[Microbit-Python] Say hola to microperi [WIP]
Joe Glancy
joe.t.glancy at gmail.com
Mon May 16 07:39:13 EDT 2016
That's something I haven't considered yet - I assume that you'll get the
normal output from a command (if any)?
On Mon, 16 May 2016, 12:25 Damien George, <damien.p.george at gmail.com> wrote:
> Joe & Andrew: great work! But did you know about raw REPL mode? If
> you type ctrl-A at the REPL then it goes into this mode which is like
> the normal REPL but does not echo characters back. It also requires
> you to send ctrl-D to finish the input (and thus you can enter
> multiple lines, even blank lines, as part of your input). Raw REPL
> mode is used to talk to MicroPython from a PC, so is exactly what you
> want!
>
> On Mon, May 16, 2016 at 12:12 PM, David Whale
> <david at thinkingbinaries.com> wrote:
> > Joe, I like what you did there!
> >
> >
> https://github.com/JoeGlancy/microperi/blob/master/microperi/microperi.py#L20
> >
> > Great stuff.
> >
> > Zero install, if possible, is always the way to go!
> >
> > David
> >
> >
> > ___________________________________________________________
> > David Whale, B.Sc (Hons), MIET
> > Software Engineer and IET Schools Liaison Officer, Essex
> >
> >
> > On 16 May 2016 at 11:59, Joe Glancy <joe.t.glancy at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> Yeah, pretty much every school uses Windows (I think most often it's
> >> Windows 7?).
> >>
> >> Thanks for the tip David - microperi is now completely portable and
> >> requires 0 installation (plus very little effort).
> >>
> >>
> >> On Mon, 16 May 2016, 10:57 M.-A. Lemburg, <mal at egenix.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> On 16.05.2016 09:47, Nicholas H.Tollervey wrote:
> >>> > For the Mu editor Carlos did some amazing work in automatically
> >>> > building
> >>> > a stand-alone executable for Windows, OSX and Linux.
> >>> >
> >>> > Of course, Windows will complain if you try to run a stand-alone
> >>> > executable and warn you to the extent that you'll imagine the world
> is
> >>> > about to end, but there you go.
> >>>
> >>> Why is that ? Because you are accessing the serial port ?
> >>> I think you can get (at least partially) around this by signing
> >>> the executable.
> >>>
> >>> > Unfortunately, the real problem (the way schools organise their IT)
> is
> >>> > impossible for us to fix. Ergo all this faffing about. Nevertheless,
> >>> > it's worth it when teachers and kids get their hands on the good
> stuff.
> >>>
> >>> Am I right in assuming that most schools use Windows for their
> >>> (kids) PCs ?
> >>>
> >>> > Best wishes,
> >>> >
> >>> > N.
> >>> >
> >>> > On 15/05/16 16:13, David Whale wrote:
> >>> >> Hi Joe,
> >>> >>
> >>> >> Yes, but the way we typically do this is to unzip the package
> >>> >> directory
> >>> >> into the users project directory. That's how I do it with the anyio
> >>> >> library I wrote for my minecraft book, and that's ow the original
> >>> >> mb_remote works.
> >>> >>
> >>> >> i.e. if the user project directory is my_awesome_project
> >>> >> ...and if there is a file my_awesome_project/test1.py
> >>> >> ...and if there is a folder my_awesome_project/microbit
> >>> >>
> >>> >> ...then when you import microbit in test1.py, it all works.
> >>> >>
> >>> >> The embedded serial folder inside the microbit folder (with it's
> magic
> >>> >> sys.path modifier) just makes it all work seamlessly.
> >>> >>
> >>> >> It really is very simple to use.
> >>> >>
> >>> >> Lines 28..33
> >>> >> here:
> >>> >>
> https://github.com/whaleygeek/mb_remote/blob/master/src/microbit.py#L28
> >>> >>
> >>> >>
> >>> >> Teachers hate it when you have to run install scripts and need admin
> >>> >> access, because (a) it means you have to beg to the IT technician
> >>> >> which
> >>> >> sometimes takes months (literally), and (b) it means that they have
> to
> >>> >> consider which machines are configured correctly and which are not.
> >>> >>
> >>> >> If all you have to do is unzip a folder and start coding, it's
> >>> >> *really*
> >>> >> simple. They can even give the instructions to the kids and they can
> >>> >> just unzip the file into their user directory and it all works
> >>> >> seamlessly.
