Fabulous Flying Machine

A MicroPython IDE. Tested on following devices:

• ESP8266
• ESP32
• Micro:bit
• Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect (OpenMV MicroPython)

I draw much of the inspiration for this project from Processing and Mu Editor.

Before starting

Make sure you have nvm or another Node Version Manager on your system. To build on M1 you will need Node 14.18.2 and Electron ^8.0 (tested on 8.5.5). The package.json is already setup to install requirements and run a post-install to take care of the correct version of Electron

Running from source

1. npm install
2. npm run dev

Building Electron App (Mac x64)

1. nvm install 14
2. nvm use 14
3. npm install
4. npm run build

Where is what?

UI

This is the interface source code. It follows the file structure:

ui/
  components/
  libs/
  store/
  index.html
  main.js
  main.css

Components are all UI elements and arrangements of elements. I'm using lit-html library for html templates and (smart) rendering.

Even though it has all dependencies listed on the package.json file, they are commited as part of the source code under the folder libs.

Store files are event handlers that change the state and/or talk with the serialBus.

Electron back end

Electron backend consist in two files, index.js and preload.js.

• index.js: Creates Electron app window and core Electron properties.
• preload.js: Has access to the window object that will be available to the renderer process. This file is responsible for creating the serialBus and handling the events executing the correct serial functions.
• micropython.js: Interface between javascript and MicroPython's REPL via serial connection. This file is very much based on WebREPL client

Serial Bus

The front end will be able to communicate with the hardware serial over this nodejs EventEmitter instance that should live at window.serialBus.

The events the front end can emit are:

• list-ports: Request the list of available serial ports.
• connect: Connect to serial port. Called with a string argument port.
• disconnect: Close current connection.
• run: Enters RAW REPL mode, paste content, execute and leaves RAW REPL mode. Called with a string argument code.
• stop: Sends an interrupt to the board (ctrl c or \r\x03).
• reset: Resets board (ctrl d or \r\x04).
• write: Writes to serial. Called with a string argument command.

The events the back end emits are:

• connected: When connected to serial port
• disconnected: When disconnected to serial port
• running: When code is running
• stopped: When code is stopped
• data: When received data from serial
• ports: List all available serial ports. Called with array of serial ports.

Screenshots

Disconnected:

Choosing a serial port to connect:

Connected:

Running code:

Listing, loading and removing files from MicroPython's file system:

Saving the current editor content as a file in MicroPython's file system: