Tech News: Announcing the Release of CircuitPython 8.0.0!

^{(Picture's Source: Internet)}

CircuitPython's developers have recently issued a major upgrade to the program, version 8.0.0, which includes a new Wi-Fi workflow and a warning about the danger of data loss during the upgrading process.

According to the GitHub release notes, "this is CircuitPython 8.0.0, the newest major version of CircuitPython, and marks a new stable release." This is the software's ninth substantial upgrade since its first release in 2017 as a fork of MicroPython, a Python derivative optimized for low-power microcontrollers.
The latest version varies from its predecessor principally in that it features a more simplified method for dealing with Wi-Fi-enabled microcontrollers such as the Raspberry Pi Pico W and devices based on Espressif's ESP8266 and ESP32. This enables wireless device detection, filesystem navigation, data transmission and editing, and the construction of a serial or REPL connection.

Only the Wi-Fi radio is compatible with the Raspberry Pi Pico W as of version 8.0.0, although this is the first release to support the wireless radio. As a result, anybody looking to exploit the radio's Bluetooth capabilities will need to go elsewhere; this is not surprising given that the Bluetooth capabilities were previously locked in the official Raspberry Pi Pico software development kit (SDK) upon the board's debut.

Those upgrading from prior versions should be aware that certain ESP32 and ESP32-C3 boards with 2MB and 4MB flash memory, as well as the Raspberry Pi Pico W, may suffer data loss. Due to a change in flash partitioning, data on the devices will be destroyed during the upgrade process, although this should only affect customers upgrading from very early versions of CircuitPython 8.0.0 beta.

Pre-built binaries for all supported boards are available for download from the CircuitPython website, and the whole changelog is available on the GitHub repository.

Users should proceed with caution when upgrading to the new version because a warning is included in the beta version stating that data loss is possible.

HarleyN

( Source: News Aggregator )