GEMMA -- beginner questions

[doym]

Hi--I purchased some GEMMAs a few years back. I'm just starting to look into using them. I had a few questions:

1. How do GEMMA and FLORA differ? For example, could I do the Chameleon Scarf project with a GEMMA instead of a FLORA?

2. I noticed that the GEMMA Product page mentions that now GEMMAs ship with CircuitPy onboard. Does that go for GEMMAs purchased a few years back? If not, is there a way I can install CircuitPy onto older GEMMAs?

Thanks!

[dastels]

The first question is "which gemma do you have?" Is it https://www.adafruit.com/product/1222 or https://www.adafruit.com/product/3501? At this point it could be either from "a few years ago".

If you have a Gemma v2 you might have issues. The Gemma v2 is a much simpler, more limited board than the flora. In terms of connections the projects uses a digital output for the NeoPixels strand and I2C for the sensor. That's the limit of the Gemma's I/O capability, so that's ok. Memory is where you might have a problem. The Gemma v2 only has 512 bytes of ram compared to over 2K on the Flora. 256 bytes are used up by the gamma table. The code is simple and shouldn't take much room. You can strip out the Serial use to reduce it even more. Finally, the Gemma v2 might not even work very well on a new computer, as noted on the product page: USB tolerances aren't as sloppy as they used to be.

If you have a Gemma M0, there shouldn't be any problems.

Dave

[doym]

Thanks Dave

Looks like I have Gemma M0's. How does that one compare with FLORA? And does it come with CircuitPy onboard already? Sorry if those are dumb questions. Very much a beginner--trying to get my bearings :)

Thanks!
Diana

[doym]

(Ignore that question about circuitPy--just confirmed on Gemma M0 product page....)