# CircuitPython Weekly Meeting for July 18, 2022


Video is available [on YouTube](https://youtu.be/pIlfkpCsm7U).


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%3A%2F%2Fraw.githubusercontent.com%2Fadafruit%2Fadafruit-circuitpython-weekly-meeting%2Fmain%2Fmeeting.ical&title=CircuitPython%20Meeting%20Schedule&tab=agenda&tabs=month&tabs=agenda).


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.
## 02:38 Community News
 
The PyFive RISC-V ASIC Project
 PyFive 

 PyFive 

The PyFive project is creating a community-driven, RISC-V-based microcontroller with the ability to easily support CircuitPython and MicroPython. They've been documenting progress on hackster.io - hackster.io via Twitter.
The team is fundraising to pay for an engineering team to work on the PyFive ASIC - GroupGets.
Raspberry Pi Staff Make RP2040 Lightsabers
 RP2040 Lightsabers 

The crew at Raspberry Pi Towers made Star Wars lightsabers using Adafruit RP2040 Feather boards with the Propmaker Featherwing, CircuitPython and 3D printing - Raspberry Pi News.
The design is based on the Adafruit tutorial Prop-Maker Lightsaber, changing out the Feather M4 Express with the RP2040-based Feather.
03:31 Adafruit Working on New Raspberry Pi Pico Add-on Boards: Bells
 Proto Bell 

Adafruit is working on new add-on boards for the Raspberry Pi Pico form factor. Quote: "whenever we start making add-ons we always do a protoboard first, and so it is that this is Adafruit's first design for a Raspi Pico add-on. it's the simplest and 'cheapest' to start" - Twitter.
With a wide variety of names for add-on boards: shields, capes, FeatherWings, HATs, gizmos, etc., Adafruit wanted a name for their line of boards.
 Bell 

As the new Pico W is being dubbed the "Picow" by the community, cow-themed ideas are being used. Adafruit, after consideration, announced on their Ask an Engineer show, Top Secret segment, their add-on boards will be called "bells" (like cowbell) - Adafruit Top Secret.
04:18 News from around the web!
 PicoTouch 

PicoTouch HMI is a Raspberry Pi Pico Carrier for Human-Machine Interface Projects. A single-board design hosting the Raspberry Pi Pico as a surface-mount module, the PicoTouch HMI packs a keypad, screen, speaker, and more with CircuitPython library support - Twitter, YouTube and Hackster.io.
 Simulate Pico rinning CircuitPython 

04:40 Simulating Raspberry Pi Pico running CircuitPython and some virtual NeoPixels, completely in the browser - Twitter.
 Python and the Webb Telescope 

04:52 Dr Patrick Kavanagh at EuroPython 2022 discussing the Pythonic genius behind the James Webb telescope - Twitter.
 Webb Image Viewer 

05:03 A desktop Webb telescope image viewer with a Raspberry Pi Zero and display, using CircuitPython - Twitter.


###05:16  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.
## 05:57 State of CircuitPython, Libraries and Blinka
### 06:27 Overall
### Overall
* 32 pull requests merged
  * 19 authors - pandianmn, FoamyGuy, johnrbnsn, weblate, dhalbert, makermelissa, jepler, DJDevon3, Neradoc, xuhow, Ste-Trat, tekktrik, nicolasff, luizvital, bergdahl, todbot, NathanY3G, wtuemura, tannewt
  * 9 reviewers - tekktrik, FoamyGuy, dhalbert, makermelissa, ladyada, askpatrickw, tannewt, jepler, kattni
* 19 closed issues by 7 people, 37 opened by 18 people


