Updated Guide – Why #CircuitPython wants unique identifiers for every board

Unique identifiers are important. That’s why Jeff Epler took the time to not only explain the reasons why we’re a stickler about them in CircuitPython, but also where and how to get the right identifier (Product ID or Creation ID) for your product that will run CircuitPython! Check the info out in the new Frequently Asked Questions page of the guide “How to Add a New Board to CircuitPython“.

With a few legacy exceptions, each different hardware product that runs CircuitPython needs a different unique identifier. Furthermore, if a piece of hardware has different operating modes (such as UF2 bootloader, Arduino, CircuitPython), each mode should have a different unique ID.

Here are just a few of the things that need unique identifiers to work properly:

  • Applying correct firmware updates
  • Device detection in Arduino
  • Using correct operating system drivers
  • Allowing device access on ChromeOS
  • Managing device permissions with udev on Linux

[Photo credit: USB Connectors by GeroZ at de.wikipedia, CC-BY-SA 3.0]


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