ev3dev News FeedWed, 21 Feb 2024 01:21:07 +0000https://www.ev3dev.org/news/atom.xmlThe ev3dev teamhttps://www.ev3dev.org/news/2020/07/13/ev3dev-vscode-extension-betaev3dev-browser VS Code Extension Beta ReleaseMon, 13 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000@dlechhttp://www.ev3dev.org/<p><img src="/images/news/vscode-ev3dev-browser-debug-python.png" alt="Screenshot of ev3dev-browser VS Code extension showing debuggers for Python" style="width: 400px; max-width: 100%;" class="image-responsive pull-right" /></p>
<p><strong>Update 2020-07-20: Extension v1.2.0 has been released in the VS Code
marketplace.</strong></p>
<p>We are working on the next release of the <a href="https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ev3dev.ev3dev-browser">ev3dev-browser VS Code Extension</a>
and we need testers! This version mostly contains bug fixes. It should do a
better job detecting ev3dev devices. It also fixes a bug where subprocesses
on the EV3 are not stopped when clicking the red stop button in VS Code.</p>
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<p>There is also one new feature courtesy of @WasabiFan. The <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">ev3dev</code> debugger is
now registered as a default handler for Python files, so now it is possible to
download and run a Python script without having to create a <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">launch.json</code> file.
Just open your file and press <kbd>F5</kbd> or <kbd>Cmd ⌘</kbd>
+<kbd>Return ↩</kbd> on Mac.</p>
<p>If you find any problems, please report them <a href="https://github.com/ev3dev/vscode-ev3dev-browser/issues">here</a>.</p>
<h3 id="getting-the-beta-version">Getting the Beta Version</h3>
<p>The beta version is not available on the VS Code Marketplace. Instead download
the <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">.vsix</code> file from the <a href="https://github.com/ev3dev/vscode-ev3dev-browser/releases">GitHub Releases</a> page. Then <a href="https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/extension-gallery#_install-from-a-vsix">install it in VS
Code</a>.</p>
<p>The ev3dev VS Code extension is also now available via <a href="https://open-vsx.org/extension/ev3dev/ev3dev-browser">open-vsx.org</a> for
those that use other VS Code-compatible editors like VSCodium and Eclipse Theia.</p>
https://www.ev3dev.org/news/2020/04/10/ev3dev-stretch-r3ev3dev-stretch R3 ReleaseFri, 10 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000@dlechhttp://www.ev3dev.org/<p><img src="/images/news/brickman-stable-stamped.png" alt="Stamped with text: Stable" style="width: 300px; max-width: 100%;" class="image-responsive pull-right" /></p>
<p>After a month of testing, ev3dev-stretch R3 is ready to go! Thanks to everyone
who downloaded and tested the release candidate!</p>
<p>The new SD card image can be found on the main <a href="/downloads">downloads page</a>.</p>
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<p>Changes since ev3dev-stretch R2:</p>
<ul>
<li>Updated to Debian 9.12</li>
<li>Improved Bluetooth availability (again) <a href="https://github.com/ev3dev/ev3dev/issues/1314">#1314</a></li>
<li>Programs started with <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">brickrun</code> now run with higher priority</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/ev3dev/ev3dev-kpkg/blob/38fe00a2ad385679559f7a2a3069c36fa93bc707/ev3dev-ev3/changelog#L1-L7">A few small Linux kernel driver fixes</a></li>
<li>Fix bitmap fonts on Raspberry Pi</li>
<li>Updated ev3dev-lang Python, MicroPython and Java libraries</li>
</ul>
https://www.ev3dev.org/news/2020/03/11/ev3dev-stretch-r3-release-candidateev3dev-stretch R3 Release CandidateWed, 11 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000@dlechhttp://www.ev3dev.org/<p><img src="/images/news/brickman-rc-stamped.png" alt="Stamped with text: Release Candidate" style="width: 300px; max-width: 100%;" class="image-responsive pull-right" /></p>
<p>We have a new stable release candidate ready for testing.</p>
<p><strong>Update 2020-03-23: new snapshot has been uploaded that supersedes 2020-03-07 SD card image.</strong></p>
<p>Download <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">snapshot-ev3dev-stretch-ev3-generic-2020-03-23.img.xz</code> from <a href="https://oss.jfrog.org/list/oss-snapshot-local/org/ev3dev/brickstrap/2020-03-23/">here</a>.</p>
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<p>Changes since ev3dev-stretch R2:</p>
<ul>
<li>Updated to Debian 9.12</li>
<li>Improved Bluetooth availability (again) <a href="https://github.com/ev3dev/ev3dev/issues/1314">#1314</a></li>
<li>Programs started with <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">brickrun</code> run with higher priority</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/ev3dev/ev3dev-kpkg/blob/38fe00a2ad385679559f7a2a3069c36fa93bc707/ev3dev-ev3/changelog#L1-L7">A few small Linux kernel driver fixes</a></li>
<li>Fix bitmap fonts on Raspberry Pi</li>
<li>Updated ev3dev-lang Python and Java libraries (changed in 2020-03-23 image)</li>
</ul>
<p>If all goes well, this will become the new main download in a few weeks.</p>
