Statement of Work Template intended for Datacenter Volunteer Lead Community Engagements.
Test the equipment Start Procedure below and note any failures or missing items as described in After Procedure below. For help, use the Get Help information below. Internet access will be required to download the CPX program.
Read through Source 1 below. When you are ready, move the image (Source 2) to the CPX. Use instructions located here: Source 2. Test the program.
This program contains three elements:
See Appendix for Details. Use the Lesson information to explain the lab to relatable concepts at the Datacenter.
Note any items that are damaged, not working, or missing (including consumables) as noted in Get Help below.
For any questions contact dc-stem@microsoft.com.
Once the Circuit Playground Express (CPX) is connected and powered, the program will display 1 or 2 green solid lit LEDs.
To connect the circuits, connect the following:
Note: RX = Receive, TX = Transmit, GND = Ground.
Once the ‘customer’ sends the data to the Datacenters A and B (The customer receives the intensity of the light source and transmits that signal to be displayed on each of the other two datacenters.) Here the light signal is brightest showing all 10 LEDs lit. However, this is not an indication of the strength of the connection to the data center. Redundancy is a more important concept to deliver. The signal is duplicated (redundant) between the two datacenters.
To reset the device, press the small reset button once in the center of the CPX. A reset is sometimes needed after powering on all devices together. Each device may need a reset.
A CPX not powered.
The purpose of this hands-on STEM lab is to educate the community about Datacenters. The lights and actions may not exactly replicate, but loosely relate to operations at a datacenter.
This lab demonstrates light signals as a method demonstrate redundancy between datacenters.
The term redundancy may need to be explained. A good start may be to ask the audience to define redundancy. Note that Microsoft Datacenters have triple redundancy.
It is easier to explain if using the same color cables to go out from the Customer CPX to the Datacenters. As an example, from the Customer:
The Adafruit Circuit Playground Express (CPX) is a microcontroller with more power, storage space, and RAM than a 386 Intel Computer. It includes temperature, light, sound, and accelerometer sensors, 10 built in LEDS, speaker, two push buttons, one slide switch, IR receiver and transmitter, 8 analog inputs, power output, 7 capacitive touch inputs, green “ON” LED, reset button, ATSAMD21 ARM Cortex M0 Processor, 2 MB of SPI Flash storage, and a Micro USB port for programming and debugging.
Source:
There are three ways to program the CPX:
This program was created with makecode.adafruit.com. Makecode is a Microsoft product that allows for block style coding. The program written for this STEM activity is located below in Program 1.
When the CPX is first connected to a computer with the USB cable, it will run the program that is stored on the device. This may not be the program that you desire to run. Follow the procedure in Source 3 to reset the CPX to the factory settings. The CPX will hold the program and not reset to factory settings upon power off.
To create this program, open the Code page for the project. Scroll down the page to find the Download Project Bundle button.
Click the button to start the download.
To move the program to the CPX:
- The * UF2 file can be downloaded from circuitpython.org/downloads, select Circuit Playground Express.
- Download the most recent Stable Version. Locate the downloaded file: update-bootloader-circuitplay-m0-v3.7.0.uf2.
- Copy this file and paste it into the CPLAYBOOT drive, which is the Circuit Playground Express board)
Move the files:
To test the program:
To troubleshoot the CPX device and program:
Download the original CPX bootloader, navigate to UF2 Bootloader Details | Adafruit Feather M0 Express | Adafruit Learning System (https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-feather-m0-express-designed-for-circuit-python-circuitpython/uf2-bootloader-details). Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the green rectangle, with Circuit Playground Express V#.#.# update-bootloader.uf2. Click on the link (make sure it is for the Circuit Playground Express). The file will download.
To move the bootloader to the CPX:
To create this program, open Code | UART Communication Between Two CircuitPython Boards | Adafruit Learning System. Follow the instructions located at the link here. Program the CPX as listed in Source 1.
Continue with the procedure in Source 1 to program the CPX with Circuit Python.
