The CircuitPython Show

Episode 60 - Michael "T-Rex" Kadie

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Michael "T-Rex" Kadie joins the show and discusses the T-Rex Talk family of assistive devices built with CircuitPython.

Listen to the Show

Show Notes

1:25 Michael's start with computers

1:56 How Michael started building communication devices in the 90s

4:46 The T-Rex Talk 3.0

8:55 Using AI to help

9:58 Using the Fruit Jam as an assistive device

13:27 The training game

13:56 The Sip-N-Puff

16:38 The CircuitPython reading light

17:07 Jay Leno's antique electric car - with CircuitPython

21:21 Wrap-up

Episode 59 - Tom Fox

Mon, 04 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Tom Fox joins the show and shares his creation, the SPOKE board.

Listen to the Show

Show Notes

00:00 Intro

00:36 Tom's start with computers and electronics

1:25 Discovering CircuitPython

2:31 The SPOKE board

4:11 Whom is the SPOKE for?

5:38 The SPOKE Mini

7:25 What students have made with the SPOKE

9:15 What were the challenges bringing the SPOKE to life?

10:33 The SPOKE online editor

13:53 What's next for SPOKE?

14:59 Where to learn more?

15:26 How much does the SPOKE cost?

15:38 Which board?

16:22 Wrap-up

Episode 58 - Developing for the Fruit Jam

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Paul is joined by three former guests: Tim Cocks, Dan Cogliano, and Cooper Dalrymple who share their experience developing apps, games, and screensavers for the Adafruit Fruit Jam and Fruit Jam OS.

Listen to the Show

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome

00:38 FruitJamOS

3:44 Cooper's excitement for the Fruit Jam

7:24 Dan's interest in the Fruit Jam

8:52 Dan's screensavers for the Fruit Jam

10:48 Coding for the Fruit Jam

12:20 The Fruit Jam app library

18:02 GPIO and expansion

19:44 Display support

24:07 Challenges when developing for the Fruit Jam

31:01 Advice for creating games or apps for the Fruit Jam

36:48 Wrap-up

Episode 57 - Physical Computing - Interactive Art, Robotics, & Tech for Good

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Paul is joined by Abby Bergman and Esha Patel who both recently completed the Physical Computing - Interactive Art, Robotics, & Tech for Good course taught by Professor John Gallaugher at Boston College.

Listen to the Show

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome

00:56 Professor Gallaugher's Physical Computing course

1:42 Abby's motivation for taking the class

2:38 Esha's motivation for taking the class

3:32 Surprises discovered during the course

5:20 Esha's Interactive Hopscotch project

7:38 Abby's Very Hungry Caterpillar (assistive tech with RFID and button input)

10:29 Soldering challenges encountered

11:36 The Festival of Lights event

12:26 Advice for prospective students

14:29 Wrap-up

Episode 56 - John Park

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

John Park joins the show and shares how he started hosting shows, his pre-show preparation, some of his favorite memories and projects, and more.

Listen to the Show

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome

00:36 JP's start with computers and electronics

3:59 MAKE: Television

10:47 Preparing for a show

16:54 Favorite CircuitPython memories

20:09 Favorite projects over the years

25:55 Favorite synthesizer

29:20 Which board?

30:36 Wrap-up

Episode 55 - The Open Pressure Sensor Device

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

An open source medical device that helps mastectomy patients, that runs CircuitPython. Guests Michelle Hui and Reitwiec Shandilya, both Cornell Tech master's students, join the show.

Listen to the Show

Show Notes

00:00 Intro

00:46 The Open Pressure Sensor Device

2:05 Overcoming the problem gaps

2:58 Partnering with clinicians

5:26 The hardware and firmware

8:13 Reverse engineering the proprietary device

13:48 The Open Source Hardware Association

20:09 What's next for OpenPSD?

21:42 Wrap-up

Episode 54 - Sean Carolan

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Sean shares how he used CoPilot with Claude Opus to create a Pac-Man clone in CircuitPython in just one day.

