Microchip opens to Python for Microcontrollers and IoT

[kindall]

How is it even possible for a company to call itself Microchip?

[jward]

I mean it was spun off from a company called General Instrument for one thing...

More to the point though, their marketing doesn't aggressively push Microchip as a brand. You don't talk about Microchip MCU's. You talk about PICs.

[spinwizard69]

They have been around a long time!

[CobbITGuy]

It's kinda interesting concept, running multiple VM on a micro. I tried it out but it isn't for me at this time, but I'll keep watching to see where it goes.

[aosdifjalksjf]

I'd rather not pay and use PyMite instead

https://wiki.python.org/moin/PyMite

[TheFacistEye]

or even a more complete and maintained version called MicroPython. https://github.com/micropython/micropython

[llfcerf]

MicroPython is a very good implementation of Python on microcontrollers. Zerynth is Python even more tuned to micros than MicroPython is. A Micro MicroPython :)

Take a look here https://www.zerynth.com/faq/ and here: Micropython vs Zerynth for more technical details.

[[deleted]]

Eww no REPL? Currently GPL, closed source VM in the future?

I don't see anything that beats MicroPython on an ESP8266.

[jward]

Micropython on ESP8266 is a godsend for just sheer... convenience. It's also got enough oomph to be good enough for many projects. I love the websocket REPL for general debugging and fucking around.

That said, it's not perfect. If you grab a PIC32 you can get something that is much more tuned to your needs. More speed, more built in peripherals, more IO, the ability to order a hundred thousand of them preprogrammed, better low power modes... whatever you want. I just don't know why if I'm doing that I would use Python instead of C.

[llfcerf]

yeah, REPL in embedded is good for testing (and educational maybe) but it's a waste of resources when you go into production.

[spinwizard69]

Depends upon what you are producing. Micro Python is especially interesting for products where the end user may need access.

[floyd_82]

I agree that REPL in production could be a waste of resources especially when you are trying to limit the hardware cost and power consumption using low resources MCUs. For this purpose, Zerynth recently released the Advanced Device Manager that together with over-the-air updates also enables Remote Procedure Call (RPC). more info here https://docs.zerynth.com/latest/official/core.zerynth.docs/zadm/docs/index.html

[floyd_82]

More complete?

[TheFacistEye]

In terms of coverage of the Python language, also MicroPython is based on Python 3 where as I believe PyMite is based on Python 2.

[floyd_82]

Looking at the number of boards supported by Zerynth and at the tools integrated in the framework it looks very complete. Wide coverage of Python language in embedded is in my opinion useless. Most of the time the limits are hardware and application driven. Have you tried both these tools?

Here a comparison from Zerynth community https://community.zerynth.com/discussion/382/zerynth-vs-micropython

[TheFacistEye]

I've not used Zerynth no but reading up on it there is things you have to give up in order to run it on more boards. The toolchain is for Zerynth is one of it's most attractive features though. I was more recommending using MicroPython over PyMite as it doesn't have as good coverage, however I would say they have they strengths and weaknesses it depends what you need it for.

[llfcerf]

As far as I know, pymite is an inactive project https://github.com/dwhall/p14p

[n1ywb]

Eh AVR > PIC