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RFC: Moving forward with the WiPy/CC3200 port

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2016 12:07 am
by Damien
Hello all WiPy/CC3200 users.

The WiPy 1.0 is no longer in production, but there are still many of these boards out there, and there is also the generic CC3200 LAUNCHXL board and possibly other boards created around the CC3200 chip. So I would like to see the CC3200 MCU supported for a little bit longer.

To continue to maintain the CC3200 port efficiently, it must track any changes that are made to the hardware API, the machine module in particular. Because the CC3200 does not have much memory or flash it's not feasible to make backwards compatible changes, so, moving forward, this port will start to introduce backwards-incompatible changes.

In order to help out those users who still want to use their older scripts with the older API the plan is the following: the release v1.8.6 will be the final release of the WiPy/CC3200 code that supports the original hardware API. After this release there will be backwards-incompatible changes to keep the port up-to-date with the other ports. The docs will evolve with the changes so users can still refer to the docs to see how to use the WiPy (and v1.8.6 docs will describe the older API). Since the API will match other ports it will be much easier to write scripts that are compatible, for example, with WiPy and ESP8266.

Please chime in here if you have any concerns with this plan, or ideas for how to manage this better.

Thanks!

Re: RFC: Moving forward with the WiPy/CC3200 port

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2016 5:45 am
by pythoncoder
Sounds OK, but in time it will leave the final release v1.8.6 undocumented. Or will a snapshot of the docs be available somewhere?

Re: RFC: Moving forward with the WiPy/CC3200 port

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2016 11:58 am
by Damien
pythoncoder wrote:Sounds OK, but in time it will leave the final release v1.8.6 undocumented. Or will a snapshot of the docs be available somewhere?
The idea is that with the versioned docs that we currently have, you'll be able to refer to the docs for v1.8.6. And because of the magic of git, one can always checkout the docs and code at v1.8.6 if needed.

Re: RFC: Moving forward with the WiPy/CC3200 port

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2016 8:38 pm
by danielm
Damien, thank you for your effort to maintain CC3200 port in the future. Does it mean that Pycom people are not going to support their first product any more?

I am ok with backwards-incompatible changes, I will update my scripts I am actively using.

Re: RFC: Moving forward with the WiPy/CC3200 port

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2016 7:57 am
by danielm
I would also like to clarify which CC3200 service pack will be used during testing?

Latest one is 1.0.1.6-2.7.0.0 (http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php ... ease_Notes) while flash instructions for CC3200 port on GitHub still mention 1.0.0.10.0 (https://github.com/micropython/micropyt ... ter/cc3200).

Information from TI page (http://www.ti.com/tool/cc3200sdk):
Important Note: Service pack 1.0.0.1.1 is the first production quality service pack release. TI recommends that all customers migrate to SP 1.0.0.1.1 or above.

Re: RFC: Moving forward with the WiPy/CC3200 port

Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2016 9:05 pm
by vikebo
Looking at the Pycom forum, my guess is they have more than enough to do with the newer boards. I hadn't expected much more activity around the WiPy, so this is good news!

I have a few WiPys and think it is great if you are able to let it follow the development of the other boards for a while longer. Lack of backwards compatibility is not a big deal to me.

Thank you for the good work! :)

Re: RFC: Moving forward with the WiPy/CC3200 port

Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2016 11:49 am
by doctorjames
This is a good thing anyway: I'm sure any changes required will be minor and I'd much rather get used to a consistent API across ports rather than have to remember subtleties when moving between WiPy and ESP etc.