# CircuitPython Weekly for September 22st, 2020


Welcome to the CircuitPython Weekly meeting notes! Feel free to add your Hug Reports and Status Updates early. During the meeting, we go through them as a round robin sorted by username. If you can’t make the meeting and would still like to participate, add your notes with a “(missing meeting)” after your username and we’ll read them off for you. 


Add any longer-form discussion topics or general questions you have to the “In the weeds” section. 


Thanks! We hope to see you in the meeting!


Video is available here [on YouTube](https://youtu.be/g3mNZKh4AMw).


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 using the following link: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/adafruit/adafruit-circuitpython-weekly-meeting/master/meeting.ical for use with standard calendar applications or 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.
## 3:43 Community News


## CircuitPython 6.0.0 Beta 0


[![CircuitPython 6.0.0 Beta 0](../assets/20200922/20200922CP6.jpg)](https://circuitpython.org/)


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 - [Release Notes](https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/releases).


## The Python Software Foundation End-of-Year Fundraiser


[![Python Software Foundation Fundraiser](../assets/20200922/20200922psf.jpg)](http://pyfound.blogspot.com/2020/09/python-software-foundation-end-of-year.html)


The Python Software Foundation writes:


> In the past, we’ve worked successfully with organizations such as JetBrains who donated 100% of the profits from the sale of PyCharm to the PSF. The theme this year is geared toward education. We'll be actively supporting Python educators by collaborating with authors, trainers, and education companies that offer their services all over the world. The goal for the campaign is $30,000 and the funds raised will help benefit the PSF, our community, and those who educate Pythonistas worldwide. To find out how you can participate, [check out our blog](https://python.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5697f493c3a48994f504d4deb&id=d8b95a2eb7&e=9b20e3624a).


Deadline to apply has been extended to September 21, 2020 - [PSF](http://pyfound.blogspot.com/2020/09/python-software-foundation-end-of-year.html).


## The State of OSHdata and Open Hardware


[![The State of OSHdata and Open Hardware](../assets/20200922/20200922oshwa.jpg)](https://oshdata.com/2020/09/17/the-state-of-oshdata/)


An update on the OSHdata project and what is happening next in the broader Open Source Hardware community looking ahead to Open Hardware Month in October.


> [Our research](https://oshdata.com/2020/02/19/2020-state-of-open-hardware/) has been read in over 40 countries around the world, on every continent—except Antarctica. Our report helped increase awareness of the certification program and created a sense of friendly competition between some of the leading Open Source Hardware companies in the world. Since our report was first published, the program went from slightly over 400 certifications to now boasting over 1,000 certifications!


A more than doubling of the certification program was led by Adafruit, who are now the leading creator, with nearly 40% of all certifications. To mark the time when they claimed the top slot, Adafruit founder Limor Fried was interviewed - [OSHdata](https://oshdata.com/2020/05/04/limor-fried-of-adafruit-industries/).


> The Open Source Hardware movement is a global movement. It’s not just about leading brands like Adafruit, SparkFun, Olimex, or Field Ready. It’s also not about the big companies are involved in this space and have certified hardware, like Google or BeagleBoard. Open hardware is built by people you know, and by people you may not know yet. We have worked hard to shine a spotlight on the up-and-coming creators.


Read more - [OSHdata](https://oshdata.com/2020/09/17/the-state-of-oshdata/).


## Adafruit Update


Adafruit is stocked and shipping orders!


Now is the best time to get orders in for your favorite products, including items for students.


Science is fun and educational when using Adafruit parts and free, easy to follow tutorials in the [Adafruit Learning System](https://learn.adafruit.com/).


[Shop Adafruit now](https://www.adafruit.com/)


## 5:42 News from around the web!


[![CircuitPython Unittest](../assets/20200922/20200922test.jpg)](https://github.com/rrainey/DSKY-alarm-panel-replica)


CircuitPython_Unittest provides the MP-Lib unittest.py to CircuitPython to provide full advantage of Python's unittest within CircuitPython - [GitHub](https://github.com/mytechnotalent/CircuitPython_Unittest) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/mytechnotalent/status/1308086272615948288).


