Hello again!
I think PewPew Standalone has a big potential to be a low-cost Micro:bit alternative for teaching children how to program microcontrollers and make simple games with it. However, it still lacks easy-to-use online tools, such as MakeCode for Micro:bit. There is Pewmulator, but it requires downloading Python and Pygame, which is less comfortable than using an online platform. So while I am waiting for my ordered PewPews, meanwhile I am developing an online emulator for PewPew Standalone using Pygame4skulpt. Your CircuitPython code is running fully client-side inside the browser, handling LED display and key presses. Here is the demo of the first proof-of-concept: https://gfycat.com/ifr/kindheartedsilveritalianbrownbear. The Pew Pew Standalone Emulator will be open sourced when it is more mature.
I was thinking about incorporating it into the latest EduBlocks beta, but it would be much easier if there was already some support for the Pew library in EduBlocks. Or if MakeCode supported PewPew Standalone. Maybe one day it could be a part of a bigger platform for educating children in less developed countries. Do you think it is a good idea?
Best wishes!
State of PewPew for 2020-04-26
******************************
News
====
* Makerfabs has published a video for PewPew M4 assembly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5lZwVgA690
* Szymon Jakubiak implemented Conway's Game of Life to honor
the recently departed mathematican:
https://twitter.com/SzymonJakubiak/status/1251043560314613760
* A fix landed for colors on all boards using Stage -- now the
colors will be consistent with DisplayIO.
* Also, the sound buffer has been increased, fixing some sound
issues.
--
Radomir Dopieralski
State of PewPew for 2020-10-09
******************************
I haven't been posting the newsletter for a while, so we have quite a few
news this time.
News
====
* PewPew workshop at VisCon (https://viscon.vis.ethz.ch) next week. All
seats are booked, Christian Walther and me are looking forward to running it.
* Thanks to work of Christian on CircuitPython, the menu program for PewPew M4
(https://github.com/pewpew-game/game-m4-menu) can now restart the device
before launching the game, resulting in more resources available to the game.
* With the help of Gadgetoid, I ported Stage to Pimoroni's new handheld console,
the PicoSystem. The library will be available in the next release of
CircuitPython.
* I also took this opportunity to enable support of scaling and scrolling on
CircuitPython (previously scaling was only exposed in MicroPython) for the
Stage library. The changes should as well be available in the next release.
* If you missed it, Christian Walther had a lightning talk on EuroPython 2021
about his PicoPew: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DzvfQN9fiQ&list=PL8uoeex94UhFuRtXhkqOrROsd…
* A while ago I finally ported the Stage and Pew libraries to the KittenBot's
MeowBit handheld console. It's available in CircuitPython 7.0.0 firmware.
--
Radomir Dopieralski
