Installation¶

Setting up CodeBug¶

In order to use CodeBug with codebug_tether you need to program CodeBug with codebug_tether.cbg (download).

To do this, hold down button A and plug in CodeBug via USB — it should appear as a USB drive — then copy the codebug_tether.cbg file onto it. CodeBug is now ready to be used via serial USB. Press button B to exit programming mode.

Note

When CodeBug is connected to a computer via USB is should now appear as a serial device. To reprogram CodeBug: hold down button A and (re)plug it into a USB port.

Install codebug_tether on Windows¶

Note

These instructions are based on The Hitchhikers Guide to Python: Installing Python on Windows

Install Python¶

Download and install the latest version of Python 3 from here. Make sure you tick the Add Python 3 to environment variables checkbox.

Install codebug_tether¶

To install codebug_tether, open up a command prompt and type:

pip install codebug_tether

Restart Windows and then open IDLE. Plug in CodeBug and type:

>>> import codebug_tether
>>> codebug = codebug_tether.CodeBug()
>>> codebug.set_pixel(2, 2, 1)

The middle pixel on your CodeBug should light up.

See Examples for more ways to use codebug_tether.

Install codebug_tether on OSX¶

Note

These instructions are based on The Hitchhikers Guide to Python: Installing Python on Mac OS X

Install Python¶

Download and install Xcode (if you haven’t already) and then enable the command line tools by running (in a terminal):

xcode-select --install

Now install Homebrew (a package manager for OSX):

/usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

The script will explain what changes it will make and prompt you before the installation begins. Once you’ve installed Homebrew, insert the Homebrew directory at the top of your PATH environment variable. You can do this by adding the following line at the bottom of your ~/.profile file:

export PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:$PATH

Now, we can install Python 3:

brew install python3

This will take a minute or two.

Install codebug_tether¶

To install codebug_tether, open up a terminal and type:

pip install codebug_tether

To test it has worked, plug in CodeBug and open a Python shell by typing:

python

Your command prompt should have changed to:

>>> _

Now type:

>>> import codebug_tether
>>> codebug = codebug_tether.CodeBug()
>>> codebug.set_pixel(2, 2, 1)

The middle pixel on your CodeBug should light up.

See Examples for more ways to use codebug_tether.

Install codebug_tether on Linux¶

Install Python¶

Python 3 and pip should already be installed but for good measure run:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install python3

If pip isn’t installed you can securely download it from here get-pip.py.

Then run the following:

sudo python3 get-pip.py

Install codebug_tether¶

To install codebug_tether, open up a terminal and type:

sudo pip3 install codebug_tether

To test it has worked, plug in CodeBug and open a Python shell by typing:

python3

Your command prompt should have changed to:

>>> _

Now type:

>>> import codebug_tether
>>> codebug = codebug_tether.CodeBug()
>>> codebug.set_pixel(2, 2, 1)

The middle pixel on your CodeBug should light up.

See Examples for more ways to use codebug_tether.

Troubleshooting¶

Raspberry Pi - Disable Serial Port Login Shell¶

CodeBug uses the USB serial port which (on older Raspberry Pi models) is configured to output the login shell by default. You must disable this before CodeBug will work. To do so, run:

sudo raspi-config

Navigate to Advanced Options > Serial, disable the login shell and then reboot.