> >>> >>
> >>> >> In one school, it took the technician 3 months (of continuous
> teacher
> >>> >> begging) to get python installed, just so they could run the GCSE
> >>> >> controlled assessments.
> >>> >>
> >>> >> David
> >>> >>
> >>> >>
> >>> >> ___________________________________________________________
> >>> >> David Whale, B.Sc (Hons), MIET
> >>> >> *Software Engineer and IET Schools Liaison Officer, Essex*
> >>> >>
> >>> >>
> >>> >> On 15 May 2016 at 13:21, Joe Glancy <joe.t.glancy at gmail.com
> >>> >> <mailto:joe.t.glancy at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >>> >>
> >>> >> That's a good point - embedding pyserial would certainly make it
> >>> >> more portable, as it doesn't depend on anything else except
> >>> >> standard
> >>> >> modules then. The only (small) limitation with a zero install is
> >>> >> that scripts would have to be in the same location as the
> module's
> >>> >> directory, but that's hardly an issue.
> >>> >>
> >>> >>
> >>> >> On Sun, 15 May 2016, 10:42 David Whale,
> >>> >> <david at thinkingbinaries.com
> >>> >> <mailto:david at thinkingbinaries.com>> wrote:
> >>> >>
> >>> >> Joe and Andrew,
> >>> >>
> >>> >> Just a comment about this, please read this article, and
> >>> >> consider *changing* how you package this, especially for
> >>> >> teachers:
> >>> >>
> >>> >>
> >>> >>
> https://codeboom.wordpress.com/2016/05/11/scratch-is-the-new-powerpoint/
> >>> >>
> >>> >> The version that I wrote back in August 2015 is zero
> install -
> >>> >> yes, ZERO install. All a teacher has to do is to press the
> >>> >> DownloadZip button, unzip it, and run it. This is VITAL for
> >>> >> teachers to use these resources, especially on a Raspberry
> Pi
> >>> >> where mostly they are not connected to the internet most of
> >>> >> the
> >>> >> time. Most of the time they want to just grab a file on a
> USB
> >>> >> memory stick, and copy it over. sudo pip install is
> *useless*
> >>> >> in
> >>> >> this situation.
> >>> >>
> >>> >> Raspberry Pi's are mostly not connected to the internet in
> >>> >> schools, because it stores the wifi password in plain text
> in
> >>> >> the config file, and school IT technicians ban the teachers
> >>> >> from
> >>> >> using them for this reason (as it exposes the password to
> the
> >>> >> kids, and then all their phones start connecting to the wifi
> >>> >> and
> >>> >> makes it crash). Really, this is a big problem, believe me!
> >>> >>
> >>> >> The way I did this was to *embed* pyserial into the package
> >>> >> (and
> >>> >> the licence allows for this providing you are clear about
> the
> >>> >> containing licence). Please see my original
> >>> >> here: https://github.com/whaleygeek/mb_remote and you will
> see
> >>> >> this works really great. There is also a little bit of
> python
> >>> >> magic in the file (it modifies the sys.path inplace) to make
> >>> >> sure that this happens automatically. (you need to make this
> >>> >> Python 3 safe still, of course).
> >>> >>
> >>> >> Can I strongly urge you to make it zero install? It'll get
> >>> >> adopted really quickly that way.
> >>> >>
> >>> >> I've had a number of chats with teachers already about this
> >>> >> and
> >>> >> they are really excited about it, but they said to me 'ah,
> >>> >> it's
> >>> >> all that sudo pip stuff, that never works for us'. Lots of
> >>> >> teachers I speak to gave in with PyGameZero because they
> >>> >> couldn't get it to install.
> >>> >>
> >>> >> Thanks
> >>> >>
> >>> >> David
> >>> >>
> >>> >>
> >>> >>
> >>> >>
> >>> >> ___________________________________________________________
> >>> >> David Whale, B.Sc (Hons), MIET
> >>> >> *Software Engineer and IET Schools Liaison Officer, Essex*
> >>> >>
> >>> >>
> >>> >> On 14 May 2016 at 22:54, Joe Glancy <joe.t.glancy at gmail.com
> >>> >> <mailto:joe.t.glancy at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >>> >>
> >>> >> Thanks David :)
> >>> >>
> >>> >> I'll see if I can find that demo and get it up and
> working
> >>> >> with this module - would be nice to have some examples
> >>> >> with
> >>> >> it where it can interact with things such as MCPI
> straight
> >>> >> out of the box.
