CONTEXT
In 2019 I was lucky enough to be approached by the BBC to help support the development of the HiFive Inventor. The purpose of this board was meant as a fully supported coding tutorial environment using both block based and python based programming, all supported by the awesome guys at Tynker. I worked on testing the development through many iterations until the boards final release and I was even able to get some of my Y7 students (who were the target age group) an early version to beta test with so that they could try them out in the real world and they loved them.
The development and launch was hit by covid but the board eventually went on sale in 2020. The Dr Who theme and learning materials were really good and had lots of potential to inspire young coders.
The board was an ARM based board developed by SiFive and was made to be similar in format to the BBC Micro:bit, this board, though had the additional feature of a built in ESP32 wifi chip making it a true IOT device.
In early 2024 some of my students who were still activly using the boards reported that the Tynker website (hifiveinventor.com) was no longer there - I reached out to Tynker who responded that the project was only short term and had run its course so they no longer supported the device. I tried contacting the BBC team but had no reply which was dissapointing as the product was still for sale on their store.
This left us in a difficult position - all through the development process I was championing the idea of a true sandbox environment. What would students do once they'd finished the tutorials? The boards were so powerful compared to the standard Micro:bit that it would be a shame if there was no ongoing support. The coding environement for python and block did allow you to sandbox and create your own programs but you were locked into having to use a Tynker account and the environement was quite restrictive compared to IDEs like Mu being used by Micro:bit. Now Tynker support had gone these boards were useless and unusable which is a crying shame.
June 2024
Having been badgered by one of my awesome students (JS), now a year 10 and in my GCSE group, who wanted to do more with his board. I began to look back at my resources from the development timeline and realised I probably had enough 'stuff' to enable people to keep using these boards in python.
Resources
The resources here are not fully tested, they certainly have no wararanty and may kill your board (doubtful) but as it is no use to you anyway and is just a £70 paper weight what have you got to lose?
COPYRIGHT
Some of the resources I have collated here are in my opinion open source. The Mu Environement for example is open source so the addtions made by the development to this should fall into it's open source remit and remain open source.
Some of the resources here are clearly copyright for the development teams whether these are MicroPython based or not and if asked by the developers i will remove these. I have reached out to the contacts I still have to say these are online and if there is an issue I will remove them.
My goal here is to give you back a working device, which at the moment, despite buying these in good faith you no longer have.
The following names are people who I recall working on this project under the direction of Kara Iconis at the BBC and I credit them with the reources I'm hosting here.
Using Your board
The first thing you will want to do is update your board.
The final binary of MicroPython that I have is the version that came with the unreleased HiFive Updater. It is newer and contains additioanl libraries to the version that gets installed when you used the Tynker Python environment.
Use the update all option. This will not only update the bootloader and micropython firmware but will also importantly update the EPS32 software so it becomes accessible via MicroPython.
Only update when it has successfuly identified the board and the label at the top of the window is green.
If the updater can not find the board or suggests python is not on the board then copy the Micropython binary (mp_v2-0-69_d2021-02-26.hex) onto the board using drag and drop, restart the board and try again.
Do not update until the board has been recognised
Caveat
Now a quick caveat here. I recommend doing the update and then disconnecting the board and the updating again.
In my recolections there was a problem with the wifi update saying it had worked but then not actually allowing a connection. This was due to a bug in the JLink version on the board and it not releasing the RTS pin after the update. Updating will replace the Jlink version, then a second update should successfully update the wifi correctly.
If you get "assertion error" while calling/using the ESP32 library this was due to this error and is normally fixed by re-updating (and erasing the user memory).
If your board is not detected or says it doesn't have python - Copy the python bin file to your board - restart and try again. You might have to scan for the board multiple times as it is a bit flakey and doesn't always detect it.
Uploading your code
You cannot put python files onto a HiFive. They need to be in a binary HEX format. The tools in the manual upload folder are there to acheive this.
Simply put the files into a folder with the mp_v2-0-69_d2021-02-26.hex binary, save the python file in the same folder and then edit the docombine.bat file
You will need to change the two highlighted sections. First part to the name of the python file you want to convert and the second part to what you want to call the hex file.
Once you run the docombine.bat file it will combine your python file with micropyhon binary into a hex file that you can just drag and drop onto your HiFive. (I recommend running docombine in shell - CMD as you will see any error messages and completion messages produced)
ADDENDUM There seems to be an issue after updating where you still get assertion errors when using wifi. It appears this is something to do with the Hexlify process when you combine it with the version of MicroPython (mp_v2-0-69_d2021-02-26.hex) However if you use Mu to do the upload it works fine (despite being the same version of MicroPython) or if you manually copy over the mp_v2-0-69_d2021-02-26.hex version after you've done a Hexlify and upload.
Not sure why but i'd recommned using Mu anyway
HERE is a complete walkthrough of doing an update on the stock HiFive without a previous micropython library being installed (ie stock or only used with Tynker Blocks)
MU for HiFive
One thing I really tried to get developped was an external programming IDE. I felt that tihs was important for the long-term use of the boards by users young and old. An Alpha resease of MU with HiFive support was forked from the Mu repository, it worked quite well but never released.
If you install this version of Mu you will have a Hifive mode
Which will let you upload files directly to the HiFive without needing to manually hexify them and also has a built in REPL to aid with testing so you won't be reliant on putty or the LED screen to see error messages.
EXAMPLE CODE
Finally here is some example code - the code here has been tested and is working on my HiFive with the updates done as per this document.
ISSData.py - This shows you how to connect your WIFI internet and use a GET request. In this example it gives you a live upate of the people currently onboard the ISS
The two weather data files show you how to use an API, connect to its service and get the current weather. In my case for Lincoln, UK
SimpleWebServer.py is a really simple example of how you can use the HiFive as a simple Webserver. In this case it collects the data from the temperature sensor and then displays this to anyone on your network, via a webpage, that has access to the IP address. With a little work with dynamic DNS and IP forwarding this could be anyone in the world!!
YouTube Support
I have a playlist at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvZXTXiQDCe7YSpDQmd2ksVSHb431ns7F
Conclusion I do hope this get users of HiFives back up and running. I hope that the BBC, Tynker and the many developers do not ask for me to remove this material and I will try to support as many HiFive users as I can to make there devices usable for the future.
I provide this only with the intent to help users out there and for no commercial or personal gain. If you find this helpful feel free to buy me a coffee or drop me a message