Skip to content

Blinka

Back to Index

Related microcontroller, CircuitPython

WIP

Blinka, our CircuitPython library compatibility layer for Single Board Computers, or SBCs.

More techincal guides on how to add SBC to Blinka:

First step https://learn.adafruit.com/adding-a-single-board-computer-to-platformdetect-for-blinka

Second step https://learn.adafruit.com/adding-a-single-board-computer-to-blinka

Ordered 1/20/2021 - Delivered 1/23/2021 NOTE: there's a related article https://learn.adafruit.com/circuitpython-libraries-on-any-computer-with-raspberry-pi-pico - [ ] MCP2221A USB I2C/GPIO Breakout Breakout board to use Stemma QT or Grove Sensors on your computer directly via usb
Delivered 1/23/2021 Adafruit MCP2221A breakout board https://www.adafruit.com/product/4471 $6.50 - [ ] NOTE: before you install Blinka libraries - use venv Mac: python3 -m venv .virtualenvs/mcp2221 or on Windows: python -m venv .virtualenvs/mcp2221 Blinka brings CircuitPython APIs and CircuitPython libraries to single board computers (SBCs). It is a pip installable Python library that runs in normal “desktop” Python. One can port their microcontroller code to an SBC or visa versa! CircuitPython Libraries on any Computer with MCP2221 https://learn.adafruit.com/circuitpython-libraries-on-any-computer-with-mcp2221 Update Blinka/Platform Libraries - Most issues can be solved by forcing Python to upgrade to the latestblinka/platform-detectlibraries. On Raspberry Pi, try running: sudo python3 -m pip install --upgrade --force-reinstall adafruit-blinka. On my Mac just run pip install --upgrade --force-reinstall adafruit-blinka CircuitPython Libraries and Jupyter Notebook on any Computer with MCP2221 https://learn.adafruit.com/jupyter-on-any-computer-with-circuitpython-libraries-and-mcp2221 Learn: Google Docs Sensor Logging From Your PC https://learn.adafruit.com/gdocs-sensor-logging-from-your-pc JPs Product Pick of the Week 1/12/21 MCP2221A USB I2C/GPIO Breakout https://youtu.be/_nNe-YM7MCU?t=261 - [ ] Monochrome 1.3" 128x64 OLED graphic display - STEMMA QT / Qwiic https://www.adafruit.com/product/938 $19.95 (two) https://learn.adafruit.com/monochrome-oled-breakouts

Learn: CircuitPython BLE Libraries on Any Computer https://learn.adafruit.com/circuitpython-ble-libraries-on-any-computer The AdafruitBlinka bleio librarymakes this possible. It is a regular Python library that runs on desktop Python, not on CircuitPython boards. It re-implements the_bleiomodule that is part of CircuitPython: all our BLE libraries are ultimately based on_bleio. The Blinka bleio library only supports acting in a BLE central role.You can connect to peripheral devices, such as heart rate monitors, pulse oximeters, bicycle sensors, etc., but you cannot act as a peripheral yourself with this code.

For Mac NOTE: pre-requisite is command line tools for python3 

python3 -m venv .virtualenvs/mcp2221
. .virtualenvs/mcp2221/bin/activate
pip install hidapi
pip install --upgrade --force-reinstall adafruit-blinka
(mcp2221) jliu@JEFFREYs-MBP ~ % pip install adafruit-circuitpython-ahtx0
export BLINKA_MCP2221="1"

(mcp2221) jliu@JEFFREYs-MBP ~  % python
Python 3.7.3 (default, Apr 24 2020, 18:51:23) 
[Clang 11.0.3 (clang-1103.0.32.62)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import board
>>> dir(board)
['G0', 'G1', 'G2', 'G3', 'I2C', 'SCL', 'SDA', 'SPI', '__builtins__', '__cached__', '__doc__', '__file__', '__loader__', '__name__', '__package__', '__spec__', 'ap_board', 'board_id', 'detector', 'pin', 'sys']
>>> exit()

For Windows

PS C:\Users\jeffrey.liu> python --verison
Python 3.9.2

python -m venv .virtualenvs/mcp2221

# NOTE: recall that git bash python cli repl just hangs and does not load - so open Powershell window instead
PS C:\Users\jeffrey.liu> .virtualenvs\mcp2221\Scripts\activate.ps1
pip install hidapi
pip install --upgrade --force-reinstall adafruit-blinka
pip install adafruit-circuitpython-ahtx0
$env:BLINKA_MCP2221="1"

python
Python 3.9.2 (tags/v3.9.2:1a79785, Feb 19 2021, 13:44:55) [MSC v.1928 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import board
>>> dir(board)
['G0', 'G1', 'G2', 'G3', 'I2C', 'SCL', 'SDA', 'SPI', '__builtins__', '__cached__', '__doc__', '__file__', '__loader__', '__name__', '__package__', '__spec__', 'ap_board', 'board_id', 'detector', 'pin', 'sys']
>>> exit()

For Windows upgrade adafruit-blinka output:

PS C:\Users\jeffrey.liu> .virtualenvs\mcp2221\Scripts\activate.ps1

(mcp2221) PS C:\Users\jeffrey.liu> pip list

Package                 Version
----------------------- -------
Adafruit-Blinka         6.2.2
Adafruit-PlatformDetect 3.1.1
Adafruit-PureIO         1.1.8
hidapi                  0.10.1
pip                     20.2.3
pyftdi                  0.52.9
pyserial                3.5
pyusb                   1.1.1
setuptools              49.2.1

WARNING: You are using pip version 20.2.3; however, version 21.0.1 is available.
You should consider upgrading via the 'c:\users\jeffrey.liu\.virtualenvs\mcp2221\scripts\python.exe -m pip install --upgrade pip' command.


(mcp2221) PS C:\Users\jeffrey.liu> pip install --upgrade --force-reinstall adafruit-blinka

Collecting adafruit-blinka
  Downloading Adafruit-Blinka-6.3.0.tar.gz (118 kB)
Collecting Adafruit-PlatformDetect>=3.1.0
  Downloading Adafruit-PlatformDetect-3.2.0.tar.gz (29 kB)
Collecting Adafruit-PureIO>=1.1.7
  Using cached Adafruit_PureIO-1.1.8.tar.gz (26 kB)
Collecting pyftdi>=0.40.0
  Using cached pyftdi-0.52.9-py3-none-any.whl (139 kB)
Collecting pyserial>=3.0
  Using cached pyserial-3.5-py2.py3-none-any.whl (90 kB)
Collecting pyusb>=1.0.0
  Using cached pyusb-1.1.1-py3-none-any.whl (58 kB)
...
...
...
  Attempting uninstall: adafruit-blinka
    Found existing installation: Adafruit-Blinka 6.2.2
    Uninstalling Adafruit-Blinka-6.2.2:
      Successfully uninstalled Adafruit-Blinka-6.2.2
    Running setup.py install for adafruit-blinka ... done
Successfully installed Adafruit-PlatformDetect-3.2.0 Adafruit-PureIO-1.1.8 adafruit-blinka-6.3.0 pyftdi-0.52.9 pyserial-3.5 pyusb-1.1.1

WARNING: You are using pip version 20.2.3; however, version 21.0.1 is available.
You should consider upgrading via the 'c:\users\jeffrey.liu\.virtualenvs\mcp2221\scripts\python.exe -m pip install --upgrade pip' command.

(mcp2221) PS C:\Users\jeffrey.liu> pip list

Package                 Version
----------------------- -------
Adafruit-Blinka         6.3.0
Adafruit-PlatformDetect 3.2.0
Adafruit-PureIO         1.1.8
hidapi                  0.10.1
pip                     20.2.3
pyftdi                  0.52.9
pyserial                3.5
pyusb                   1.1.1
setuptools              49.2.1

WARNING: You are using pip version 20.2.3; however, version 21.0.1 is available.

You should consider upgrading via the 'c:\users\jeffrey.liu\.virtualenvs\mcp2221\scripts\python.exe -m pip install --upgrade pip' command.
  • [ ] A brief history of microcontrollers and a Great demo by Ladyada for using CircuitPython and Blinka to connect to a temperature sensor three ways (Raspberry Pi Pico, Raspberry Pi 4, and MCP2221A) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZnDCs80b_A&t=3405s 1/31/2021 Reference: Page 48 of RPi_Pi Pico_Digital Edition.pdf NOTE: UTIME VS TIME If you’ve programmed in Python before, you’ll be used to using the ‘time’ library. The utime library is a version designed for microcontrollers like the Pico – the ‘u’ standing for ‘μ’, the Greek letter ‘mu’, which is used as a shorthand for ‘micro’. If you forget and use import time, don’t worry: MicroPython will automatically use the utime library instead.

