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Unexpected Maker Bling by Unexpected Maker

There are 3 versions of BLING!

All versions of BLING come with a wonderful 40x8 RGB LED matrix made up of tiny 1x1mm addressable LEDs. They are all also the same size (99x22m) and come with 2.5mm half cut holes to allow for easy mounting using M2.5 screws.

What makes each version different is what components and features come on the back.

Hello BLING!

The full version of BLING comes with an ESP32-S3 with 8MB of Flash, 2MB of PSRAM, and a bunch of onboard features and peripherals. Want to build a cool RGB Clock with custom alarm sounds? No problem! Want to build a portable Web Radio device? Yup, you can do that too! Want to play with captured audio? Maybe a nice audio level display? BLING has you covered!

Bling also comes with a user programable power switch to enable or disable the power to the LED matrix (more on that below), plus 4 user programmable buttons and a USB-C connector for power and for charging a battery, if you connect one.

BLING! Features & Specifications

  • ESP32-S3
  • 32Bit Dual Core 240MHz
  • RISC-V ultra low power core
  • 2.4GHz WiFi - 802.11b/g/n
  • Bluetooth 5, BLE + Mesh
  • 8MB QSPI Flash
  • 2MB Extra QSPI PSRAM
  • 40x8 RGB LED Matrix
  • 4 User programmable buttons
  • User programmable Matrix power
  • Battery charging
  • USB-C Connector + ESD Protection
  • Reverse USB back-feed protection
  • 700mA 3.3V LDO Regulator
  • I2S MEMS Microphone
  • I2S Audio Amplifier
  • Low Power RTC
  • uSD Card Slot
  • STEMMA/QT Connector
  • JST Battery connector
  • JST Speaker connector

Hello TinyBLING!

TinyBLING doesn’t have an included ESP32-S3 + peripherals on the back, but instead provides headers to plug in an Unexpected Maker Tiny board (TinyPICO, TinyS2, TinyS3 and the new TinyC6) to act as the brains for your project.

You also get a STEMMA/QT connector and a bunch of IO and power broken out on an extra header, for easy expansion. TinyBLING still has a user programable power switch to enable or disable the power to the LED matrix (more on that below), plus 4 user programmable buttons.

Finally, hello SoloBLING!

SoloBLING is just the 40x8 RGB LED matrix on its own. It provides the BLING, you provide everything else.

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CircuitPython 9.2.8

This is the latest stable release of CircuitPython that will work with the Unexpected Maker Bling. Use this release if you are new to CircuitPython.

Release Notes for 9.2.8

DOWNLOAD .UF2 NOW DOWNLOAD .BIN NOW
Modules included in this download _asyncio _bleio _eve _pixelmap _stage adafruit_bus_device adafruit_pixelbuf aesio alarm analogbufio analogio array atexit audiobusio audiocore audiomixer audiomp3 binascii bitbangio bitmapfilter bitmaptools board builtins builtins.pow3 busdisplay busio busio.SPI busio.UART canio codeop collections countio digitalio displayio dualbank epaperdisplay errno espcamera espidf espnow espulp fontio fourwire framebufferio frequencyio getpass gifio hashlib i2cdisplaybus io ipaddress jpegio json keypad keypad.KeyMatrix keypad.Keys keypad.ShiftRegisterKeys keypad_demux keypad_demux.DemuxKeyMatrix locale math max3421e mdns memorymap microcontroller msgpack neopixel_write nvm onewireio os os.getenv paralleldisplaybus ps2io pulseio pwmio qrio rainbowio random re rgbmatrix rotaryio rtc sdcardio sdioio select sharpdisplay socketpool socketpool.socketpool.AF_INET6 ssl storage struct supervisor synthio sys terminalio tilepalettemapper time touchio traceback ulab usb usb_cdc usb_hid usb_midi vectorio warnings watchdog wifi zlib

Included frozen(?) modules: adafruit_sdcard, neopixel

CircuitPython 10.0.0-alpha.7

This is the latest development release of CircuitPython that will work with the Unexpected Maker Bling.

Alpha development releases are early releases. They are unfinished, are likely to have bugs, and the features they provide may change. Beta releases may have some bugs and unfinished features, but should be suitable for many uses. A Release Candidate (rc) release is considered done and will become the next stable release, assuming no further issues are found.

Please try alpha, beta, and rc releases if you are able. Your testing is invaluable: it helps us uncover and find issues quickly.

