CircuitPython and MagTag

MagTag is a new board from Adafruit based on the ESP286 and with an ePaper display, switches and NeoPixel.

Let start to see how to work on this board.

First operations

The board is based on Circuit-Python and it arrives with a basic demo code on it, just displaying the Magtag logo with few visual effects.
Connecting the board "as is" to a PC via USB, nothing is happening.

To load something in it is necessary to press twice the reset button putting the board in bootload mode while the board is connected via USB to a computer (note, this article describes Linux Ubuntu 18.04 as development system).

A popup will appear on the computer indicating a new device is connected.
Clicking OK will open the File manager showing the content of the Magtag memory.

Note !
At the time of the writing Mu-Editor is NOT YET SUPPORTING boards based on the ESp286, so it can not be used.
Instead is necessary to use the File manager to manually copy library and code in it and a serial terminal to run the code/debug the code.

Loading something

To test the board there are some projects out there to try.

Troubleshooting

Sometime things just get screwed up.

File system become read-only

If the file system become read only the only thing to do is to erase everything.

• access the serial console 
  screen /dev/ttyACM0
• enter REPL
• >>> import storage
• >>> storage.erase_filesystem()

This will leave the board as just initialized with Circuit-Python.
Everything in it will be erased.

References

• Adafruit - Initialization board
• Circuit-Python troubleshooting