Book Image

MicroPython Cookbook

By : Marwan Alsabbagh

Book Image

MicroPython Cookbook

By: Marwan Alsabbagh

Overview of this book

MicroPython is an open source implementation of Python 3 that runs in embedded environments. With MicroPython, you can write clean and simple Python code to control hardware instead of using complex low-level languages such as C and C++. This book guides you through all the major applications of the MicroPython platform to build and program projects that use microcontrollers. This MicroPython book covers recipes that will help you experiment with the programming environment and hardware programmed in MicroPython. You'll find tips and techniques for building a variety of objects and prototypes that can sense and respond to touch, sound, position, heat, and light. This book will take you through the uses of MicroPython with a variety of popular input devices and sensors. You'll learn techniques to handle time delays and sensor readings, and apply advanced coding techniques to create complex projects. As you advance, you'll deal with Internet of Things (IoT) devices and integration with other online web services. In addition to this, you'll use MicroPython to make music with bananas and create portable multiplayer video games that incorporate sound and light animations into the gameplay. By the end of this book, you'll have mastered the tips and tricks to troubleshoot your development problems and take your MicroPython project to the next level.

Preface

Who this book is for

What this book covers

To get the most out of this book

Free Chapter

Getting started with MicroPython

Getting started with MicroPython

What is MicroPython?

What is a microcontroller?

What is CircuitPython?

What is the Circuit Playground Express?

Flashing the microcontroller firmware

Executing your first program

Using screen to access the REPL

Using Mu to access the REPL

Executing commands in the REPL

Using the auto-reload feature

Updating the CircuitPython Library

Controlling LEDs

Controlling LEDs

The Adafruit Circuit Playground Express layout

Turning on the pin 13 LED

Setting the brightness of the NeoPixel

Controlling the color of a single NeoPixel

Displaying an LED color using the RGB and hex code

Setting an LED color using color names

Setting all NeoPixels to the same color

Setting a range of NeoPixels to one color

Generating random NeoPixel LED colors

Creating LED animations with random colors

Creating LED animations with rainbow colors

Creating Sound and Music

Creating Sound and Music

The Adafruit Circuit Playground Express layout

Making a beeping sound

Controlling tone, frequency, and duration

Playing a musical note

Playing a melody

Sounding the alarm

Playing WAV files

Converting MP3 files to WAV files

Starting and stopping tones

Interacting with Buttons

Interacting with Buttons

The Adafruit Circuit Playground Express layout

Detecting push button presses

Controlling LEDs with push buttons

Reading a slide switch

Calling functions on the button state change

Moving active LEDs with push buttons

Playing a beep on the button press

Detecting touch on a touchpad

Monitoring the touchpad raw measurements

Adjusting the touch threshold

Reading Sensor Data

Reading Sensor Data

Circuit Playground Express sensors

Reading temperature readings

Reading brightness levels from the light sensor

Creating a light meter

Reading data from the motion sensor

Detecting a single or double tap

Detecting a shake

Beeping on a shake

Button Bash Game

Button Bash Game

Technical requirements

Circuit Playground Express power

Creating a class to detect a button state change

Creating your own Python modules

Adding button interactions to the event loop

Creating a generator to get pixel colors

Showing scores with the ScoreBoard class

Detecting winners with the ScoreBoard class

Adding the ScoreBoard class to the event loop

Fruity Tunes

Technical requirements

Circuit Playground Express touchpads

Creating a class to react to touch events

Creating a function to enable speaker output

Creating a function to play audio files

Using the NeoPixel object to control pixels

Creating a touch handler to play sounds

Creating a touch handler to light up pixels

Creating an event loop to handle all touch events

Let's Move It, Move It

Let's Move It, Move It

Technical requirements

Adafruit CRICKIT

Tuning a servo to the correct pulse width

Setting the actuation range of a servo

Setting the angle of a servo

Sweeping a servo

Controlling servos with buttons

Controlling multiple servos

Turning on a DC motor

Setting the speed and direction of a DC motor

Controlling a DC motor with buttons

Coding on the micro:bit

Coding on the micro:bit

Technical requirements

Using Mu to flash code onto the micro:bit

Using Mu to get a REPL on the micro:bit

Displaying a single character on the LED display

Displaying a built-in image

Displaying scrolling text

Showing which button has been pressed

Creating a countdown timer

Controlling the ESP8266

Controlling the ESP8266

Technical requirements

The Adafruit Feather HUZZAH ESP8266

Using the REPL over a serial connection

Scanning for available Wi-Fi networks

Configuring settings for AP mode

Connecting to an existing Wi-Fi network

Using the WebREPL over Wi-Fi

Transferring files with the WebREPL CLI

Controlling the blue and red LEDs

Interacting with the Filesystem

Interacting with the Filesystem

Technical requirements

Remounting the filesystem

Creating a directory

Reading a file's contents

Writing a file's contents

Calculating disk usage

Networking

Technical requirements

Performing a DNS lookup

Creating a function to wait for internet connectivity

Performing an HTTP request using raw sockets

Performing an HTTP request using the urequests library

Fetching JSON data from a RESTful web service

Creating an HTTP server

Creating a web handler module

Controlling LEDs through the web server

Developing a RESTful API to control the LEDs

Interacting with the Adafruit FeatherWing OLED

Interacting with the Adafruit FeatherWing OLED

The Adafruit FeatherWing OLED

Technical requirements

Detecting button presses with GPIO pins

Connecting to the SSD1306 display

Filling and clearing the display

Setting pixels on the display

Drawing lines and rectangles on the display

Writing text on the display

Inverting colors on the display

Building an Internet of Things (IoT) Weather Machine

Building an Internet of Things (IoT) Weather Machine

Technical requirements

Retrieving weather data from the internet

Creating a function to get a city's weather

Randomly selecting cities

Creating a Screen object for text handling

Creating a function to show a city's weather

Providing visual feedback when fetching data

Creating a function to display the weather for a random city

Creating an IoT button to show the weather around the world

Coding on the Adafruit HalloWing Microcontroller

Coding on the Adafruit HalloWing Microcontroller

The Adafruit HalloWing M0 Express

Technical requirements

Discovering I2C devices

Reading data from the accelerometer using I2C

Detecting board-flipping with the accelerometer

Controlling screen brightness

Displaying a bitmap image

Listing all image files

Creating a joke-telling machine

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Controlling the ESP8266

In this chapter, we will introduce the Adafruit Feather HUZZAH ESP8266 microcontroller. The ESP8266 is one of the most popular MicroPython hardware options when your embedded project needs to have support for internet connectivity. This connectivity is achieved using the board's built-in Wi-Fi capabilities.

This chapter will explore two main ways to get REPL access on the board: through a USB connection, and also wireless over Wi-Fi. We will also look at a number of recipes that cover different aspects of interacting with the Wi-Fi features on the board.

By the end of this chapter, you will have learned all the core skills necessary so that you can get productive with this board and start building your own embedded projects using this versatile and inexpensive piece of internet-connected hardware.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics...