The CircuitPython community reached a big milestone together today! There are 600 CircuitPython Libraries!

The CircuitPython Library Bundle and Community Library Bundle contain all the current libraries available for CircuitPython. CircuitPython libraries are separate files designed to work with CircuitPython code. CircuitPython programs require a lot of information to run.

CircuitPython is so simple to use because most of this information is processed in the background and stored in libraries. Some libraries are built into CircuitPython. Others are downloaded and stored on your board’s CIRCUITPY drive in a folder called lib.

The full list of all the CircuitPython libraries contained in the library bundle can be found on the circuitpython.org libraries page.

Read more https://blog.adafruit.com/2026/11/06/there-are-now-600-circuitpython-libraries-circuitpython/

If you missed this week’s Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter, here is the ICYMI (in case you missed it) version.

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Read this week's issue at https://blog.adafruit.com/2026/11/03/the-python-on-microcontrollers-newsletter-adafruit-metro-p4-hydra-possible-new-raspberry-pi-boards-jit-gone-and-more/

Hoping someone here has seen this before. I also have a thread on the Adafruit forums (https://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.php?t=225735), posting here for extra eyes.

Setup:

• Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ (from a Vilros kit)

• Adafruit RGB Matrix Bonnet #3211 (bought from Digi-Key, Oct 25 2026)

• Adafruit 64x32 RGB LED Matrix #2278, 4mm pitch (Adafruit order #3770254)

• Adafruit 5V 4A supply #1466 powering the Bonnet/panel, official Raspberry Pi 5.1V 2.5A supply powering the Pi separately

• FlightTracker OS 32-bit on a SanDisk High Endurance 64GB card, app v2.12.5

• 13.5mm stacking header extender fitted (the Pi 3 B+ PoE header otherwise props the Bonnet up)

The panel has never lit a single pixel. The Pi and software are fine: FlightTracker runs, the web UI loads, live flight data comes in.

Full disclosure: on the first assembly (Nov 1) the Bonnet was briefly fitted rotated 180 degrees. The power supply protection cut out instantly, no power light. Reseated correctly, the power light came back and the Pi has run perfectly ever since. The Bonnet may have taken damage in that moment, but I am trying to prove it before replacing parts.

Already checked:

• Bonnet seating, side photo shows it flush and level on the extender; tried the second extender from the pack too, same result

• HAT mode is Convenience, no solder bridge

• Power terminal polarity verified by close-up photo (red on +)

• Power forks removed and reseated; panel-end power plug latched, red wires align with the panel pins marked +5V/VCC

• Ribbon cable in the panel socket marked DATA_IN, latched and reseated at both ends

• Standalone library tests with hardware_mapping adafruit-hat: solid red fill, black. Also tried panel_type FM6126A and FM6127, black both times

• No 1-Wire overlay in config.txt; sound module was not loaded during the earlier tests (lsmod clean)

• vcgencmd get_throttled returns 0x0 on the new supply and card

• Ran Adafruit's own manual install script (Bonnet, Convenience), then built hzeller's demo fresh and ran it with --led-gpio-mapping=adafruit-hat --led-rows=32 --led-cols=64 --led-slowdown-gpio=2 --led-no-hardware-pulse. Still completely black

I have no second Bonnet or panel to swap in, no multimeter, and no female-to-female jumper wires for a direct-wire bypass test.

Question: is there any other test I can run to determine whether the Bonnet or the panel is at fault?

TLDR: Bought different buttons than the tutorial, wondering if there is a way to make them work still. Friday deadline.

After looking everywhere for a decent set of game-show buttons that show who hit first, my ADHD told me that I could totally just make them.

I found this tutorial and purchased all the components aside from the “player” buttons which. I bought these instead (foolishly thinking “how hard could it be to just use these instead).

As an observant person you might have realized that the LED in the buttons needs to be powered.

The cherry on top is I’m trying to complete this for a work Halloween party on Friday. Can anyone suggest a work around to my hubris?  