Raspberry Pi Pico code

import time
import board
import busio
import adafruit_ahtx0

i2c_bus = busio.I2C(board.GP1, board.GP0)

sensor = adafruit_ahtx0.AHTx0(i2c_bus)

while True:
    print("\nTemperature: %0.1f C" % sensor.temperature)
    print("Temperature: %0.1f F" % ((sensor.temperature * 1.8)+32))
    print("Humidity: %0.1f %%" % sensor.relative_humidity)
    time.sleep(2)

Raspberry Pi 4 code

import time
import board
# note import busio not needed for Raspberry Pi
import adafruit_ahtx0

# create the sensor object using I2C
sensor = adafruit_ahtx0.AHTx0(board.I2C())

while True:
    print("\nTemperature: %0.1f C" % sensor.temperature)
    print("Temperature: %0.1f F" % ((sensor.temperature * 1.8)+32))
    print("Humidity: %0.1f %%" % sensor.relative_humidity)
    time.sleep(2)

MCP2221 code

import time
import board
import busio
import adafruit_ahtx0

# Create library object using our Bus I2C port
i2c = busio.I2C(board.SCL, board.SDA)
sensor = adafruit_ahtx0.AHTx0(i2c)

while True:
    print("\nTemperature: %0.1f C" % sensor.temperature)
    print("Temperature: %0.1f F" % ((sensor.temperature * 1.8)+32))
    print("Humidity: %0.1f %%" % sensor.relative_humidity)
    time.sleep(2)

MCP2221 code without busio

import time
import board
import adafruit_ahtx0

# Create library object using our Bus I2C port
i2c = board.I2C()
sensor = adafruit_ahtx0.AHTx0(i2c)

while True:
    print("\nTemperature: %0.1f C" % sensor.temperature)
    print("Temperature: %0.1f F" % ((sensor.temperature * 1.8)+32))
    print("\nHumidity: %0.1f %%" % sensor.relative_humidity)
    time.sleep(2)

Ordered 2/6/2021 - Delivered 2/17/2021 - [ ] AHT20 Temperature & Humidity Sensor breakout https://www.adafruit.com/product/4566 $4.50 Learn: Adafruit AHT20 Temperature & Humidity Sensor https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-aht20

Sample output:

(mcp2221) jliu@JEFFREYs-MBP ~ % python test.py

Temperature: 24.2 C
Humidity: 29.6 %


Temperature: 24.1 C
Humidity: 29.7 %


Temperature: 24.1 C
Humidity: 29.8 %


Temperature: 24.0 C
Humidity: 29.9 %

^CTraceback (most recent call last):
 File "test.py", line 13, in <module>
 time.sleep(2)
KeyboardInterrupt

NOTE: there's a related article https://learn.adafruit.com/circuitpython-libraries-on-any-computer-with-raspberry-pi-pico - [ ] FT232H General Purpose USB to I2C, SPI, GPIO Breakout board to use Stemma QT or Grove Sensors on your computer directly via usb https://www.adafruit.com/product/2264 $15 Delivered 10/27/2021 CircuitPython Libraries on any Computer with FT232H https://learn.adafruit.com/circuitpython-on-any-computer-with-ft232h The support for the FT232H in Blinka utilizes thepyftdi librarybyeblot. This in turn relies on a few other things, like libusb. So before we can actually use the FT232H, we need to get everything setup. See the OS specific sections for what we went through to get things working for each. NOTE: 10/28/2021 useless on Mac OS unless you use homebrew python. Bleh!

Mac OS:

pip install --upgrade pip

pip install libusb pyftdi adafruit-blinka

pip install --upgrade --force-reinstall adafruit-blinka

(ft232h) jliu@JEFFREYs-MBP ~ % pip list
Package  Version
Adafruit-Blinka  6.15.0
Adafruit-PlatformDetect 3.17.1
Adafruit-PureIO  1.1.9
libusb 1.0.23b7
pip  21.3.1
pyftdi 0.53.3
pyserial 3.5
pyusb  1.2.1
setuptools 58.3.0


export BLINKA_FT232H=1

import board




>>> import board

Traceback (most recent call last):

 File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>

 File "/Users/jliu/.virtualenvs/ft232h/lib/python3.8/site-packages/board.py", line 40, in <module>

 from adafruit_blinka.agnostic import board_id, detector

 File "/Users/jliu/.virtualenvs/ft232h/lib/python3.8/site-packages/adafruit_blinka/agnostic/__init__.py", line 18, in <module>

 chip_id = detector.chip.id

 File "/Users/jliu/.virtualenvs/ft232h/lib/python3.8/site-packages/adafruit_platformdetect/chip.py", line 79, in id

 count = len(UsbTools.find_all([(0x0403, 0x6014)]))