https://www.ev3dev.org/news/2020/02/13/ev3dev-vscode-extension-betaev3dev-browser VS Code Extension Beta ReleaseThu, 13 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000@dlechhttp://www.ev3dev.org/<p><img src="/images/news/vscode-ev3dev-browser-terminal-python-inspect.png" alt="Screenshot of ev3dev-browser VS Code extension terminal pane showing Python REPL" style="width: 300px; max-width: 100%;" class="image-responsive pull-right" /></p>
<p>We are working on the next release of the <a href="https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ev3dev.ev3dev-browser">ev3dev-browser VS Code Extension</a>
and we need testers! This version has a cool new feature for debugging your
Python programs.</p>
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<h3 id="getting-the-beta-version">Getting the Beta Version</h3>
<p>The beta version is not available on the VS Code Marketplace. Instead download
the <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">.vsix</code> file from the <a href="https://github.com/ev3dev/vscode-ev3dev-browser/releases">GitHub Releases</a> page. Then <a href="https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/extension-gallery#_install-from-a-vsix">install it in VS
Code</a>.</p>
<h3 id="new-run-in-interactive-terminal-feature">New “Run in Interactive Terminal” Feature</h3>
<p>The major new feature of this release allows you to run programs in an
interactive terminal instead of the read-only output pane in VS Code.</p>
<p>Why would you want to do this? With Python programs, it allows us inspect the
current state of the program when it crashes because of an error (or when the
program ends normally without error).</p>
<h4 id="setup">Setup</h4>
<p>To enable this feature, we need to add <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">"interactiveTerminal": true</code> to
<code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">.vscode/launch.json</code> in the project folder.</p>
<div class="language-json highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code><span class="p">{</span><span class="w">
</span><span class="nl">"version"</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="s2">"0.2.0"</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="w">
</span><span class="nl">"configurations"</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">[</span><span class="w">
</span><span class="p">{</span><span class="w">
</span><span class="nl">"name"</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="s2">"Download and Run"</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="w">
</span><span class="nl">"type"</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="s2">"ev3devBrowser"</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="w">
</span><span class="nl">"request"</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="s2">"launch"</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="w">
</span><span class="nl">"program"</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="s2">"/home/robot/${workspaceRootFolderName}/main.py"</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="w">
</span><span class="nl">"interactiveTerminal"</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="kc">true</span><span class="w">
</span><span class="p">}</span><span class="w">
</span><span class="p">]</span><span class="w">
</span><span class="p">}</span><span class="w">
</span></code></pre></div></div>
<h4 id="running-the-program">Running the program</h4>
<p>Now, lets run a program with a bug. This is our <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">main.py</code> file:</p>
<div class="language-python highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code><span class="c1">#!/usr/bin/env python3
</span>
<span class="n">count</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="mi">5</span> <span class="o">/</span> <span class="mi">3</span>
<span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">_</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="nb">range</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">count</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="k">print</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'hi'</span><span class="p">)</span>
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>If we run it with <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">"interactiveTerminal": false</code> (the default), then the program
runs in the <em>output</em> pane just as it does in older versions of the extension.</p>
<p><img src="/images/news/vscode-ev3dev-browser-output-python-crash.png" alt="Screenshot of ev3dev-browser VS Code extension output pane showing Python crash" class="image-responsive" /></p>
<h4 id="running-the-program-the-new-way">Running the program the new way</h4>
<p>But when we run it with <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">"interactiveTerminal": true</code>, the the program runs
in the <em>terminal</em> pane instead of the <em>output</em> pane. It also sets the
<a href="https://docs.python.org/3/using/cmdline.html#envvar-PYTHONINSPECT">PYTHONINSPECT</a> environment variable, which causes Python to start
the interactive REPL after the crash instead of ending the program. This lets
us check the current values of variables to try to figure out why the program
crashed!</p>
<p>For example, here we type in <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">count</code> in the terminal and press <kbd>ENTER</kbd>
to see that it is a float and not an integer, just like the error message says.