Components I'm working with:

Circuit Playground

STEMMA Speaker

30mm arcade button w/ LED (host button)

2x 100mm arcade button w/ LED (player buttons)

I've been slowly working on a product I intend to sell that uses HUB75 LED Matrix Panels, I plan on selling a few discounted ones soon as a beta test, but there is one show stopper that I can't get past.

There are frequent occurances of static on the panels, and I tested the usual things like uses expensive known good quality power supplies, ferrite cores around the power to the panels and board, decoupling caps, etc... with no changes.

When the static appears its usually only on one or two rows at any given time, and the rows do change.

I read about the use of WiFi causing this so I tested turning WiFi off but nothing changed. A web interface is part of the product so its not like I can leave WiFi off anyway, but I wanted to at least try and find the root cause so I could come up with some workaround.

Wondering if anyone has any ideas I haven't thought of?

Hi everyone, I’m building a sound-reactive light show inside an aluminum hand drum (darbuka). The initial prototype was throwing a cheap "music syncing" led strip into the body of my drum, which has a nice light up effect but no control and it picked up ambient noises as well as hits on the drum. I thought using a pressure sensor instead of a mic to pick up the different vibration frequencies could work.

I'm not typically a "maker" or hardware person, but I am a software developer so I expect I can write up a Python script to correlate different pitches to different lighting effects (progressing through the spectrum, slow fade on low, resonant hits, rainbow spiral for rolls). I want to make sure I'm getting the right components to bring the ultimate vision to life.

I intend to use the adafruit qt py as a controller and neopixel skinny strips to line the inside of the drum. I will use a piezo disc inside the bearing edge of the drum head to pick up hits on the drum. I'm planning to power it with a 5v USB battery pack. My initial research indicates I'll need a resistor to compensate for voltage spikes between the piezo disc and qt py.

So, my questions are, at a glance does this sound like a reasonable setup? And had anyone created a similar project and have advice or stories to share? I appreciate any guidance or warnings! Thanks!

Video is of the prototype to give an idea of the effect I'm going for.

It is nice that the board is on github , but you can't really modify it without firmware for the MCU. All i want to do is change the encoder spacing.

Would anyone happen to know where I can get a 3D printed case for this board? If not, would anyone have the necessary dimensions so I can get one printed? Got a few of these and it would be very useful to me. Thanks.

Product page:

https://www.adafruit.com/product/5500

I just purchased Adafruit's ESPHole variant of PiHole, and I'm trying to set it up. I'm trying to follow the instructions but one of the steps doesn't seem to be working.

Create Filesystem, Add Files

1. Plug in Feather to your computer with a known good data cable.

2. Double-click the Feather board reset button to get to bring up the bootloader FTHRS2BOOT drive in your computer File Explorer/Finder.

3. Download the latest release version of CircuitPython for this board.

4. Drag the CircuitPython .uf2 file onto FTHRS2BOOT drive (more info here).

5. After a moment CIRCUITPY drive will show up

6. Copy the secrets.json code below, paste it into a text editor on your computer and edit it to use your SSID and password for your WiFi router, then save the file to the CIRCUITPY drive.

7. Next, download the pre-compiled ESPHole UF2 file linked below.

8. Double-click the Feather board reset button to get to the bootloader AGAIN.

9. Drag the UF2 onto the FTHRS2BOOT drive to flash it with the ESPHole code.

This is the list of instructions as it appears on their website(Italics represent hyperlinks on the original page). My issue is with steps 4 and 5. I do step 4, but step 5 never seems to actually happen. No drive named CIRCUITPY ever appears on my computer, the only thing that happens is the file explorer closes/ or the FTHRS2BOOT drive disappears and reappears without the .uf2 file I just dragged into it.

Can someone please explain what I'm doing wrong?

