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We have updated all tooling now and you may use this website as you like. From time to time we may update the devices operating system, and the OpenBlocks to speed it up or add more features. You can see the section on "Updating Spotpear internal software".
🌟 What Is OpenBlocks Scratch? Imagine building your own video game or toy by snapping together colorful puzzle pieces. That’s what OpenBlocks Scratch lets you do! It’s a special kind of computer language made just for kids and beginners. Instead of typing tricky code, you drag and drop blocks that tell your toy what to do—like “move forward,” “make a sound,” or “change color.”
It’s like giving your toy a set of instructions using building blocks!
🧸 How Can You Use It With a Small Board and Screen? You have a tiny computer board with a little screen. You can use OpenBlocks Scratch to make that board do fun things!
For example:
- Make a dancing robot: Use blocks to tell it when to wiggle or spin.
- Create a talking pet: Program it to say “Hello!” when you press a button.
- Build a mini game: Show a maze on the screen and move a character with arrow keys.
- Design a mood lamp: Change colors based on how you feel—just tap a sensor!
You connect your board to your computer, build your project with blocks, and then send the instructions to the board. Ta-da! Your toy comes to life!
You can watch the video on how to put your Spotpear C3 MiniTV keychain together. Its not difficult and can be quite fun.
The OpenBlocks Scratch UI is specially tailored for the Spotpear C3 MiniTV Keychain device, and the device must load special software first in order to use this tool. The devices handed out in class ALREADY have all this setup so you dont need to worry.
Android and iPAD probably wont be able to see the device to program it, you will need Windows PC. I didnt try MacOS but if someone with a machine can let me know it would be nice.
Basically you will need a USB 2.0 Micro-B connector cable to charge and program the device. Once you plug it in it will show up as a serial port which the most modern web browsers can talk to and this is how we send the program to the device. The OpenBlocks Scratch editor has an "UPLOAD" button that automatically loads in the program.
They shouldnt be more than a few 100 yen from Amazon.
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USB2/3 Type-A to USB Micro-B ( HERE> https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B005C8RW1A/ref=twister_B005D5YJ9U )
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USB3 Type-C to USB 2.0 Micro-B ( HERE> https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Transfer-Compatible-Smartphones-Humidifiers-Panasonic/dp/B0F5GK5168 )
Here are all the types of cables for USB courtesy of https://www.szapphone.com/blog/usb-connector-types-guide/
Click the spotpear-scratch.github.io link to open the Scratch Editor in your browser, we used Chrome but it should work in Safari, and Microsoft Edge.
Then click the "No Device Selected" button and click the obvious keychain device.
Its going to ask to connect to the serial port, it should show up in the list, and then click connect.
Then choose the serial port connected to the JTAG/DEBUG
Then wait for it to show up in the scan list. If it doesnt unplug your board, press reset, wait 5s, reload your web browser and plug it back in. If it doesnt see the troubleshooting at the end of this document.
Drag the blocks from the left into the middle panel and create your master piece
Upload it
Now press the reset button and watch it work!
The website should work with anything that has USB but we found ...
- Windows 10/11 with Google Chrome works, as does a more modern Microsoft EDGE; other browsers may work
- MacOS 10.11 or later with Google Chrome, or a very new Safari will work
- Linux based OS worked but you have to give the user dialup/dialout/uart permissions
- Android often didnt work; it depends on the maker/model
- iPAD we are checking now; currently doesnt work
Sometimes the web browser cant see the device.
Plug in the spotpear device, press the top two buttons and whilst holding them both down press the reset button. This wipes any program that might have been uploaded and puts it back to an idle state.
If it doesnt unplug your board, press reset, wait 5s, reload your web browser and plug it back in.
Press the two top buttons, keep them pressed, then press and release just the reset button. Now the program has been wiped away and it should start up normally.
The Spotpear runs a hand crafted version of MicroPython that allows for python programming. We sometimes update this internal software (firmware) to fix bugs or change functionality. Here is how you can re-program any ESP32-C3 MiniTV device.
- Plug in the device
- Open the spotpear openblocks page and connect the device as described
- Click the "Firmware Button" on the right and wait for it to finish
email me or file and issue with us