[![DSKY Alarm Indicator Panel Replica](../assets/20200922/20200922panel.jpg)](https://github.com/rrainey/DSKY-alarm-panel-replica)


An Apollo DSKY Alarm Indicator Panel replica, programmable in CircuitPython - [GitHub](https://github.com/rrainey/DSKY-alarm-panel-replica).


[![EuroPython videos available](../assets/20200922/20200922europython.jpg)](https://twitter.com/europython/status/1308041770803048448)


Sixty videos from EuroPython have now been posted to YouTube for your vierwing pleasure - [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8uoeex94UhHgMD9GOCbEHWku7pEPx9fW) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/europython/status/1308041770803048448).


## 7:53 State of CircuitPython, Libraries and Blinka


### 7:53  Overall
* 30 pull requests merged
  * 22 authors - tawez, tannewt, jepler, anecdata, jerryneedell, hierophect, danaliv, makermelissa, wtuemura, hugodahl, dglaude, FoamyGuy, sommersoft, astrobokonon, bd34n, dunkmann00, weblate, siddacious, microDev1, nitz, dhalbert, fede2cr
  * 7 reviewers - makermelissa, brentru, tannewt, ladyada, siddacious, dhalbert, jepler
* 20 closed issues by 13 people, 12 opened by 10 people




### Core
* 14 pull requests merged
  * 13 authors - weblate, tawez, jepler, tannewt, hierophect, microDev1, wtuemura, hugodahl, sommersoft, astrobokonon, nitz, fede2cr, bd34n
  * 3 reviewers - jepler, dhalbert, tannewt
* 6 open pull requests
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/3044 (Open 96 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/3144 (Open 72 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/3192 (Open 59 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/3291 (Open 34 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/3349 (Open 23 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pull/3425 (Open 5 days)
* 6 closed issues by 5 people, 4 opened by 3 people
* 326 open issues
  * https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/issues
* 7 active milestones
  * 6.0.0: 6 open issues
  * 6.x.0 - Features: 3 open issues
  * 6.x.x - Bug Fixes: 13 open issues
  * 7.0.0: 3 open issues
  * Libraries: 12 open issues
  * Long term: 284 open issues
  * Support: 3 open issues
  * 2 issues not assigned a milestone


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


### Libraries
* 16 pull requests merged
  * 11 authors - dunkmann00, tannewt, anecdata, siddacious, jerryneedell, hierophect, dhalbert, danaliv, makermelissa, dglaude, FoamyGuy
  * 6 reviewers - makermelissa, brentru, tannewt, ladyada, siddacious, jepler
  * Merged pull requests:
        * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Requests/pull/31 (Days open: 12)
        * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_PN532/pull/41 (Days open: 7)
        * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Pixel_Framebuf/pull/1 (Days open: 4)
        * https://github.com/adafruit/CircuitPython_Community_Bundle/pull/43 (Days open: 2)
        * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_CLUE/pull/35 (Days open: 1)
        * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Debouncer/pull/24 (Days open: 1)
        * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_BNO08x/pull/4 (Days open: 1)
        * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_BME280/pull/40 (Days open: 1)
        * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_TLV493D/pull/6 (Days open: 1)
        * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Pixel_Framebuf/pull/2 (Days open: 1)
        * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_framebuf/pull/36 (Days open: 1)
        * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_MatrixPortal/pull/19 (Days open: 1)
        * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_MatrixPortal/pull/18 (Days open: 1)
        * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Bundle/pull/263 (Days open: 1)
        * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Bundle/pull/261 (Days open: 1)
        * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_FeatherWing/pull/64 (Days open: 1)
* 13 closed issues by 10 people, 8 opened by 7 people
* https://circuitpython.org/contributing
  * 194 open issues
  * 7 good first issues
  * 34 open pull requests (Oldest: 623, Newest: 1)
Library updates in the last seven days:
**New Libraries**
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_AirLift](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_AirLift)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_Pixel_Framebuf](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Pixel_Framebuf)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_BNO08x_RVC](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_BNO08x_RVC)
**Updated Libraries**
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_Display_Shapes](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Display_Shapes)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_Thermal_Printer](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Thermal_Printer)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_VC0706](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_VC0706)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_CLUE](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_CLUE)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_Debouncer](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Debouncer)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_SSD1306](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_SSD1306)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_BME280](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_BME280)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_Requests](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Requests)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_TLV493D](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_TLV493D)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_framebuf](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_framebuf)
 * [Adafruit_CircuitPython_MatrixPortal](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_MatrixPortal)
 * [CircuitPython_Community_Bundle](https://github.com/adafruit/CircuitPython_Community_Bundle)