Be aware, though, that we can only inspect global variables, not local variables
inside of a function (that’s just how Python works).</p>
<p><img src="/images/news/vscode-ev3dev-browser-terminal-python-inspect.png" alt="Screenshot of ev3dev-browser VS Code extension output pane showing Python crash" class="image-responsive" /></p>
<h4 id="side-effects">Side-effects</h4>
<p>There is also a side-effect to be aware of if you have existing Python programs.
When using <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">"interactiveTerminal": true</code>, the standard output stream is
redirected to the VS Code terminal pane. This means that if you use <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">print()</code>
in your Python program to write text on the screen of the EV3, now the text
will print in the VS Code terminal window instead.</p>
<p>To see this you can fix the example program (hint <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">5 // 3</code> results in an integer
instead of a float) and run it with both <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">"interactiveTerminal": true</code> and
<code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">"interactiveTerminal": false</code>.</p>
https://www.ev3dev.org/news/2019/10/29/ev3dev-stretch-r2ev3dev-stretch R2 ReleaseTue, 29 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000@dlechhttp://www.ev3dev.org/<p><img src="/images/news/brickman-stable-stamped.png" alt="Stamped with text: Stable" style="width: 300px; max-width: 100%;" class="image-responsive pull-right" /></p>
<p>Today, we are releasing ev3dev-stretch R2. This is a minor security and stability
update and is recommended for all users of ev3dev-stretch.
Thank you to everyone who has downloaded <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">ev3dev-stretch</code> snapshots, tested them
and reported issues on GitHub.</p>
<!--more-->
<p>Changes since ev3dev-stretch R1:</p>
<ul>
<li>Updated to Debian 9.9</li>
<li>Improved Bluetooth availability <a href="https://github.com/ev3dev/ev3dev/issues/925">#925</a></li>
<li>Updated <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">ev3dev-lang-python</code> and <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">ev3dev-lang-java</code> libraries.</li>
<li>Fixed a few small Linux kernel driver bugs</li>
<li>Included the Python <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">agt</code> package for the <a href="/news/2019/09/24/lego-amazon-voice-control-contest">Amazon Voice Control Contest</a></li>
</ul>
https://www.ev3dev.org/news/2019/09/24/lego-amazon-voice-control-contestLEGO and Amazon Announce Voice Control Contest - Built on ev3dev!Tue, 24 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000@dlechhttp://www.ev3dev.org/<p><img src="/images/news/voice-challenge.png" alt="Official contest banner" style="width: 300px; max-width: 100%;" class="image-responsive pull-right" /></p>
<p>LEGO and Amazon have announced a contest for creating voice controlled robots
using Alexa and LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3. And the best part is that it builds on
ev3dev!</p>
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<p>There are some substantial prizes and lots of smaller prizes. There is even a
special category for 13 to 17 year-olds. And the first 100 people to submit
an entry are even eligible for a prize.</p>
<p>Check out the details at <a href="https://www.hackster.io/contests/alexa-lego-voice-challenge">https://www.hackster.io/contests/alexa-lego-voice-challenge</a>.</p>
https://www.ev3dev.org/news/2019/09/08/ev3dev-stretch-r2-release-candidateev3dev-stretch R2 Release CandidateSun, 08 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000@dlechhttp://www.ev3dev.org/<p><img src="/images/news/brickman-rc-stamped.png" alt="Stamped with text: Release Candidate" style="width: 300px; max-width: 100%;" class="image-responsive pull-right" /></p>
<p>We have a new stable release candidate ready for testing. Be a pal and try it out.</p>
<p>Download <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">snapshot-ev3dev-stretch-ev3-generic-2019-09-08.img.xz</code> from <a href="https://oss.jfrog.org/list/oss-snapshot-local/org/ev3dev/brickstrap/2019-09-08/">here</a>.</p>
<!--more-->
<p>Changes since ev3dev-stretch R1:</p>
<ul>
<li>Updated to Debian 9.9</li>
<li>Improved Bluetooth availability <a href="https://github.com/ev3dev/ev3dev/issues/925">#925</a></li>
