CircuitPython 8.0.0 Launches with a New Wireless Workflow, Raspberry Pi Pico W Support
The new release brings with it a warning of potential data loss for beta users, though, so proceed carefully before upgrading.
The CircuitPython team has announced the programming project’s latest major release, CircuitPython 8.0.0 — which brings with it a new Wi-Fi workflow and a warning of potential data loss on upgrade.
“This is CircuitPython 8.0.0, the latest major revision of CircuitPython, and is a new stable release,” developer Dan Halbert writes in the project’s GitHub release notes. The launch marks the eighth major release of the software since it launched in 2017 as a derivative of MicroPython, itself a Python derivative designed with resource-constrained microcontrollers in mind.
The biggest change in the new release is a shiny workflow for microcontrollers with Wi-Fi capabilities, currently compatible with Espressif ESP8266 and ESP32-based devices and the Raspberry Pi Pico W development board. Using this, it’s possible to discover devices, browse the filesystem, upload, download, and edit files, and open up a serial or REPL connection — all without wires.
The new version is also the first CircuitPython release to support the Raspberry Pi Pico W’s wireless radio, though as of CircuitPython 8.0.0 only the Wi-Fi radio is compatible. Those looking to use the radio’s Bluetooth capabilities, then, will have to look elsewhere — unsurprising, given that the Bluetooth capabilities have only recently been unlocked in the official Raspberry Pi Pico software development kit (SDK) after the board launched with the feature disabled.
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