0

Installing Mu Editor

by Kattni Rembor

Mu is a simple code editor that works with the Adafruit CircuitPython boards. It's written in Python and works on Windows, MacOS, Linux and Raspberry Pi. The serial console is built right in so you get immediate feedback from your board's serial output!

Mu is our recommended editor - please use it (unless you are an experienced coder with a favorite editor already!)

Installing Mu for Windows or Mac OS X

To install Mu for Windows or Mac OS X, head over to the Download Mu page and follow the instructions.

It's that simple!

Installing Mu for Linux

Each Linux distro is a little different, so use this as a guideline!

  1. Mu require python version 3. If you haven't installed python yet, do so via your command line using something like sudo apt-get install python3
  2. You'll also need pip3 (or pip if you only have python3 installed) - try running pip3 --version. If that didn't work, you ran sudo apt-get install python3-pip
  3. Finally, run pip3 install mu-editor
  4. You can now run mu-editor directly from the command line

You can also follow the instructions found here to install Mu using Python and install Mu on a Raspberry Pi.

Using Mu

The first time you start Mu, you will be prompted to select your 'mode' - you can always change your mind later. For now please select Adafruit!

The current mode is displayed in the lower right corner of the window, next to the "gear" icon. If the mode says "Microbit" or something else, click on that and then choose "Adafruit" in the dialog box that appears.

Mu attempts to auto-detect your board, so please plug in your CircuitPython device and make sure it shows up as a CIRCUITPY drive before starting Mu

Now you're ready to code! Lets keep going....

circuitpython_MuEditorOpen.png

Mu Packages

Mu is currently being developed. So there are lots of changes being made! Current versions are available from links at the bottom of this page. However, use at your own risk! These are not stable versions and come with no guarantees of working.

CIRCUITPYTHON CREATING AND EDITING CODE
This guide was first published on May 03, 2017. It was last updated on Sep 13, 2018. This page (Installing Mu Editor) was last updated on Jul 20, 2018.

RELATED GUIDES

Adafruit nRF52 Pro Feather with Mynewt
Take your Bluetooth LE projects to the next level with the mynewt RTOS
by lady ada
The Adafruit Feather nRF52 Pro ships pre-programmed with the Mynewt serial bootloader that allows you to flash firmware to the device directly from the command-line using the on-board USB Serial converter and the 'newtmgr' tool, so you can get started right away with no additional hardware required. For more advanced debugging, however, you can use a Segger J-Link and the on-board SWD debug connector, which gives you access to a more powerful set of development tools and options.
Creating and sharing a CircuitPython library
Share your code with the world
by Scott Shawcroft
This guide covers all the steps to releasing a CircuitPython library for the world to use. We'll cover GitHub, ReadTheDocs and Travis.
CircuitPython Hardware: SSD1306 OLED Display
How to use a SSD1306 OLED display with CircuitPython boards.
by Tony DiCola
Learn how to connect a SSD1306 OLED display to a CircuitPython board and control it with a simple Python module. Focuses on CircuitPython & MicroPython for the ESP8266 and M0 / SAMD21.
CircuitPython Hardware: PCA9685 DC Motor & Stepper Driver
How to use the PCA9685 DC Motor & Stepper driver with CircuitPython!
by Tony DiCola
Learn how to connect the PCA9685 DC Motor & Stepper driver to a CircuitPython board and use it with a simple Python module. Focuses on CircuitPython and MicroPython on the ESP8266 and M0 / SAMD21 processors.