PyPortal Titano

Playing with the Adafruit PyPortal Titano hardware.

The PyPortal Titano ... is our easy-to-use IoT device that allows you to create all the things for the “Internet of Things” in minutes. Make custom touch screen interface GUIs, all open-source, and Python-powered using tinyJSON / APIs to get news, stock, weather, cat photos, and more...

Local setup

Assumes a Windows host machine environment.

This setup is a little funky, but it allows for staying in VS Code while having full access to the device. An alternate approach of cloning the repo directly into the device works, but editing and other file operations are slow.

In VS Code, ensure the following extensions are installed:

• CircuitPython.
• Trigger Task on Save.
• Python, Pylance, Black, Flake8 etc. as needed

Clone the repository to a location other than the device CIRCUITPY directory:

git clone https://github.com/thekaveman/pyportal-titano.git

Create a settings file from the sample:

cp settings.sample.toml settings.toml

Open the repository in VS Code:

cd pyportal-titano
code .

Plug the device into a USB port on the host machine, the CIRCUITPY directory should open in Explorer. Note the drive letter, and update args in .vscode/tasks.json as needed.

In the new settings file, edit WIFI_SSID and WIFI_PASSWORD to a local AP for Internet access.

If the RELOAD setting is True, the device automatically reloads and reruns main.py when it detects file changes.

How this works

Keeping the repository files in a separate directory from the device CIRCUITPY directory makes git and other file operations work as expected during development time.

• device driver code (boot.py, main.py) can read application code from /app like a normal Python package
• the CircuitPython extension keeps the on-device CircuitPython version updated
• the CircuitPython extension provides device-specific Pylance bindings to CircuitPython for the VS Code experience
• the CircuitPython extension provides a serial monitor to interact with device input/output in VS Code's terminal pane
• CircuitPython as of 8.x uses settings.toml to store config

The Trigger Task on Save extension does exactly what it says on the box, building on VS Code's task.json framework. The sync task runs the batch script .vscode/sync.cmd on saves to *.py or *.toml files, copying source code onto the device.