 File "/Users/jliu/.virtualenvs/ft232h/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pyftdi/usbtools.py", line 95, in find_all

 devs.update(UsbTools._find_devices(vid, pid, nocache))

 File "/Users/jliu/.virtualenvs/ft232h/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pyftdi/usbtools.py", line 597, in _find_devices

 backend = cls._load_backend()

 File "/Users/jliu/.virtualenvs/ft232h/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pyftdi/usbtools.py", line 663, in _load_backend

 raise ValueError('No backend available')

ValueError: No backend available

>>> exit()

https://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=182556&p=887762&hilit=ft232h+ValueError%3A+No+backend+available#p887762 https://github.com/pyusb/pyusb/issues/355 https://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=182685

"No backend available" error while testing the install, be sure you have installed your version of Python3 via Homebrew, otherwise the pyftdi and adafruit-blinka libraries will not be able to find the libusb package that you installed with Homebrew.

So the conclusion is that the FT232H is useless on the Mac unless you use Homebrew. Bleh!

4/12/2023 - Explaining Computers youtube video https://blog.adafruit.com/2023/04/12/add-gpio-to-any-pc-or-laptop-using-an-adafruit-ft232h-chrisbarnatt/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt5xtIyxgco 3/5/2023

Forum question I posted regarding busio: https://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=175971&p=857191#p857191 Very thorough responses there on how "import board" automagically sets to the default board.SCL and board.SDA for both Blinka and for firmware. Blinka: https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Blinka/blob/813d634f2ca50a93fa6dfb53e18aa09403be2440/src/board.py#L213 C code (firmware): https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/blob/b69cb0144ca0d54011be540213d1e25e673a63de/shared-module/board/init.c#L57

In a nutshell:

i2c = board.I2C()

is always a shortcut for 

import busio

i2c = busio.I2C(board.SCL, board.SDA)

Verifies that if one wanted to be lazy, one could just rely on the board library to define the default SCL and SDA.

It seems that if you want to define different I2C buses, you would use the busio library to define that (if the hardware could support it). Hypothetical code:

import board  
import busio  

i2c = busio.I2C(board.SCL, board.SDA)  
i2c1 = busio.I2C(board.SCL1, board.SDA1)  

i2c.try_lock()  
i2c.scan()  

i2c1.try_lock()  
i2c1.scan()

References https://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=167829&start=15 https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=33092 https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=271200 https://randomnerdtutorials.com/esp32-i2c-communication-arduino-ide/ https://www.digikey.com/en/maker/projects/circuitpython-basics-i2c-and-spi/9799e0554de14af3850975dfb0174ae3 NOTE: As of 3/2021, confirmed i2c = board.I2C() works on QT Py, but it does not work on Raspberry Pi Pico. Pico generates the error:

AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'I2C'

That's because the library doesn't define a default for the Pico: https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/issues/4121 You'll need to manually define via busio.I2C the board GPIO pins you are using. 

i2c = busio.I2C(board.GP1, board.GP0)

NOTE: CircuitPython School also has a great blurb on busio https://youtu.be/rSF_b8ab2gU?t=685 Creating an I2C object for use with Stemma QT devices is super easy. Just:

i2c = board.I2C()

Some example code might refer to busio and pass in specific board.SDA and board.SCL objects. You should not need that if you're using Stemma QT and use the statement above. You can even avoid importing busio if you're not using it anyplace else in your code.

NOTE: 10/27/2021 - CircuitPython School video "Don't Stand So Close to Me" has a great blurb regarding how QT Py RP2040 also needs to have the i2c object defined with busio when using the Stemma QT connector.
https://youtu.be/Pn77QKCz2tM?t=918

import board
import busio

i2c = busio.I2C(board.SCL1, board.SDA1)

Additional reference: https://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=183777&p=892463&hilit=qt+py+rp2040+i2c+board.I2C#p892463 The STEMMA connector on the QTPYRP2040uses a separate set of pins for I2C
board.SCL1 and board.SDA1
see the guide https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-qt-py-2040/pinouts#stemma-qt-3091651-3

Additional References

This page was last updated on 2022-12-08 21:45:07 -0500.