Want to know about the micropython support for OpenMV AE3 or Alif DevKit gen2

[Kashmira549]

Hi,
First of all I am completely new to micropython, so if these are some questions.

As I saw while reading here "#17050", micropython is supported for OpenMV AE3 and Alif devkit gen2. I wanted to ask what is port first of all and how am I suppose to run micropython on any of the mentioned boards? As far as I have worked with micropython, what I just did was running it on a Rpi pico.

1. I want to know how to setup the environment of micropython for alif SoC?
2. How to run an example?

As the alif system are comparatively new but, what I saw is they are good and OpenMV is saying the same. Especially from the aspect of running an AI at the edge. As OpenMV's device is yet to launch, I started looking into the devkit and got some info. I am trying to understand how micropython is working on the board and how to do it?

[Josverl]

MicroPython runs on different CPU|MCU architectures such as

• rp2
• esp32
• Stm32
• samd
• Alif

The same MicroPython source is compiled for each target. Often there are different boards for each port with different features such as lids, switches sensors, memory and so on.
This results in over 180 different possible firmware binaries.
A lot of firmwares can be downloaded without needing to compile and link them yourself, but if you need/want to do that you can.

The methods to transfer these from your PC to the device or board differ per port, and sometimes even per board.
This is described in the readme.md in each port's folder. For common popular boards you can use the mpflash tool to download and flash, but it does not support all ports yet.

[peterhinch]

OpenMV have their own MicroPython firmware build with custom libraries. If you buy one of their boards the firmware will (presumably) be pre-loaded. Updates would be sourced from their site and installed per their instructions.

[Kashmira549]

Hi,
Thankyou for the help, I understand openMV have their own micropython, but as the port says their development board is also supported, I want to understand how to flash it and run same basic examples.
As micropython strongly recommends to check boards compatibility before purchasing. I am understanding the alif system. So will you be able to help me with that? I want to understand and implement it. As once I get it how to run micropython on Alif, I can build any project I want. As i said I am very new to all this, so little hand holding will really help.

[Josverl]

from the PR17050 that added the functionality:

Supported boards:

- ALIF_ENSEMBLE: the standard Alif dev kit with an AE7 MCU
- OPENMV_AE3: OpenMV's new AE3 camera board; see https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/openmv/openmv-n6-and-ae3-low-power-python-programmable-ai-cameras

General notes about the port:

- it uses make, similar to other bare-metal ports here
- the toolchain is the standard arm-none-eabi- toolchain
- flashing a board can be done using either the built-in serial bootloader, or JLink (both supported here)
- there are two required submodules (one for drivers/SDK, one for security tools), both of which are open source and on GitHub
- no special hardware or software is needed for development, just a board connected over USB

For the ALIF_ENSEMBLE there is additional info for their eval kit which may be of use.
As I do not have access to the hardware - I really cannot tell.