Listen to the Show

Show Notes

00:00 Intro

00:32 Sean's start with computers

1:34 Choosing Pac-Man

2:30 Seeed Wio Terminal

4:04 Coding Pac-Man in CircuitPython

5:17 The game's art assets

6:51 Re-creating the sounds of Pac-Man

8:29 Pac-Man on the Fruit Jam

9:51 What worked well when using Claude Opus for AI

12:50 The challenges in using AI

14:14 Recommendations for someone just starting to use AI to code

16:38 Learn more about Sean

17:01 Which board?

18:36 Wrap-up

Episode 53 - John Ellis

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Paul welcomes John Ellis to the show. John shares some of his MacroPad projects, TallyCircuitPy, and more.

Listen to the Show

Show Notes

00:00 Intro

1:18 John's start with computers

5:13 John's handle, DeckerEgo

6:28 MacroPad Hotkeys II

8:59 Sleeping the Macropad screen

10:36 MacroPad 4 Chord MIDI

12:47 TallyCircuitPy and TallyOBS

15:12 CircuitPython's role in revitalizing legacy hardware

17:20 Where to learn more: deckerego.net

18:15 Which board?

19:53 Wrap-up

Episode 52 - Dan Cogliano

Mon, 08 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Dan Cogliano joins Paul and they discuss Dan's work with the Z Machine, which allows you to play Zork and other text adventure games.

Listen to the Show

Show Notes

00:30 Dan's start with computers

3:05 The EZ Make Oven

4:53 The Z-Machine

7:59 Challenges in creating the CP Z Machine

9:08 The game of Zork

11:00 CP Z Machine Learn Guide

11:15 Dan's next game

12:29 Challenges working with graphics

13:37 Where to learn more about Dan

14:27 Which board?

15:13 Wrap-up

Episode 51 - River Wang

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

River was a STEAM teacher before becoming a full time software developer 3 years ago. He created the CircuitPython Online IDE.

Listen to the Show

Show Notes

00:00 Intro

00:29 River's start with computers and electronics

3:42 River's start with Python

4:31 Teaching

5:42 Discovering CircuitPython

9:18 Creating the CircuitPython Online IDE

13:04 How the CircuitPython Online IDE works

14:28 The challenges in building the CircuitPython Online IDE

19:02 How the CircuitPython Online IDE helps educators

20:34 Self-hosting the CircuitPython Online IDE

20:34 CircuitPython Online IDE's key features

23:13 What's next for the CircuitPython Online IDE

24:41 How to support the CircuitPython Online IDE

25:05 Where to learn more

25:23 Which board?

Episode 50 - John Romkey

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

John Romkey joins the show and shares his CircuitPython tool, circremote, what it does, how it works, how he used Cursor and Claude to help write it, and more.

Listen to the Show

Show Notes

00:00 Intro

00:56 John's start with computers and electronics

6:25 circremote

9:21 circremote clean and emacs support

12:22 circremote's sensor support and AI

14:23 Cursor with VS Code and Claude

19:27 Sensor and device support in circremote

21:32 Community sensor work

26:16 Which board?

Episode 49 - Sam Blenny

Mon, 27 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Sam Blenny joins the show and shares his work with the Fruit Jam, including USB Host, a Color Checker, a Gamepad tester, and more.

Listen to the Show

Show Notes

00:00 Intro

00:24 Sam's start with computers and electronics

5:34 Discovering CircuitPython - Pumpkins vs Skeletons game

7:06 Working with the Fruit Jam and the Gamepad tester

9:24 USB Host MIDI Tester

11:12 The Fruit Jam Color Checker

13:49 USB Host - USB Host Improvement Umbrella Issue, Improve USB Host device error handling pull request, USB Host buffers allocated in internal RAM issue

16:42 Which board?

Episode 48 - Noe Ruiz

Mon, 13 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Noe Ruiz joins the show and shares how he started learning design and 3D modeling, creating the Layer by Layer tutorials, designing CAD parts, and more.

Listen to the Show

Show Notes

00:00 Intro

00:19 Getting started with computers and electronics

1:38 Learning design

4:38 Snap-fit enclosures

6:36 3D Hangouts (including live NYC episode and Episode 1)

8:28 Adafruit CAD Parts

12:05 Layer by Layer

13:35 Which board?

Episode 47 - John Fletcher

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

John shares how he ported CircuitPython to web assembly, how it works, and how using Claude Code helped.

