Getting Started

How would you like to get started with the LCPF?

• Easy mode : Follow our Quick Start Guide, which contains

  • a list of all the parts you need to start adding effects to your project with the LCPF
    • and where you can buy them
    • based on the TerrainTronics Caernarfon Castle Kit  and the Lolin S2 Mini

These are general directions for getting started with the LCPF.

If you want a guide for getting started as easily as possible, quick and easy set of specific instructions, for your controller, see Supported Controllers.

Complete Initial Setup on your controller

• Install CircuitPython and the TerrainTronics bundle on your controller.
  • TODO: more detail / better instructions for this
  • for now look at details for your controller under Supported Controllers and then Initial Controller Setup
  • The rest of the instructions below assume that this has been done, and you have a working CIRCUITPY drive

Setup a supported editor

WARNING: Not all editors work well for CircuitPython¹. Starting with Mu or Thonny is highly recommended unless you are already familiar with Python, USB serial device access, and ESP32 development or VSCode.

• Mu 
  • Python editor for beginners with CircuitPython support 
• Thonny 
  • more flexible than Mu, less complicated than VSCode
  • under Tools / Options / Interpreter select CircuitPython (generic)
• Visual Studio Code 
  • more complicated IDE, works well if you’re already familiar with VSCode
  • useful extensions
    • CircuitPython v2 
    • Serial Monitor 

Setup a USB serial console interface

You need the ability to see console text output (error messages, print statements, …) from your controller. The editors listed above (with proper configuration / extensions) already have this built in. Otherwise, you need a terminal program that can connect to a USB serial device.

code.py

CIRCUITPY:\code.py is a very special file. It is loaded and run each time your controller starts (or restarts)²

Uploading your code

For a controller running CircuitPython with a CIRCUITPY drive, simply saving your changes to CIRCUITPY:\code.py (or any other file on your CIRCUITPY drive) is all you need to do¹. There is no separate “firmware upload” step required. For example, here’s what you’d see saving

print( "Hello there!\n" )
from TerrainTronics.Demos import CaernarfonFrankenDemo
 
CaernarfonFrankenDemo.demoMain()

to CIRCUITPY:\code.py with Thonny :

Playing with Demos

There are files for demos In CIRCUITPY_DRIVE__:\libs\TerrainTronics\Demos_

CIRCUITPY_DRIVE:\code.py is a file that gets automatically run when the controller boots

There are a number of ways to run a demo. For example, to run CaernarfonLavaLights (at CIRCUITPY_DRIVE:\libs\TerrainTronics\Demos\CaernarfonLavaLights.py ), CIRCUITPY_DRIVE:\code.py could look like

from TerrainTronics.Demos import CaernarfonLavaLights
CaernarfonLavaLights.demoMain()

or you could copy the contents of CIRCUITPY_DRIVE:\libs\TerrainTronics\Demos\CaernarfonLavaLights.py into CIRCUITPY_DRIVE:\code.py and add demoMain()

# copied contents from CaernarfonLavaLights.py ...

demoMain()

at the end

Notes