OT: Anyone played with a BBC micro:bit?

[T i m]

Hi all,

My micro:bit arrived on Friday and I've had a *very* quick play with it.

I'd have to say I've not found it very intuitive, unlike the Arduino's but maybe that is all part of the point (learning)?

Like, with the Arduino micro controller boards you download and install the IDE (easy on Windows, classically frustrating on Linux, not tried it on OSX yet), configure the Arduino model and port, choose one of the myriad of example sketches that are built into the IDE, compile and upload load them (all via easy to find / use buttons in the IDE). The Arduino then restarts and does what the new code tells it to.

On plugging the microbit into this XP machine it loads the drivers, opens a storage device and on there is a link to the BBC site and potentially the programming tools.

However, all I want to do is test the tool-path (I think they call it) and that means getting an existing 'program' and putting it on the device.

So, anyone care to take me though the steps please or point me to a real idiots guide (that takes no more than 30 seconds or my attention will fail) that would allow me to send something to the device and check that it works?

Secondly, all the programming tools seem to be web based and I think I'd prefer something stand alone? (Although I might be confused between something web baaed and something browser / Javascript based).

I don't have a particular use for the micro:bit, it was just general interest and seeing what sort of kit our kids have been given to try to encourage them to 'code'. I am also less interested in the actual coding rather than making it do something I like or want (and happy to use / modify some existing code to do that) but will give the coding a go if it is easy / logical enough (to me, not anyone else). ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[Tim Watts]

"tool-chain" is the more usual name.

But everyone would know what your description meant :)

Sadly, that I cannot help with - only done AVRs (the core of the arduino) and Pi's

[T i m]

Ah yes.

Yes, but some would be less 'gentle' with the correction. ;-)

Ok and thanks for the thought.

Cheers, T i m

[Andy Burns]

Have you used Atmel Studio7 with any FLIP compatible devices?

I bought a little xmega128A3U board, powers and communicates via USB. If I press the FLIP button while powering on or resetting, I get the PnP bing-bong indicating it's in firmware upload mode, the standalone FLIP app will read parameters or contents from the board, so far so good.

I've built a little app and would expect Studio7 to download the .hex to the board via its built-in FLIP interface, but it shows no sign of being interested in doing that.

I'm wondering if I've got libusb0 (or the wrong fork of libusb0) acting as the driver when I should have an Atmel driver, or a Jungo driver or something else loaded, all feels a bit messy ...

[Brian Gaff]

Things were never this complicated in the home computer days of the Spectrum and bbc machines you know. Even I could write basic. Brian

[Adam Aglionby]

Computer club when I was at school had a HP , er, desktop, that had a alpha numeric LED display and program storage via dinky punch card reader on top.

But that was only for the chosen few, us apprentice nerds had to fill in Fortran coding sheets which would go to Jordanhill in Glasgow for processing and arrive back the next week with a sheet of tractor feed with `error line 10` printed on it.

Kind of interested in the Micro Bit but dioscouraged by what appears ro be the modern equivalent of coding sheets ;-)

[T i m]

Thinking outside the bit box I found some personal blog type sites that offered the pre-complied .hex files that I was able to simply dump and run on the micro:bit.

Once I knew that bit worked I took a basic 'shake and display a number' program to modded it to slowly count down from 9 to 1 and then flash the LEDs between displaying an X and a O (the later bit I did with a loop).

So, at least I know it works so it would just be a matter of playing further. ;-)

Cheers, T i m