> >>> >>
> >>> >> And indeed it does make an excellent addon, mostly
> thanks
> >>> >> to
> >>> >> the pretty much universal serial interface it uses to
> >>> >> communicate (which allows it to be easily interfaced on
> >>> >> many
> >>> >> platforms with minimal (or even none) setup required).
> >>> >>
> >>> >> As a matter of fact, I thought up of something very
> >>> >> similar
> >>> >> to this but which communicated over Bluetooth instead a
> >>> >> while ago (using a stock micro:bit image), with a
> >>> >> Raspberry
> >>> >> Pi 3 and micro:bit as use case. Unfortunately, I found
> it
> >>> >> impossible to get the micro:bit to work properly with
> >>> >> BlueZ,
> >>> >> despite some help from the BlueZ IRC and Linux Bluetooth
> >>> >> mailing list.This kind of lead to the wired approach you
> >>> >> see
> >>> >> now. Maybe the recent BlueZ updates will fix this, so
> that
> >>> >> a
> >>> >> wireless alternative to this module exists too.
> >>> >>
> >>> >>
> >>> >> On Sat, 14 May 2016, 22:25 David Whale,
> >>> >> <david at thinkingbinaries.com
> >>> >> <mailto:david at thinkingbinaries.com>> wrote:
> >>> >>
> >>> >> Looks great, Joe and Andrew!
> >>> >>
> >>> >> Yes, I wrote this original mb_remote version back in
> >>> >> August 2015, but the Python API on the micro:bit
> >>> >> changed
> >>> >> many times since then and I've been too busy to
> >>> >> maintain
> >>> >> it. However, it's great to see this moving forward.
> >>> >> There are some really nice use cases (especially
> >>> >> micro:bit + Raspberry Pi) where this sort of
> approach
> >>> >> is
> >>> >> both really useful and great fun, as I discovered
> with
> >>> >> my early tests.
> >>> >>
> >>> >> The 'flying xwing in minecraft with a micro:bit'
> that
> >>> >> Martin and I did, was really the inspiration for me
> >>> >> writing the mb_remote, more to get a feel for what
> it
> >>> >> would look like than anything else. I had come to
> the
> >>> >> conclusion that the micro:bit makes a great
> peripheral
> >>> >> for other computers, what with it's onboard sensors
> >>> >> and
> >>> >> I/O pins, and having a really quick way to extend
> your
> >>> >> python from the host PC onto the micro:bit is really
> >>> >> fun.
> >>> >>
> >>> >> I'm also glad to see you take forward the idea of
> >>> >> poking
> >>> >> commands into the REPL and getting responses (that's
> >>> >> much better than having to load custom firmware onto
> >>> >> the
> >>> >> micro:bit, as other solutions tend to go for).
> >>> >>
> >>> >> David
> >>> >>
> >>> >>
> >>> >>
> >>> >> ___________________________________________________________
> >>> >> David Whale, B.Sc (Hons), MIET
> >>> >> *Software Engineer and IET Schools Liaison Officer,
> >>> >> Essex*
> >>> >>
> >>> >>
> >>> >> On 14 May 2016 at 20:58, Joe Glancy
> >>> >> <joe.t.glancy at gmail.com
> >>> >> <mailto:joe.t.glancy at gmail.com>>
> >>> >> wrote:
> >>> >>
> >>> >> Myself and Andrew (Mulholland, @gbaman on
> GitHub -
> >>> >> credit to him for first starting this) have been
> >>> >> working on something similar to David's
> mb_remote
> >>> >> module for Python, called microperi
> >>> >> (micro-peripheral, as that is what the micro:bit
> >>> >> becomes :). It is currently (and very much) an
> >>> >> alpha
> >>> >> work-in-progress, and I'm only informing
> everyone
> >>> >> here about it because we need testers and, more
> >>> >> importantly, feedback.
> >>> >>
> >>> >> It lives at
> >>> >> https://github.com/JoeGlancy/microperi,
> >>> >> and because none of the install methods
> >>> >> (pip3/python3 setup.py install) work properly as
> >>> >> of
> >>> >> now, the best way to try it is just create your
> >>> >> scripts in the same directory where the docs
> >>> >> (README, CONTRIBUTING etc) are and use `import
> >>> >> microperi` (check out the example in the README
> >>> >> for
> >>> >> a bit of a better howto).