### 14:03 Blinka
* 0 pull requests merged
  * 0 authors -
  * 0 reviewers -
* 2 open pull requests
  * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Blinka/pull/304 (Open 105 days)
  * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Blinka/pull/322 (Open 59 days)
* 1 closed issues by 1 people, 0 opened by 0 people
* 25 open issues
  * https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Blinka/issues
* PyPI Downloads in the last week: 2000
Number of supported boards: 52




## 15:22 Hug reports


15:54 @jepler
* Tannewt for continued thoughtful reviewing of a big PR
* Dan for lots of work towards beta.0, sorry I keep asking you to put more in! (good move taking a vacation this week and letting Scott do it!)
* Folknology, Kevin Thomas, and Bruce S for working with me to fix a newly created build problem with python 3.6 and older
* Ladyada for featuring some code I’m working on during Desk of LadyAda last night
* Kevin Thomas for the circuitpython unittest module


17:24 @jerryn
* @heiropect for adding the readme to the ESP32 build
* @2bndy5 for continued work on the nrf24l01 library
* Adafruit for the matrix-portal and great guides!
* Group Hug


@kevin thomas (lurking)


18:12 @kmatch98
* @foamyguy and @joeycastillo for sharing PyPortal touch control demos


18:34 @MakerMelissa
* @tannewt for helping me figure out that I needed to use nvm to store some settings through powerups
* @tannewt for the blinka icon
* @jepler for reviewing a PR for the Pixel Framebuf library needed for my guide
* Hug for whomever handled the Blinka notes last week
* Group hug


@Mark(Gamblor) [Lurking]


19:22 @microDev (text only today)
* Group hug to the community.
* @jerryn for testing and confirming a safe mode related issue. 
* @anecdata for confirming an issue with esp32s2 internal pull-up during deep sleep.
* @jepler , @tannewt & @danh for providing constructive inputs on implementing safe mode & deep sleep api.


20:05 @tannewt
* Danh for prepping the release.
* microDev for the deep sleep api discussion.
* Ken shirriff for the Intel 8008 die shot.
* Anecdata for all of the wifi testing and bug finding
* @nitz, @astrobokonon, @maditnerd, and @askpatrickw for contributing to CircuitPython core.
* Mdroberts1243 for taking a look at adding core support for the 128x64 OLED.


22:00 @TG-Techie
A hug to the community for making such an awesome set of tools


22:00 @anecdata (lurking)
* Group hug to everyone working on esp32-s2. It’s the first time I’ve followed along with a new port and it’s been very educational.


@Anne B (lurking)


@askpatrickw (lurking)


@cater (lurking)


@charlesburnaford
Lurking


@DaveP (lurking)


22:25 @David.Glaude (lurking)
* Group hug to the community.