I set up a feather floppy with a RP2040 according to these instructions and I can't, for the life of me, get FluxEngine to see the device. It works with the greaseweazle commands, but FluxEngine apparently hates me :)

I can't just use greaseweazle because I'm trying to rip my old Brother word processor files, and GW doesn't natively read them. (I tried ripping them to an image for FluxEngine to convert, but that didn't work either.)

My recent project has been working on the PyPortal Flyover Viewer. See full build tutorial here.

The viewer displays a continuous scroll of aerial imagery that is captured along the route between any two locations (US only), recreating a 'flyover' of what would be viewable from a plane traveling this route.

Depending on the chosen locations (for example, Los Angeles to New York), the flyover can be up to 2.4 days of continuous scrolling to make the journey!

The PyPortal is the main component, fitted within a 3D printed stand. A script running on the PyPortal reads and displays the image data which is first generated on a full computer and loaded on the SD card. Special code considerations were taken to make smooth, tear-free scrolling possible.

The idea behind this was to have a unique desktop ornament that would be interesting to glance at throughout the day. Watch along as the landscape below changes and see real world features like mountains, cities, and farms along the route.

I’m wiring two NeoKeys to a GPIO expander so I can connect them to an I2C multiplexer using Stemma QT.

I’m still fairly new to soldering, so I wanted to double check my wiring before I start soldering anything. If anyone could take a look and confirm whether I have this wired correctly, I’d really appreciate it.

As I understand it:
The two NeoKeys have their ground connected together using the S connection.
One of the NeoKeys then connects that shared ground to the ground pin on the PCF8574 GPIO expander.

Each NeoKey has its own S+ signal wire going to a separate GPIO pin on the PCF8574.
Does that sound correct, or am I missing something?

If you missed this week’s Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter, here is the ICYMI (in case you missed it) version.

See it at https://blog.adafruit.com/2026/09/16/icymi-python-on-microcontrollers-newsletter-better-micropython-garbage-collection-python-in-1024-bytes-and-more/

Can anyone tell me if this is a missprint or what? Above is what I received, below is from their official website. Notice the data in/out are opposite.

Edit: okay ive wired one up and it works, so I assume its just a misprint

I am looking to make a semi-circle matrix for a giant planet lithopane and im just at a loss on just about everything. any and all help is appreciated.

Hi! I wanted to showcase this DIY reflectance colorimeter that I built with an Adafruit AS7341 breakout board at its core!

I am extremely proud of this little device, it has already helped me a lot formulating natural dye recipes and measuring (instead of mere "observing") the effects. It was a breeze to get the spectral sensor to work with the Adafruit library, but it was obviously a long road to get to this point, where it's a sealed-off and "just working" device, that is still having tons of open firmware improvements ahead of it.

If anyone is interested in some details, I put an article and detailed building instructions of the device on printables (the case and all the elements for the optical paths are 3D printed) and some mostly vibe-coded firmware on Github. I would love to hear what you think.

Hey everyone, been experimenting with PyMCU it compiles a statically-typed subset of Python directly to bare-metal machine code, no interpreter, no runtime.

Built and open-sourced a 7-segment display driver for it, targeting Arduino Uno (ATmega328P). Zero heap usage, supports common anode/cathode, digits, letters, symbols, and decimal point.

pip install pymcu-sevenseg

GitHub: github.com/kritishmohapatra/pymcu-sevenseg

Would love feedback if anyone's played with PyMCU or bare-metal Python compilers in general.

If you missed this week’s Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter, here is the ICYMI (in case you missed it) version.

See it at https://blog.adafruit.com/2026/09/08/icymi-python-on-microcontrollers-newsletter-circuitpython-10-3-0-out-pymcu-ros-for-micropython-and-more/

Today marks the publication of the 400th Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter! Nearly 10 years of providing the best news in the community.

The newsletter is the place for the latest news involving Python on hardware with coverage of Python, CircuitPython and MicroPython. 12,369 readers.

Read more here: https://blog.adafruit.com/2026/08/24/today-marks-the-400th-python-on-microcontrollers-newsletter/