> >>> >>
> >>> >> It exposes almost all of the micro:bit's
> >>> >> MicroPython
> >>> >> `microbit` module, which is completely available
> >>> >> through a microperi.Microbit object. This is
> >>> >> actually one of the things that I'd like
> feedback
> >>> >> about; see below for more information (I don't
> >>> >> think
> >>> >> I've explained this too well, but it's the best
> I
> >>> >> could think of and word). If you just want to
> try
> >>> >> it
> >>> >> out, get cloning and give it a whirl. Anything
> you
> >>> >> spot as a bug or something you feel needs to be
> >>> >> improved/implemented, just create an issue or
> >>> >> submit
> >>> >> a PR (check CONTRIBUTING.rst first though).
> >>> >>
> >>> >> We decided on the Microbit object (instead of
> one
> >>> >> pre-set object called `microperi.microbit`,
> which
> >>> >> it
> >>> >> actually was originally) so that multiple
> >>> >> micro:bits
> >>> >> can be used at the same time. The constructor
> is:
> >>> >>
> >>> >> microperi.Microbit(port=None)
> >>> >>
> >>> >> If port is not specified, the module will
> >>> >> automatically detect the first available
> micro:bit
> >>> >> and use that one (Nick, the finding code is from
> >>> >> microrepl - could you comment on licensing
> >>> >> please?).
> >>> >> Otherwise, `port` must be a string determining
> the
> >>> >> serial port which the micro:bit is connected to
> >>> >> (e.g: /dev/ttyACM0, COM1, etc).
> >>> >>
> >>> >> Usual usage of the object is along the following
> >>> >> lines (or, more literal, line):
> >>> >>
> >>> >> microbit = microperi.Microbit()
> >>> >>
> >>> >> and then things like the microbit.Image class
> are
> >>> >> available through `microbit.Image`. However, if
> I
> >>> >> were to call the micro:bit object a different
> name
> >>> >> in my script (such as "uBit"), the Image class
> >>> >> would
> >>> >> be accessible as uBit.Image, which deviates from
> >>> >> the
> >>> >> MicroPython API. However, we did not want to
> place
> >>> >> things like the Image & pin classes in somewhere
> >>> >> like `microperi.microbit.Class_name` because
> then
> >>> >> you'd have a bit of a mess like so:
> >>> >>
> >>> >> from microperi import *
> >>> >> uBit = Microbit()
> >>> >> solid = microbit.Image.SNAKE
> >>> >> uBit.display.show(solid)
> >>> >>
> >>> >> because some things (e.g: microbit.i2c.read)
> would
> >>> >> be accessible through `uBit.i2c.read`, and
> others
> >>> >> (e.g: microbit.Image) would be accessible
> through
> >>> >> `microbit.Image`, when they both should be under
> >>> >> `microbit.X`, if you understand what I mean.
> >>> >>
> >>> >> The best solution for this currently is just
> >>> >> calling
> >>> >> the object `microbit`, and then everything will
> be
> >>> >> as it should, but if you don't some things will
> be
> >>> >> in different places.
> >>> >>
> >>> >> Anyway, I hope that this module will prove
> itself
> >>> >> useful for people and perhaps even in the
> >>> >> classroom,
> >>> >> as it notably allows not only use of the
> microbit
> >>> >> module but also every other Python 3 module out
> >>> >> there, allowing much more powerful (possibly IoT
> >>> >> integrated?) scripts to be created on a much
> more
> >>> >> powerful machine. I look forward to any
> feedback,
> >>> >> and hope for a proper, stable release (with
> >>> >> documentation of some sort) sometime soon.
> >>> >>
> >>> >> _______________________________________________
> >>> >> Microbit mailing list
> >>> >> Microbit at python.org <mailto:Microbit at python.org
> >
> >>> >>
> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/microbit
> >>> >>
> >>> >>
> >>> >> _______________________________________________
> >>> >> Microbit mailing list
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> >>> >> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/microbit
> >>> >>
> >>> >>
> >>> >> _______________________________________________
> >>> >> Microbit mailing list
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> >>> >> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/microbit
> >>> >>
> >>> >>
> >>> >> _______________________________________________
> >>> >> Microbit mailing list
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> >>> >>
> >>> >>
> >>> >> _______________________________________________
> >>> >> Microbit mailing list
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> >>> >> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/microbit
> >>> >>
> >>> >>
> >>> >>
> >>> >>
> >>> >> _______________________________________________
> >>> >> Microbit mailing list
> >>> >> Microbit at python.org
> >>> >> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/microbit
> >>> >>
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> > _______________________________________________
> >>> > Microbit mailing list
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> >>> >
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> Marc-Andre Lemburg
> >>> eGenix.com
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> >>
> >
> >
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