Vanguard

The Vanguard series is VGKits first collection of projects for physical computing in Python. We transform a doit.am NodeMCU-M ESP8266 board into a VGKits Vanguard board by flashing it with a special Micropython configuration.

It is the programmable heart of the Vanguard Rainbow color-controllable LED project.

The NodeMCU-M has the following key benefits…

• runs Python3
  • Micropython is a syntax-equivalent version of Python3 targeting small microcontrollers
• cheap
  • costing only $2.50 each in bulk or roughly £3.00 BSP
• built-in Wi-Fi for
  • serving a Python shell available from any laptop or tablet with a modern browser
  • hosting a webserver
  • accessing online services using a Wi-Fi uplink
  • connecting to a Wi-Fi access point, providing a local Wi-Fi access point or both at the same time
• built-in USB UART to
  • send commands, view the results in the Python Shell on a laptop over a normal USB MicroB phone-charging cable
  • provide reliable 5V power from school or household equipment
• 10 IO pins controllable by Python
  • 9 Digital GPIO pins and one Analog-to-Data pin
  • pluggable using standard female jumper cables
• 1MB of flash memory, 32kB instruction memory, 80kB RAM
  • this leaves nearly 400k of storage in a small FAT32 filesystem for Python source files and datalogging
  • limited memory defines challenges for learners around system architecture and optimisation
  • NodeMCU standard has 4MB flash, other ESP boards have up to 32MB flash and even 4MB of RAM, but the extra cost is not warranted for learner applications
• well-labelled pre-soldered pins and fits a breadboard. By contrast…
  • NodeMCU standard board has multiple extra pins wasting breadboard space
  • D1 Mini – comes unsoldered
  • Common ESP01 and ESP32 boards don’t fit a breadboard
  • NodeMCU (standard) and D1 Mini have pin labels which don’t match the numbers used by Python.
• The NodeMCU can also be programmed using
  • Adafruit’s Circuitpython (as a Feather Huzzah)
  • C++ (Arduino)
  • Javascript (Espruino)
  • Forth (PunyForth)
  • Lua (NodeMCU)

Visit our first Vanguard project for educators and learners, or buy a preflashed project kit.