vgkits-vanguard 0.2.0rc2

Tools to support VGkits Vanguard ESP8266 python-programmable board.

VGkits' Vanguard Tools

The vgkits-vanguard package will be published via Pip3, and provides simple short commands for configuring and connecting to the python shell on VGkits' Vanguard boards.

Once development of vanguard-tools is complete, assuming you have pip3 (part of Python3), then to install the tools you must run the following from a terminal;

pip3 install vgkits-vanguard

Once this procedure completes, all the commands below should be available.

If you don't yet have Pip3 installed in your laptop, then visit these instructions

Getting a Python Prompt on Vanguard with 'shell'

After installing the Vanguard tools with pip3, you can connect to the python shell prompt on the Vanguard board over USB on Windows, MacOS or Linux, by running...

vanguard shell

This auto-detects the Vanguard's USB device and your operating system's Terminal configuration. Then it launches miniterm with the proper parameters to connect your terminal to the python shell.

Configuring a startup regime with 'regime'

You can configure a main.py file on your Vanguard board, which will be launched when it powers up.

vanguard regime vgkits.project.rainbow.paint - installs the python script vgkits/project/rainbow/paint.py from the Vanguard board's internal filesystem as the main.py startup regime.

Uploading file collections to Vanguard with 'bundle'

You can upload bundles of files to your Vanguard board, to provide specific python modules or files. For example you can upload the bundle for the Vanguard Rainbow project by running...

vanguard bundle vgkits-rainbow

This single command is equivalent to performing the following commands...

vanguard bundle vgkits-default-modules - installs the default vgkits modules

vanguard bundle vgkits-replserver - configures servers for WebREPL HTML page + REPL over Websocket

vanguard regime vgkits.project.rainbow.paint - configures servers for WebREPL HTML page + REPL over Websocket

Upgrading your Vanguard with 'brainwash'

After some experiments, you may wish to wipe your Vanguard board to get a clean start. You can wipe the board and re-install micropython by running...

vanguard brainwash

You may wish to wipe your Vanguard board to get a clean start after your experiments. You may wish to install a newer version of Micropython, or wipe and install a replacement 'operating system' on your Vanguard board such as CircuitPython, Espruino (to write code in Javascript) or Punyforth (to write code in the Forth language). This can be achieved by...

vanguard brainwash python - installs default python firmware (equivalent to vanguard brainwash micropython)

vanguard brainwash javascript - the default javascript firmware (equivalent to vanguard brainwash espruino)

vanguard brainwash forth - the default forth firmware (equivalent to vanguard brainwash punyforth)

vanguard brainwash lua - the default lua firmware (equivalent to vanguard brainwash nodemcu)

vanguard brainwash micropython - latest micropython firmware release from the firmwares folder

vanguard brainwash circuitpython - latest circuitpython firmware release from the firmwares folder

vanguard brainwash espruino - latest espruino firmware release found in 'flash/firmwares' folder

vanguard brainwash punyforth - latest punyforth firmware release found in 'flash/firmwares' folder

vanguard brainwash nodemcu - latest NodeMCU (eLua) firmware release found in 'flash/firmwares' folder

Uploading file collections to Vanguard with 'bundle'

You can upload bundles of files to your Vanguard board, to provide specific python modules or files. For example you can upload the bundle for the Vanguard Rainbow project by running...

vanguard bundle vgkits-rainbow

This single command is equivalent to performing the following commands...

vanguard bundle vgkits-default-modules - installs the default vgkits modules vanguard bundle vgkits.project.rainbow.paint - installs the vanguard bundle vgkits-replserver - configures servers for WebREPL HTML page + REPL over Websocket

Configuring a startup regime

You can configure a main.py file on your Vanguard board, which will be launched when it powers up.

The 'vanguard' command

The vgkits-vanguard Pypi package (installed via pip) should install a 'vanguard' command into a local folder, which can be run on Windows, Mac OS or Linux using just vanguard.

If for any reason vanguard is not available the equivalent command is...

python -m vgkits.vanguard.tool

...or to force the use of Python3...

python3 -m vgkits.vanguard.tool

v0.2.0

Original release, restructuring scripts which were originally under ShrimpingIt/cockle and vgkits/vanguard into click-controlled command line utilities.