Release Notes for 10.0.0-alpha.7

DOWNLOAD .UF2 NOW DOWNLOAD .BIN NOW
Modules included in this download _asyncio _bleio _bleio (native) _eve _pixelmap _stage adafruit_bus_device adafruit_pixelbuf aesio alarm analogbufio analogio array atexit audiobusio audiocore audiomixer audiomp3 binascii bitbangio bitmapfilter bitmaptools board builtins builtins.pow3 busdisplay busio busio.SPI busio.UART canio codeop collections countio digitalio displayio dualbank epaperdisplay errno espcamera espidf espnow espulp fontio fourwire framebufferio frequencyio getpass gifio hashlib i2cdisplaybus io ipaddress jpegio json keypad keypad.KeyMatrix keypad.Keys keypad.ShiftRegisterKeys keypad_demux keypad_demux.DemuxKeyMatrix locale lvfontio math max3421e mdns memorymap microcontroller msgpack neopixel_write nvm onewireio os os.getenv paralleldisplaybus ps2io pulseio pwmio qrio rainbowio random re rgbmatrix rotaryio rtc sdcardio sdioio select sharpdisplay socketpool socketpool.socketpool.AF_INET6 ssl storage struct supervisor synthio sys terminalio tilepalettemapper time touchio traceback ulab usb usb_cdc usb_hid usb_midi vectorio warnings watchdog wifi zlib

Included frozen(?) modules: adafruit_sdcard, neopixel

Absolute Newest

Every time we commit new code to CircuitPython we automatically build binaries for each board and language. The binaries are stored on Amazon S3, organized by board, and then by language. These releases are even newer than the development release listed above. Try them if you want the absolute latest and are feeling daring or want to see if a problem has been fixed.

Previous Versions of CircuitPython

All previous releases of CircuitPython are available for download from Amazon S3 through the button below. For very old releases, look in the OLD/ folder for each board. Release notes for each release are available at GitHub button below.

Older releases are useful for testing if you something appears to be broken in a newer release but used to work, or if you have older code that depends on features only available in an older release. Otherwise we recommend using the latest stable release.

BROWSE S3 BROWSE GITHUB

Install, Repair, or Update UF2 Bootloader

Latest version: 0.21.0

The UF2 bootloader allows you to load CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino programs. The bootloader is not CircuitPython. If a UF2 bootloader is installed, you can check its version by looking in the INFO_UF2.TXT file when the BOOT drive is visible (FTHRS2BOOT, MAGTAGBOOT, HOUSEBOOT, etc.)

It is not necessary to reinstall a UF2 bootloader you unless a BOOT drive is not visible when in UF2 bootloader mode, or you know of a problem with your current UF2 bootloader.

If a UF2 bootloader has never been installed on the board, or the UF2 bootloader was removed by erasing or overwriting the flash, the UF2 bootloader must be installed in order to flash .uf2 files onto the board. .bin files can be uploaded without a UF2 bootloader, using the ESP Web Flasher or esptool.py.

Note: update.uf2 files are not currently working on ESP32-S2 or ESP32-S3 boards.

Important: this will erase previously flashed firmware and sketches from the board, but needs to be perfomed only once.

The instructions here are general. We recommend you consult the manufacturer's board documentation for detailed instructions, which may be different.

  • Unzip to find the file combined.bin.
  • Place board in bootloader mode:
    • Plug board into a USB port on your computer using a data/sync cable. Make sure it is the only board plugged in, and that a charge-only cable is not being used.
    • Press and hold down the BOOT or 0 button.
    • Press and release the RESET or RST button.
    • Release the BOOT button.
  • Upload combined.bin (Google Chrome 89 or newer):
    • Open ESP Web Flasher in a new window/tab.
    • Select 460800 Baud from the pull-down menu (top-right).
    • Click Connect (top-right).
    • Select the COM or Serial port from the pop-up window.
    • After successful connection, click Erase.
    • After successful erase, click any Choose a file..., then locate and select the combined.bin file unzipped earlier.
    • After successfully choosing combined.bin, click Program.
    • After the TinyUF2 firmware update is complete, press the RESET button on the board. A new drive BOOT should be visible in your file browser.

After installing the UF2 bootloader, enter the bootloader by double-clicking the reset button. On boards with an RGB status LED, tap reset once, wait for the LED to turn purple, and tap again before the purple goes away. On other boards, consult the board documentation.

After you update, check INFO_UF2.TXT to verify that the bootloader version has been updated. Then you will need to load or reload CircuitPython using the .uf2 file.