Listen to the Show

Show Notes

00:00 Intro

00:23 John's start with computers

4:07 John's Discord nickname

5:05 CircuitPython and web assembly

6:43 How CircuitPython works in the browser

7:46 Advantages to using CircuitPython in the browser

9:25 Windows Subsystem for Linux

10:25 Using Claude Code

10:49 Managing the prompts

12:48 How to test CircuitPython in the browser

13:33 Where to learn more

Episode 46 - Justin Myers

Mon, 19 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Justin shares how he created the new connectionmanager library for networking in CircuitPython.

Listen to the Show

Show Notes

00:00 Intro

00:21 Justin's start with computers

1:11 Discovering electronics

2:15 Discovering CircuitPython

3:02 ConnectionManager

4:55 How does connectionmanager work?

7:10 What were the challenges in creating connectionmanager?

8:35 Software testing framework

11:21 Which board?

13:25 Wrap-up

Episode 45 - Cooper Dalrymple

Mon, 05 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Cooper Dalrymple, who recently was a guest on the Audio Effects Panel Discussion, joins the show.

Listen to the Show

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome

00:26 Cooper's start with computers and electronics

1:31 Discovering CircuitPython

5:57 Cooper's music background

8:18 Designing hardware

13:26 Advantages between CircuitPython and Arduino

19:03 What's next in audio effects?

21:41 Learn more about Cooper

23:02 Which board?

24:04 Wrap-up

Episode 44 - Designing Games for CircuitPython with Tim "foamyguy" Cocks

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Tim Cocks, better known as foamyguy in the Adafruit community, shares his experiences in designing games for CircuitPython.

Listen to the Show

Show Notes

00:00 Intro

00:16 Tim's start with computers

1:48 Discovering CircuitPython

8:16 Challenges designing games for microcontrollers

13:16 1D Chomper

15:44 Blinka Says

18:58 Karel the Robot

23:24 Which microcontroller?

25:42 Wrap-up

Episode 43 - Audio Effects Panel Discussion

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Cooper Dalrymple, Jeff Epler, Mark Komus, and Tod Kurt join the show to discuss the new audio effects available in CircuitPython.

Listen to the Show

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome

00:19 Mark's inspiration for adding audio effects

1:46 Mark's drum gist

4:23 The new audio effects available in CircuitPython

8:02 LFOs

10:30 Synthio vs Audio Effects

11:36 MP3 Bass and Treble Control

12:48 The RP2350

17:34 RP2350 vs RP2040

18:11 Audio on Espressif

19:50 Guitar pedals

26:59 Future projects

29:59 CircuitPython Karaoke

30:42 CircuitPython Audio Effects Tricks

32:38 Wrap-up

Episode 42 - Project Collaboration with Liz Clark and Noe Ruiz

Mon, 24 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Liz Clark and Noe Ruiz join the show and share how they collaborate on projects, where they get inspiration, and share some of their favorite projects.

Listen to the Show

Show Notes

00:00 Intro

00:21 Project inspirations

4:17 Iterating on a project

6:09 Working together to improve a project

8:01 Noe's favorite project - Adabot

9:41 Liz's favorite project - the Midi Fighter

11:00 The MX Guitar

15:12 The CircuitPython Motorized Camera Slider

17:09 The Jack-o-lantern PropMaker

19:24 The NFC Raspberry Pi Media Player

24:02 The RP2350 Audio Reactive Video Synth

29:18 Wrap-up

Episode 41 - Writing a CircuitPython Library for the Community Bundle

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Jan Goolsbey and Tod Kurt return to the show and share their experience in writing libraries and drivers for the CircuitPython Community Bundle.

Listen to the Show

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome

00:18 The CircuitPython Community Bundle

2:01 When is your code is ready for the bundle?

2:50 Creating a library using cookiecutter

9:01 Documentation requirements

11:15 Submitting a library to the Community Bundle

14:22 Circup

15:37 Advice for someone sharing their first library

19:03 Can a library move to the Adafruit CircuitPython Bundle?

22:46 Licensing

24:10 Libraries Jan and Tod have written

29:22 Hidden gems in the Community Bundle

34:17 Wrap-up