### 07:07 Core
* 18 pull requests merged
  * 12 authors - bergdahl, FoamyGuy, weblate, dhalbert, todbot, NathanY3G, makermelissa, wtuemura, tannewt, jepler, Neradoc, xuhow
  * 4 reviewers - jepler, dhalbert, askpatrickw, tannewt
* 17 open pull requests
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/5352 (Open 305 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/5999 (Open 158 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/6037 (Open 152 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/6119 (Open 134 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/6217 (Open 107 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/6247 (Open 103 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/6349 (Open 74 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/6397 (Open 64 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/6410 (Open 59 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/6522 (Open 24 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/6555 (Open 13 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/6562 (Open 11 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/6594 (Open 4 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/6611 (Open 2 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/6608 (Open 2 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/6615 (Open 0 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/6614 (Open 0 days)
* 13 closed issues by 6 people, 14 opened by 9 people
* 547 open issues
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/issues
* 5 active milestones
  * 7.3.x: 3 open issues
  * 8.0.0: 48 open issues
  * Libraries: 22 open issues
  * Long term: 472 open issues
  * Support: 3 open issues
  * -1 issues not assigned a milestone


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


### 10:34 Libraries
* 13 pull requests merged
  * 9 authors - pandianmn, tekktrik, johnrbnsn, nicolasff, FoamyGuy, luizvital, jepler, DJDevon3, Neradoc
  * 6 reviewers - tekktrik, ladyada, tannewt, FoamyGuy, jepler, kattni
  * Merged pull requests:
    * https://github.com/adafruit/cookiecutter-adafruit-circuitpython/pull/177 (Days open: 105)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/cookiecutter-adafruit-circuitpython/pull/186 (Days open: 34)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_LIDARLite/pull/20 (Days open: 15)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_BitmapSaver/pull/25 (Days open: 11)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_SHT31D/pull/29 (Days open: 9)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_SSD1306/pull/74 (Days open: 1)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Logging/pull/36 (Days open: 1)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Display_Shapes/pull/51 (Days open: 1)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_AdafruitIO/pull/93 (Days open: 1)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_hashlib/pull/20 (Days open: 1)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Hue/pull/20 (Days open: 1)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_SGP30/pull/39 (Days open: 1)
    * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Bundle/pull/385 (Days open: 1)
  * 27 open pull requests (Oldest: 657, Newest: 1)
* 6 closed issues by 4 people, 21 opened by 8 people
  * 666 open issues
  * 176 good first issues
* https://circuitpython.org/contributing
Library updates in the last seven days:
**New Libraries**
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_PCF8574](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_PCF8574)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_MMC56x3](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_MMC56x3)
**Updated Libraries**
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_BitmapSaver](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_BitmapSaver)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_LIDARLite](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_LIDARLite)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_SSD1306](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_SSD1306)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_Logging](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Logging)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_Display_Shapes](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Display_Shapes)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_SHT31D](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_SHT31D)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_AdafruitIO](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_AdafruitIO)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_hashlib](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_hashlib)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_Hue](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Hue)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_SGP30](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_SGP30)
 * [Adafruit_Python_PlatformDetect](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Python_PlatformDetect)
 * [CircuitPython_Community_Bundle](https://github.com/adafruit/CircuitPython_Community_Bundle)


### 12:47 Blinka
* 1 pull requests merged
  * 1 authors - Ste-Trat
  * 1 reviewers - makermelissa
* 4 open pull requests
  * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Blinka/pull/417 (Open 523 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Blinka/pull/496 (Open 357 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Blinka_bleio/pull/40 (Open 283 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Python_PlatformDetect/pull/201 (Open 223 days)
* 0 closed issues by 0 people, 2 opened by 2 people
* 79 open issues
  * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Blinka/issues
* Piwheels Downloads in the last month: 7612
Number of supported boards: 89




## 13:37 Hug reports
14:08 @kattni (hosting)
* @justin (internal developer) for adding the CircuitPython Day banner to circuitpython.org
* @brent and @loren for fixing a bug in WipperSnapper regarding push button results
* @Eva for picking up internal testing, along with misc when needed
* @krayola for checking out and responding to an LED Animation PR
* @neradoc for putting in the LED animation PR
* @tekktrik for helping me out with some things and a nice chat
* Everyone interested in being involved in CircuitPython Day
* @Anne for updating the CP Day blog post
* @Liz and Paul Cutler for agreeing to host streams on CP Day.
* @Jeff for a nice chat about CP Day, and good suggestions
* Group hug!