<li>Updated <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">ev3dev-lang-python</code> and <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">ev3dev-lang-java</code> libraries.</li>
<li>A few small Linux kernel driver fixes</li>
</ul>
<p>If all goes well, this will become the new main download in a few weeks.</p>
https://www.ev3dev.org/news/2019/04/13/ev3-micropythonLEGO releases MicroPython for EV3 based on ev3dev and PybricksSat, 13 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000@laurensvalkhttp://www.ev3dev.org/<p><img src="/images/news/ev3micropython.png" alt="EV3 MicroPython" style="width: 600px; max-width: 100%;" class="image-responsive pull-right" /></p>
<p>LEGO just officially released MicroPython for LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 and it runs on top of ev3dev!</p>
<p>With contributions from the community, LEGO has worked hard to make (Micro)Python programming more accessible than ever.</p>
<p>Head over to the <a href="https://education.lego.com/en-us/support/mindstorms-ev3/python-for-ev3">LEGO Education website</a> to give it a try.</p>
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<p>EV3 MicroPython runs on top of ev3dev with a new Pybricks MicroPython runtime and library. It also comes with a dedicated Visual Studio Code extension that includes project templates and documentation to get started. EV3 MicroPython is designed to be easier to use for beginners by taking away some of the complexity of getting started with Python programming on the EV3.</p>
<p>At the same time, the Pybricks MicroPython runtime adds many exciting features that make EV3 robots more powerful and easier to control. This includes brand new drivers and APIs to make motor control easier and more accurate. We think that especially FLL teams will love features such as built-in gearing compensation, drive base classes, or integrated stall detection.</p>
<p>Once the source code for this Pybricks library is publicly available, it might find its way into regular ev3dev releases as well. It wouldn’t replace any existing libraries or runtimes — everything you know and love about ev3dev will continue to be included as well.</p>
https://www.ev3dev.org/news/2019/04/12/ev3dev-stretchev3dev-stretch is StableFri, 12 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000@dlechhttp://www.ev3dev.org/<p><img src="/images/news/brickman-stable-stamped.png" alt="Stamped with text: Stable" style="width: 300px; max-width: 100%;" class="image-responsive pull-right" /></p>
<p>Thanks to everyone who has downloaded <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">ev3dev-stretch</code> snapshots, tested the
latest kernel and reported issues on GitHub. We’re declaring ev3dev-stretch
as the new stable version of ev3dev.</p>
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<p>That means we’re saying so-long to <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">ev3dev-jessie</code> and hello to <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">ev3dev-buster</code>
as the new experimental version of ev3dev (we tend to lag behind one release
from the official Debian project that ev3dev is based on). There might not be as
much development going on as there used to be, but more people are using ev3dev
now than there ever have been. We hope you have as much fun using it as we have
had making it!</p>
<p><strong>Note:</strong> If you <em>really</em>, <em>really</em> need ev3dev-jessie, you can still find the
downloads on the <a href="https://github.com/ev3dev/ev3dev/releases/tag/ev3dev-jessie-2017-09-14">GitHub releases</a> page.</p>
https://www.ev3dev.org/news/2019/02/18/ev3dev-stretchev3dev-stretch Stable Release CandidateMon, 18 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000@dlechhttp://www.ev3dev.org/<p>We’ve been quietly squashing bugs in ev3dev-stretch over the past six months and
we think it time to take it out of beta.</p>
<p>Some interesting new features include:</p>
<ul>
<li>A Visual Studio Code Extension for <a href="https://github.com/ev3dev/vscode-hello-python">easy programming</a></li>
<li>The <a href="https://github.com/ev3dev/brickrun/blob/ev3dev-stretch/doc/brickrun.rst">brickrun</a> command line tool</li>
<li>Grayscale support for the EV3 screen</li>
<li><a href="https://lechnology.com/2018/06/overclocking-lego-mindstorms-ev3-part-2/">Adjust the CPU frequency of the EV3</a></li>
</ul>
<p>If you run into any problems, be sure to <a href="https://github.com/ev3dev/ev3dev/issues">open an issue on GitHub</a>.</p>