-generator library and work out a proposal of how best to include pyi stubs for libraries not deployed to PyPi


25:38 @jepler
* Last week:
   * Camera stuff: Faster animated GIF saving, started on black&white dither
* This week:
   * Black & white dither of images from camera
   * Goal is to get a photo printing to thermal printer this week
   * Library documentation for the thermal printer from adafruit says the bitmap mode doesn’t work, need to find out why & fix it


27:10 @kattni
* Last week:
   * Published the VL53L1X guide
   * Continued overhauling the Welcome to CircuitPython guide
   * Submitted a PR to the core to update all example references to `board.D13` to be `board.LED`
   * Recorded audio clips for a project being done by PhilB, Noe and Pedro
   * Migrated our PyPI builds to be using an API key instead of login credentials
   * Updated the CircuitPython core documentation Troubleshooting page
   * Went through some Hacktoberfest and otherwise PRs on Sunday
   * Put together a list of suggested updated product photos for the Adafruit photographer so we have some options to use moving forward that are more up to date
* This week:
   * Continue on the Welcome to CircuitPython guide overhaul
      * Update the Welcome to the Community! guide page
      * Write CircuitPython Documentation page
      * Write How Do I Learn Python? Page
   * In LED Animation Library guide: add page on how to load _part_ of a library (e.g. only load the animations you want from the LED Animations library so it fits on an M0 board)
   * Putting together a list of new Blinka art ideas - if you have any for us to consider, let me know!
   * Fix one of the links on the CircuitPython core docs Troubleshooting page
   * Get some feedback on the Welcome guide once it’s “finalised”
   * Update the README on the PrettyPins repo so the process is documented
   * More PrettyPins diagrams


32:55 @makermelissa (missing meeting)
* Last Week:
   * Finished up mobile sizing optimizations for circuitPython code editor
   * Updated File Transfer library to work with fixed CircuitPython bug
   * Updated CircuitPython code editor to be much more reliable with connection
   * Added a busy animation which makes the editor seem much more responsive
   * Updated Color Scheme to be much easier to read
* This Week:
   * Working on wrapping up Code Editor with remaining items on To Do list
   * Possibly start working on a guide for the Code Editor if there are no major things to change and we can get a new version of CircuitPython released with the bug fixes.


## 34:02 In The Weeds




## 34:26 Wrap-Up
Most of the US switches from summer to winter time next Sunday. The next meeting is November 8 at 2PM EST, which is UTC-5.