15:12 @charlesburnaford (lurking)
* Group Hug


15:17 @danh
* @jepler for taking over the ESP32 PR while I was on vacation and fixing the remaining major issues


15:38 @deshipu
* Paul Cutler for running the CircuitPython Show


16:03 @foamyguy
* Jeff and Dan for working on support for ESP32
* @kmatch for starting the effort to support dot clock displays with displayio and inviting me to help out on an ESP32-S3 based tablet


16:30 @jepler
* @danh for leaving me an interesting puzzle for ESP32 and laying so much excellent groundwork
* @kattni for getting started on CircuitPython day planning
* @tannewt for tweaking the dyno moderation to work better
* @eva for taking up some pypi work that will help thonny function better


17:03 @kmatch
* @foamyguy for trying out the big CircuitPython HACKtablet on the two live streams, thanks for working through the gitmodules issues. 
* @tannewt for guidance on two CircuitPython issues on GitHub
* @Paul Cutler for inviting me to be on the CircuitPython show podcast. Was nervous but thanks for making it a positive experience. 


17:40 @makermelissa
* @neradoc and @tekktrik for lots of good PRs
* @brent and @loren for helping come up with some good strategies of how to fix the WipperSnapper board merge issues.
* Group Hug


18:03 @Paul Cutler
* Kattni for including me in some CircuitPython Day planning
* Neradoc for answering all of my displayio questions over the weekend
* Jepler for some older learn guides (rgbmatrix & FFT / ulab)
* Kevin Matocha for being a guest on the podcast (His episode airs next week)


18:32 @tammymakesthings (text only)
* Group hug


18:38 @tannewt (please read)
* Retiredwizard for continued web workflow testing
* Foamyguy for PR with editing workflow
* Jepler for reviews
* Hweaver666 for offering to help with CSS


18:55 @tekktrik (text only)
* @neradoc and @makermelissa for helping to resolve an issue with the PortalBase library regarding dependencies
* @kattni for always helping to move my CI-related PRs along, and to provide context and helpful suggestions to them.
* Group hug!






## 19:15 Status Updates
19:31 @kattni (hosting)
* Last week:
   * Continued on adding WipperSnapper Usage pages to applicable board guides
   * Received requested CP Day graphic from Bruce, handed it over to Justin to get added to banner on circuitpython.org
   * CircuitPython Day planning
   * Short week:
      * Submitted my PyOhio talk
      * Finished clearing out the basement entirely to prep for building.
* This week:
   * WipperSnapper pages
   * CP Day planning
   * Short week:
      * Building a room in the basement.


20:15 @danh
* Returned from vacation. Replied to some issues and PR’s.
* Will make a CircuitPython 7.3.2 release soon to fix MatrixPortal frozen libraries and maybe some other issues.


21:10 @deshipu
* Back from EuroPython 2022, I ran a whole-day workshop with PewPews on Monday, we hacked on CircuitPython hardware through the conference, then I had a talk about making video games with CircuitPython on Friday, and during the sprints I showed a bunch of people how to compile and hack on CircuitPython. We gave out all the PewPew devices left over from 2019.
* I finally got the Fluffbug robot to walk relatively fluently. Some room for improvement still.


23:23 @foamyguy
* Still have siding work being done on the house. Almost done now though.
* Got the graphics preparation and other more general sections of the Octopus game guide down. Am cleaning up and documenting the code and finishing up the Guide parts more specific to my game this week
* Worked on making a build of a branch of CircuitPython that Kmatch has prepared for using dot clock displays. Got the build working and installed successfully on  a test hardware tablet.
* Making a basic multi-touch demo for the tablet this week.
* Working on some graphics for a new flip clock project.
* Started from a new clean branch and got a new PR for web workflow edit page submitted without the unwanted changes from the original one.
* Working on examples and learn guide documentation for vectorio, bitmaptools and other lesser known displayio features.


