While it wouldn't be my choice for low-latency applications, I have to admit that using MicroPython on the Supercon 2023 badge was a real eye opener. It made it much easier for attendees to hack and modify the system as they didn't need to mess around with some ponderous toolchain, plus the idea that the source code lives on the badge is really cool.

Now, I wasn't sure if the folks at SomaFM would ever want to hack around with the software on this badge. But just in case, I wanted to make it as easy to do as possible. So I took it a step further and decided to put CircuitPython on the RP2040. During the CircuitPython Hack Chat we did with Adafruit back in 2023, I was impressed with many of the usability tweaks they made and the rationale behind them. Really love the idea that you don't need anything more advanced than a text editor and an OS that supports USB Mass Storage to run your code on the hardware.

Looking back, I'm still happy with this decision. Especially when I found out Adafruit already wrote a library for doing slideshows, which essentially meant 85% of the firmware was already written for me. But the decision to go with CircuitPython did have an unexpected side effect that I was about to run into. It didn't sink the project (obviously) but it did make things quite a bit harder, and really ratcheted up the last minute uncertainty.