The Raspberry Pi single board computers (SBCs for short) are normally used with the Raspberry Pi OS. This is great for gaming and web browsing, but isn't designed for microcontroller-like tasks. Tasks like reading I2C sensors and SPI devices can be trickier. Furthermore, Linux system maintenance can be tricky for beginners.

Instead of Raspberry Pi OS, one can now use CircuitPython instead. CircuitPython running without another operating system (OS) is typically known as "bare metal". This greatly simplifies system maintenance and makes it easier to treat the Raspberry Pi like a microcontroller. In addition, running CircuitPython on the Raspberry Pi increases the amount of flash and RAM available to CircuitPython programs. Finally, it also adds the ability to use displayio on HDMI displays.

Folks may be running CircuitPython programs from within Raspberry Pi OS currently through Blinka. This is different from CircuitPython standalone because you edit the files using the computer itself and are limited by the underlying OS. See the Blinka guide for details on how to use a CircuitPython program from within Raspberry Pi OS.

Status

CircuitPython support for the Raspberry Pi SBCs was added in CircuitPython 7.1.0 and is done under the broadcom port. The list of known issues is available on the CircuitPython GitHub project under the "broadcom" label.

Parts

Select from the supported boards. Then look for accessories specific to that board (power supply, video cable, etc.). If the Compute Module 4 is used, a suitable carrier board like the official IO Board will be needed.