25:21 @jepler
* Last week:
   * Found one weird bug that was causing memory corruption on ESP32 port
   * Did lots of testing on ESP32
   * Learned about using Thonny. It’s quite slick, I can see why people use it. Its facility to install modules from pypi mostly works which is awesome.
   * Did a little work on a guide for QMK on RP2040
   * PR reviews
   * An old cookiecutter of mine PR was updated and merged. Now cookie cutter works on Windows computers (this was the 105-day old PR merged in the libraries). Make sure you have the latest cookie cutter, we use some recently added features now.
* This week:
   * May look at more ESP32 issues if Dan asks
   * Would like to do a small ESP32 CircuitPython project, but don’t have an idea
   * Actually finishing QMK guide for RP2040
   * PR reviews
   * Whatever catches my fancy :)


27:34 @kmatch
* Discussed initial ideas for a collaboration with @foamyguy for CircuitPython day festivities
* Studied up on capabilities of “UWB” ultra wide band for position sensing
* This week - Bowler training aid: Evaluate capability of different distance sensors (starting with optical Time of Flight sensor) to measure distance to a passing object


28:25 @makermelissa
* Last Week:
   * Updated WipperSnapper GitHub actions to allow dynamic importing of JSON values on a per board basis
   * Started working on Porting Edge Impulse Firmware, which uses the pico-sdk, over to some of our RP2040 board variants and got it running on the KB2040.
   * Had the first board that I added to CircuitPython merged in.
* This Week:
   * Continue working with Edge Impulse firmware
   * If time, get back to working on Web Workflow changes to code.circuitpython.org


29:18 @tammymakesthings (text only)
* Worked on my MatrixPortal CI/CD display project. I’m trying to use asyncio to do the REST API calls, so I’m figuring out how asyncio works.
* Planning to continue working on this and hopefully get it wrapped up this week.


29:37 @tannewt (please read)
* Out this week on vacation. Back next Monday.
* Merged in serial over WebSocket
* Merged in change to use a task with select() to monitor the open sockets for activity. (Select blocks until a socket is ready and then queues a background task.)
* The select() PR also included a fix where MDNS would crash due to a race condition.
* PR pending that allows for reconfiguring the HTTP port and also reconfigures the web workflow on autoreload.
* Will continue to chase issues with it.


30:08 @tekktrik (text only)
* Last week:
   * Tested out a solution for getting __version__ attribute in libraries uploaded to PyPI correctly populated without changing any of the release process or infrastructure (and it worked!)
   * Updated README for the repo that handles installing dependencies for libraries as part of the CI process (actions_ci_circuitpython-libs), as well as prepared it to handle installing optional dependencies once they get broken out into a new file as part of the pyproject.toml upgrade.
   * Submitted PR to adabot that improves the detection of failing GitHub Actions run and RTD build failures, and still adds them to circuitpython.org as issues.
   * Looked into various libraries for inspiration and guidance on how to best send bulk data over BLE for the BluefruitConnect image transfer feature addition
* This week:
   * PR the __version__ update to the few repos currently using pyproject.toml
   * Implement the new adabot changes for CI and RTD failure detection (and work through any bugs)
   * PR reviews I haven’t had a chance to follow up on.
   * Continue working on my CircuitPythonukiah - I just prototyped the 2nd revision and it works great!  Preparing for the cost-optimized 3rd revision that is hopefully final.




## 31:37 In The Weeds
* 31:55 deshipu: what's the best way to synchronize asyncio tasks?


## 35:35 Wrap-Up
Next meeting July 25, 2022