@deshipu (lurking)


22:44 @foamyguy(text only)
* Group hug


22:52 @hierophect
* Big thanks to @jepler for helping track down the RGBMatrix issues with me this past week, and fixing up the guide where necessary.
* Also thanks Jeff for review on the Matrix and SD card PRs
* @jerryn, @fede2cr and @julianrendell for trying out my ESP32 readme


* 

## 22:36 Status Updates
22:36 @jepler
* Canio for sam e5x is in the “finishing touches” stage
* Focus for this week remains canio, will continue with stm32f405 after sam e5x is merged
* Will try scanning my car’s OBD-II diagnostic port this week


22:50 @jerryn
* Mostly just trying to keep up…
* Spent a lot of time with the nrf24l01s
* Helped with a issue a user had with RFM9x - trying to use Reliable Datagram between RPi and Arduino (RadioHead).  THe Pi can receive and ACK packets from the RadioHead based board, but it can’t send a packet and receive the ACK from it. THis is a know limitation with running the CP library on a Pi. It just can’t switch from transmit to receive in time to get the ACK. At least a compromise was found that receives packets reliably but sends them unreliably. As good as it can work for now.
   * I might try adding a configurable delay to Radiohead and see if it works- then submit a PR for consideration.


@Kevin Thomas (lurking)


27:12 @kmatch98
* Studying touch-response demos, considering how to make it easy to create a first GUI


27:48 @MakerMelissa
* Last Week:
   * Spent Monday and Tuesday on the road to get to some better air quality
   * Wrote the Pixel Framebuf library guide, which should be published soon.
   * Made some last minute improvements to the Pixel Framebuf library.
   * Submitted a PR for a bunch of features I added to the Python Shell library.
   * Updated the MatrixPortal library to work with the new Matrix Portal board
   * Tested out all the demos I wrote with the updated library
   * Updated the Open Weather Matrix Demo to store metric/imperial setting based on power up while holding button
   * Updated i2smic guide to use one of the updated scripts
* This Week:
   * Work on converting the PiTFT installer shell script to Python
   * Update the Machine Learning guide with the new Braincraft Hat


@Mark (Gamblor) (Lurking)


@microdev (text only/lurking)


29:20 @tannewt
* Releasing 6.0.0-beta.0 today.
* Tested UF2 bootloader again and it’s working.
* Merged in USB PID CI changes.
* Need to commit a fix for the new Requests library on 5.3.1.
* Need to finish adding multiple flash size support to UF2 and make sure artifacts are available.
* Writing up a short guide on adding a new board to the ESP32S2 UF2 and how to flash it.
* Need to enable saving the UF2 artifact from the CircuitPython S2 build.
* Make a checklist for streaming.


33:07 @TG-Techie
* Open sourced the TG-Watch02 hardware: https://github.com/TG-Techie/TG-Watch02-PCB
* Experimented with having a script run after a safemode reboot to p\event brownout from stopping the device from booting.
* Distributed one version of the watch to my grandfather to ‘‘dogfood’’ or ‘live on’ the device


@anecdata (lurking)


@Anne B (lurking)


@askpatrickw (lurking)


@cater (lurking)


@charlesburnaford
Lurking


@DaveP (lurking)


@David.Glaude (lurking)


@deshipu (lurking)


34:04 @foamyguy (text only today)
Last week
* Received goodies from Adafruit, Oakdev Tech, and Solder Party
* Creating helper class for the Keyboard Featherwing
* Began working on an Input Text widget for displayio, it mostly works alright, but needs some cleanup and a few more of the more minute details solved for
* Created PoC for smart USB charger using load switch from Oak dev tech.
* Got a better mounting arm for overhead / desk camera
This week
* Finish up multi tasking guide
* Evaluate the possibility of adding optional “on click” APIs to display_button and possibly other displayio widgets


34:55 @hierophect
* Last week:
   * Fixed the SPI problem that was disabling SD cards on STM32 and ESP32S2
   * Tracked down the issues with STM32 RGBMatrix, now when the Learn guide is followed there should be no more crashing or stretching
* This week:
   * Look into the per-port status documentation Scott discussed last week
   * Try and fix up some of my old PRs, including the F1 port and the i.MX 1050
   * Implement RotaryIO for the STM32






## 36:42 In The Weeds
* Jerryn -- status of NINA Firmware build to support BLE HCI on ESP32 coprocessors - the current 1.6.1 version does not support it. The repo has been updated to support it but when I build it, it does not work -- there is a working version attached to the PR that enabled HCI, but it is not easy to find. Would be nice to have it available from the ESP32 update guide.

## Wrap-Up
[not in video]
