This is CircuitPython 10.0.0-alpha.8, an alpha release for 10.0.0. Further features, changes, and bug fixes will be added before the final release of 10.0.0.

Highlights of this release

• Increase the firmware partition size for ESP32-S3 boards with 4MB flash, allowing more features to be included, including BLE. You must update the TinyUF2 bootloader on these boards. See below.
• Merge updates from MicroPython v1.25.0.
• Fix regressions caused by SD automount capability.
• Add Terminal.cursor_x and .cursor_y.
• Add picodvi.Framebuffer.color_depth.

Incompatibility warnings

• You must update the TinyUF2 bootloader on all ESP32-S3 4MB flash boards to TinyUF2 0.33.0 or later.
  • The CircuitPython UF2 builds for these boards now assume a firmware partition of at 2.8MB (double the old size), as explained here. Updating the TinyUF2 bootloader will update the partition size. Failure to update the bootloader will likely cause a UF2 load to fail for 10.0.0-alpha.8 and later: you will remain in the bootloader, with the BOOT drive showing.
  • This bootloader update is only needed now for ESP32-S3 with 4MB flash boards; other ESP32-S3 boards are fine. Later this change will be made for 4MB ESP32-S2 boards. This bootloader update is compatible with CircuitPython 9.1.0 and later.
  • If you are loading CircuitPython using a .bin file instead of a UF2, the partition table is included in the .bin, and you don't need to do anything.
• synthio.BlockBiquad has been renamed to synthio.Biquad. The old deprecatedsynthio.Biquad has been removed, as well as synthio.Synthesizer.low_pass_filter, synthio.Synthesizer.high_pass_filter, and synthio.Synthesizer.band_pass_filter. Coefficients from biquad_filter_state have been moved into synthio_biquad (biquad_filter_state is still used for input and output state).
• The displayio bindings deprecated in 9.x.x have been removed:
  • busdisplay.BusDisplay replaces displayio.Display.
  • fourwire.FourWire replaces displayio.Fourwire.
  • epaperdisplay.EPaperDisplay replaces displayio.EPaperDisplay.
  • i2cdisplaybus.I2CDisplayBus replaces displayio.I2CDisplay.
• os.uname().sysname and os.uname().nodename now are set to MICROPY_HW_MCU_NAME uniformly across all ports.
• watchdog.WatchDogTimer.deinit() is removed.
• _asyncio removed push_head, push_sorted, pop_head. Ensure you are using the latest version of the asyncio CircuitPython library.
• sys.print_exception() is removed. Use traceback.print_exception() instead. The exception object returned by sys.exc_info() is now a traceback module compatible object.

Download from circuitpython.org

Firmware downloads are available from the downloads page on circuitpython.org. The site makes it easy to select the correct file and language for your board.

Installation

To install follow the instructions in the Welcome to CircuitPython! guide. To install the latest libraries, see this page in that guide.

Try code.circuitpython.org or the latest version of the Mu editor for creating and editing your CircuitPython programs and for easy access to the CircuitPython serial connection (the REPL).

Documentation

Documentation is available in readthedocs.io.

Port status

CircuitPython has a number of "ports" that are the core implementations for different microcontroller families. Stability varies on a per-port basis. As of this release, these ports are consider stable (but see Known Issues below):

• atmel-samd: Microchip SAMD21, SAMx5x
• cxd56: Sony Spresense
• espressif: Espressif ESP32, ESP32-S2, ESP32-S3, ESP32-C2, ESP32-C3, ESP32-C6
• nordic: Nordic nRF52840, nRF52833
• raspberrypi: Raspberry Pi RP2040, RP2350
• stm: ST STM32F4 chip family

These ports are considered alpha and will have bugs and missing functionality:

• analog: Analog Devices MAX32690
• broadcom: Raspberry Pi boards such as RPi 4, RPi Zero 2W
• espressif: ESP32-P4, ESP32-H2
• litex: fomu
• mimxrt10xx: NXP i.MX RT10xxx
• renode: hardware simulator
• silabs: Silicon Labs MG24 family
• stm: ST non-STM32F4 chip families
• zephyr: multiplatform RTOS: testing with Nordic nRF5340 and nRF54L15, Renesas RA6M5, ST STM32H7

Changes

Fixes and enhancements

• Fix parsing complex numbers with negative real part. #10463. Thanks @ComplexSymbol and @jepler.
• Fix errors caused by SD automount where there is no SD card. #10457. Thanks @dhalbert.
• Add Terminal.cursor_x and .cursor_y. #10442. Thanks @FoamyGuy.
• Merge MicroPython v1.25.0 into CircuitPython. #10437. Thanks @dhalbert.

Port and board-specific changes

Analog Devices

Broadcom

Espressif

• Expand firmware partition on ESP32-S3 boards, merging with OTA update partition. #10458. Thanks @dhalbert.

i.MX

Nordic

renode

RP2

• Add picodvi.Framebuffer.color_depth. #10431. Thanks @FoamyGuy.

SAMx

SiLabs

Spresense

STM

Zephyr

Individual boards

• LILYGO T-Dongle S3: Fix build: board has no PSRAM. #10462. Thanks @dhalbert.

Documentation changes

• Improve lvfontio documentation. #10452. Thanks @FoamyGuy.

Build and infrastructure changes

• Revert latex docs build workaround after weblate web traffic change. #10435. Thanks @FoamyGuy.

Translation additions and improvements

• Thanks for translations:
  • @CrackXT (multiple languages, especially German)
  • @dhalbert (Indonesian, Italian, Turkish)

New boards

Known issues

• See https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/issues for other issues, including issues still to be addressed for:
  • 10.0.0
  • 10.0.x
  • 10.x.x
  • 11.0.0
  • long term
• Native-code .mpy files are not working. This capability is currently enabled only on the winterbloom_sol board.

Thanks

Thank you to all who used, tested, and contributed toward this release, including the contributors above, and many others on GitHub and Discord. Join us on the Discord chat to collaborate.