Add a new board

This is the process needed to add a new board to this editor. Don’t hesitate to ping us if you need help getting started.

Step 1: UF2 bootloader

UF2 is an open source file format optimized to transfer files to microcontrollers via USB. All boards in this editor support UF2.

If your board does not support UF2 yet,

• read UF2 specification: https://github.com/microsoft/uf2
• if your board is SAMD21/SAMD51 based, start from https://github.com/microsoft/uf2-samdx1
• if your board is STM32 based, start from https://github.com/mmoskal/uf2-stm32f

Step 2: Add a new project

• Add a new project under lib named after your board. Start by copying adafruit-trinket-m0 and modify all relevant parts:

• update pxt.json with the title, name, description

• update the compilerServiceVariant in pxt.json to match your board chipset
• update boardhd.svg with a simplified image of your board. See step below.
• update the bundled-dirs array in pxtarget.json (root of respository) and add your new folder
• add a code card in /docs/boards.md and a new markdown file under /docs/board/YOUBOARDNAME.md with an example that loads your board

• run the local server to test your changes by launching

  pxt serve –rebundle

Step 3: boardhd.svg, config.ts and board.json

The board that gets rendered in the simulator must be stored as a SVG in the project.

• use https://maker.makecode.com/board-designer to generate the board.json, config.ts file. This is a good start but you’ll probably need to update it by hand as well.
• try to reduce the complexity of the SVG to reduce the file size
• use a pin id (e.g. D11) or connectedname (from Fritzing) as names for the pin SVG element

Step 4: minifiy board.svg

Run

svgo --config=svgo.yml libs/YOUR_BOARD_NAME/boardhd.svg -o libs/YOUR_BOARD_NAME/board.svg

to generate a minified version of boardhd.svg.

Step 4: Send us a Pull Request!!!