The CircuitPython Show returns! To kick off season five, Paul welcomes Aaron Pendley, who is known by squid.jpg in the Adafruit community. They discuss how Aaron got started with computers, how he discovered CircuitPython, and a number of his projects.

Follow the show on Mastodon or Bluesky.

00:25 Welcome Aaron and his start with computers

4:23 squid.jpg

5:18 Discovering CircuitPython

8:03 The Top-Secret Lunchbox

12:11 The Zapper lights / sound mod

16:24 The Wii Nunchuk USB Adapter

17:22 The WiFi Matrix Keypad Remote

20:02 Sparkle Specs firmware for Adafruit LED Glasses

22:44 Which microcontroller?

23:33 Wrap-up

Follow Aaron on Bluesky

Visit Aaron’s Adafruit Playground page

It’s the final episode! Tod Kurt returns and serves as guest host and interviews Paul. Paul shares how he started with open source, his favorite project, exciting things coming to CircuitPython, and more.

00:00 Welcome

00:40 How Paul first got started with computers

1:45 Paul’s start with open source

5:10 Learning Python

6:38 Discovering CircuitPython

8:50 Paul’s favorite CircuitPython project

13:22 Exciting things coming to CircuitPython

16:34 What would Paul like to see in CircuitPython in the future?

17:55 Tod’s thank you for The CircuitPython Show

18:55 Where to learn more about Paul’s work?

19:25 Which board?

CircuitPython core developer Jeff Epler joins the show. He and Paul discuss how he sees his role as a core developer, adding JPEG support to CircuitPython, and adding over 2000 new fonts.

00:27 Welcome Jeff and his start with computers

00:54 How Jeff started with open source

1:45 Discovering CircuitPython

2:12 Jeff’s role as a CircuitPython core developer

3:43 Retro computing

4:43 The Memento camera and JPEG support in CircuitPython

7:17 Adding over 2000 new fonts to CircuitPython

10:53 Which board?

12:05 Follow Jeff:

Debra Ansell joins the show and shares how she started with computers and electronics, the Orb-sessed LED Sphere, the PixelBlaze Pillow, and more.

00:30 How Debra started with computers and electronics

2:50 Creating the Orb-sessed LED Sphere

5:08 How CircuitPython helped with the project

7:11 Combining maker skills

8:27 The PixelBlaze Pillow

10:32 The WiFI Hot Spot LED Jacket

12:43 Where to learn more about Debra’s projects

13:25 Which board?

Jan Goolsbey joins the show. He and Paul discuss the CircuitPython Community Bundle, Jan’s contributions to the bundle, his IoT wind chimes project, and the string car racer.

Transcripts are available in most podcast players.

00:30 Welcome Jan

2:24 Discovering CircuitPython

3:52 CircuitPython’s Community Bundle

6:10 Jan’s favorite libraries in the Community Bundle: Range Slicer

7:45 Graphics libraries including PaletteFader

9:27 Advice for adding to the CircuitPython Community Bundle

10:30 Using synthio for the Internet of Things Wind Chimes project

14:14 The String Car Racer

19:05 Where to learn more?

Adafruit Playground

GitHub repository

Vintage guitar pedal repair

20:15 Which board?

Max Lupo joins the show and shares how he uses electronics in his art pieces and installations.

00:00 Welcome Max

00:45 Max’s start with computers and electronics

01:53 Which programming language is best for each art piece?

03:47 Beep-Boopatronics

7:36 Continuous Memory

10:01 The Margin Maker

14:20 Which board?

Max’s homepage.

Tod Kurt joins the show. Tod shares his synthio boards and discusses his recent trip to Hackaday’s Supercon.

00:00 Welcome Tod

1:00 synthio CircuitPython Day Panel Discussion

1:10 What is synthio in CircuitPython?

2:00 Tod’s custom synthio micrococontroller boards (todbot/circuitpython-synthio-tricks: tips, tricks, and examples of using CircuitPython synthio

2:10 Tod’s Tindie store

4:30 Tod’s visit to Hackaday’s Supercon

5:22 Lux Lavalier on The Bootloader and in-person

6:30 CircuitPython at Supercon

7:02 Lightning Talks YouTube

8:40 Sprite_tm Jeroen Domburg: Building a Portable Vectrex, The Right Way

10:15 Cuddly Companion Bots Angela Sheehan: Cuddly Companion Bots

11:50 Stargirl’s KiCad Viewer talk

13:22 This year’s SuperCon Badge

15:44 Adding a capacitive touchpad - GitHub repository

17:30 Lack of speaker diversity at Supercon

17:55 Alpenglow’s Mastodon thread on Supercon speaker diversity Alpenglow Industries (@[email protected])

20:42 Which board do you reach for when starting a new project?

22:50 Wrap-up

Thank you for listening. Until next time, stay positive!

Erin St. Blaine joins the show and shares where she finds inspiration, advice for starting Neopixel projects, diffusion tips and tricks, and more.

00:33 Erin’s start with computers and electronics

Martin Tan joins the show. He and Paul discuss Martin’s new book, micro:bit Projects with Python and Single Board Computers: Building STEAM Projects with Code Club and Kids’ Maker Groups.

Martin’s book at Apress: micro:bit Projects with Python and Single Board Computers

Martin’s book at Barnes & Noble

00:40 Martin’s start with computers and electronics

02:25 micro:bit Projects with Python and Single Board Computers: Building STEAM Projects with Code Club and Kids’ Maker Groups

04:06 What is a Code Club?

05:07 Whom is the book intended for?

6:07 How do you keep the kids engaged?

8:44 Scratch, MicroPython and Python curriculums

10:00 How do the kids collaborate?

12:02 Favorite story from running a Code Club

14:33 Which microcontroller?

Dan Halbert joins the show and shares how he started with computers, discovering CircuitPython, where CircuitPython might be going next, and more

00:31 Dan’s start with computers and electronics

02:54 Making computers easier to use

05:09 Discovering CircuitPython

8:40 Advice for new contributors to CircuitPython’s core

9:40 How CircuitPython is ported to new hardware

11:35 Managing CircuitPython releases

13:49 Where CircuitPython might be going in the near future

16:33 Which board?