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Getting Started with Circuit Playground

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The Adafruit Circuit Playground Bluefruit and Express

With the goal to pack as many sensors as possible, in an alligator clip friendly interface the Bluefruit and the Circuit Playground express make electronics programming simple and accessible, perfect for tinkering and making with Cardboard.

Both can be programmed with a block based interface, Python and Arduino IDE.

The both share most of the same sensors the main difference being a faster processor and Bluetooth connectivity in the Bluefruit, making it great for IOT projects.

Adafruit Circuit Playground Express

CPX

Actuators

  • 10 x mini NeoPixels, each one can display any color
  • 1 x Mini speaker with class D amplifier
  • Slide switch
  • 2 x Push buttons
  • Red “#13” LED for basic blinking
  • 8 x alligator-clip friendly input/output pins

Sensors

  • Motion sensor (LIS3DH triple-axis accelerometer with tap detection, free-fall detection)
  • Temperature sensor (thermistor)
  • Light sensor (phototransistor). Can also act as a color sensor and pulse sensor.
  • Sound sensor (MEMS microphone)
  • 7 pads can act as capacitive touch inputs
  • Infrared receiver and transmitter - can receive and transmit any remote control codes, can also act as a proximity sensor.

Board

  • Green “ON” LED so you know its powered
  • Reset button
  • ATSAMD21 ARM Cortex M0 Processor, running at 3.3V and 48MHz
  • 2 MB of SPI Flash storage, used primarily with CircuitPython to store code and libraries.
  • MicroUSB port for programming and debugging
  • USB port can act like serial port, keyboard, mouse, joystick or MIDI

Adafruit Circuit Playground Express primary guide can be followed here

Adafruit Circuit Playground Bluefruit

Bluefruit

Actuators

  • 10 x mini NeoPixels, each one can display any color
  • 1 x Mini speaker with class D amplifier
  • Slide switch
  • 2 x Push buttons
  • Red “#13” LED for basic blinking
  • 8 x alligator-clip friendly input/output pins

Sensors

  • Motion sensor (LIS3DH triple-axis accelerometer with tap detection, free-fall detection)
  • Temperature sensor (thermistor)
  • Light sensor (phototransistor). Can also act as a color sensor and pulse sensor.
  • Sound sensor (MEMS microphone)
  • 7 pads can act as capacitive touch inputs
  • Infrared receiver and transmitter - can receive and transmit any remote control codes, can also act as a proximity sensor.

Board

  • Green “ON” LED so you know its powered
  • Reset button
  • nRF52840 Cortex M4 processor with Bluetooth Low Energy support
  • 2 MB of SPI Flash storage, used primarily with CircuitPython to store code and libraries.
  • MicroUSB port for programming and debugging
  • USB port can act like serial port, keyboard, mouse, joystick or MIDI

Adafruit Circuit Playground Bluefruit primary guide can be followed here

Program them with MakeCode

MakeCode Adafruit Getting Started tutorial here

MakeCode for Circuit Playground Express here

MakeCode for Circuit Playground Bluefruit here

Program them with Circuit CircuitPython

Adafruit’s CircuitPython Made Easy guide here

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