WipperSnapper is in beta and actively being developed to add functionality, hardware, and fix bugs.
We encourage you to try out WipperSnapper with the understanding that it is not final release software and is still in development.
If you encounter any bugs, glitches, or difficulties during the beta period, or in this guide, please file an issue on the Adafruit IO support page.
Sign up for Adafruit IO
Adafruit IO is a platform designed by Adafruit to display, respond, and interact with your project's data. You will need an Adafruit IO account to use the Adafruit.io Wippersnapper platform.
If you do not already have an Adafruit IO account set up, head over to io.adafruit.com to link your Adafruit.com account to Adafruit IO.
Download the UF2 file for your board below:
Next, plug your board into a USB cable. Make sure the USB cable is a data cable!
Install WipperSnapper
Double-tap the RESET button on your board to enter the UF2 bootloader. You may need to try this a few times to get the timing right.
A new drive will show up on your computer as boardnameBOOT, where boardname is the name of your specific board.
Next, drag the UF2 file you downloaded to the boardnameBOOT drive.
The boardnameBoot drive will disappear from your computer and a new drive will show up on your computer named WIPPER.
You'll also see the LEDs blink yellow 4 times to indicate the file system is initialized.
- NOTE - If you've used this board previously with CircuitPython, it'll be named CIRCUITPY instead of WIPPER.
Configure the WipperSnapper Secrets File
You do not need to repeat the following steps each time you upgrade the WipperSnapper firmware file - once the board is registered with Adafruit IO, WipperSnapper will remember it until you delete the board.
We expect educators, scientists, artists, and makers to need quick and easy access to their WiFi network credentials, along with a way of storing their Adafruit IO credentials. WipperSnapper uses a secrets.json file on the WIPPER drive to hold your Adafruit IO and network credentials.
Open the WIPPER drive on your computer, you should see a new file named secrets.json.
Open the secrets.json file using a text editor.
Inside is a JSON-formatted text file with a line for each item. Each item has a name (such as your Adafruit IO username, io_username) and then a colon to separate it from the item key (such as YOUR_IO_USERNAME_HERE) and finally a comma.
The network_type_wifi_ key written to your file will depend on which type of WiFi interface your hardware uses. This will be set automatically!
{
"io_username": "YOUR_IO_USERNAME_HERE",
"io_key": "YOUR_IO_KEY_HERE",
"network_type_wifi_native": {
"network_ssid": "YOUR_WIFI_SSID_HERE",
"network_password": "YOUR_WIFI_PASS_HERE"
}
}
To obtain your Adafruit IO credentials, navigate to the Adafruit IO WipperSnapper page and click "My Key". A modal will pop up with your Adafruit IO username and the active key.
In the secrets.json file, replace YOUR_IO_USERNAME_HERE with your Adafruit IO username.
Then, replace YOUR_IO_KEY_HERE with the value of your Adafruit IO active key.
Replace YOUR_WIFI_SSID_HERE with your WiFi SSID and replace YOUR_WIFI_PASS_HERE with your WiFi network password.
Registering a board with Wippersnapper
On a web browser, navigate to the Adafruit IO WipperSnapper page. Keep this page open during this step.
Next, eject the WIPPER drive.
Then, press your board's RESET button once.
The RGB LED (if your board has one) should turn cyan as it connects to your WiFi network, then blue as it connects to the Adafruit IO service. It'll briefly turn yellow as it sends details about the board's hardware to Adafruit IO.
Finally, the RGB LED will blink green three times to indicate that it's fully connected. It'll turn off to conserve power.
On your browser, you should see a new modal pop-up with a picture of your board! Give your board a name and click Continue to Device Page.
Congrats, your board is registered with WipperSnapper! The LED(s) or NeoPixel(s) will periodically flash to alert you that the board is still connected to Adafruit.io WipperSnapper.
Next, let's add some components to your board and start playing around!
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