Setup

Setup the development environment and the MicroPython board

Development environment

This section describes the necessary steps on the computer to get ready to test and run the examples.

Update submodule

brainelectronics python modules submodule have to be cloned as well. A standard clone command won’t clone the submodule.

git submodule update --init --recursive
cd modules
git fetch

# maybe checkout a newer version with the following command
git checkout x.y.z

# or use the latest develop branch
git checkout develop
git pull

Install required tools

Python3 must be installed on your system. Check the current Python version with the following command

python --version
python3 --version

Depending on which command Python 3.x.y (with x.y as some numbers) is returned, use that command to proceed.

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate

pip install -r requirements.txt
pip install -r modules/requirements.txt

MicroPython

This section describes the necessary steps on the MicroPython device to get ready to test and run the examples.

Flash firmware

Flash the MicroPython firmware to the MicroPython board with this call in case a ESP32 is used.

esptool.py --chip esp32 --port /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART erase_flash
esptool.py --chip esp32 --port /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART --baud 921600 write_flash -z 0x1000 esp32spiram-20220117-v1.18.bin

Install package with pip

Connect to a network

import network
station = network.WLAN(network.STA_IF)
station.connect('SSID', 'PASSWORD')
station.isconnected()

and install this lib with all its dependencies on the MicroPython device like this

import upip
upip.install('micropython-modbus')

Without network connection

Copy all files of the umodbus module to the MicroPython board using Remote MicroPython shell

Open the remote shell with the following command. Additionally use -b 115200 in case no CP210x is used but a CH34x.

rshell -p /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART --editor nano

Perform the following command to copy all files and folders to the device

mkdir /pyboard/lib
mkdir /pyboard/lib/umodbus

cp umodbus/* /pyboard/lib/umodbus

As this package depends on micropython-urequests to perform TCP requests those files have to be copied as well to the MicroPython board. This is of course only necessary if TCP connection are used, in case only serial (RTU )Modbus communication is used this step can be skipped.

Additional MicroPython packages

To use this package with the provided boot.py and main.py file, additional modules are required, which are not part of this repo/package.

rshell -p /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART --editor nano

Install additional package with pip

Again connect to a network and install the additional package on the MicroPython device with

import upip
upip.install('micropython-modbus')

Without network connection

To install the additional modules on the device, download the brainelectronics MicroPython Helpers repo and copy them to the device.

Perform the following command to copy all files and folders to the device

mkdir /pyboard/lib/be_helpers

cp be_helpers/* /pyboard/lib/be_helpers

Additionally check the latest instructions of the brainelectronics MicroPython modules README for further instructions.