Thanks so much! Lots more to come. Stay tuned and tell others. Cheers!

Thank you! Cheers!

I actually have the sunfounder thales kit which has some of the inherent stuff you mentioned. But I haven't learned a thing. They want you to just copy and paste code which teaches you nothing. So I'd like to try some of your projects.

NeoPixel libraries should work with LEDs of type WS2812, WS2811 and SK6812. I regularly buy off-brand LEDs from AliExpress or Amazon. Sometimes the RGB order differs but there is an optional parameter in neopixel.NeoPixel that you can use to tinker with the order. I do find Adafruit products are of great quality and I haven’t seen any third parties with alligator clip neopixel wires at the end, which are very nice when working with CircuitPlaygrounds. As an example of third party LEDs - I just got these ones - they work great and are about $17 for a stand of 350, but I had to strip the end and solder on better connectors to make this usable. They are more like Adafruit’s NeoPixel strands rather than strips, but smaller. They work nicely for wearables or when you want more bend in a project. mastodon.world/@gallaugher/110327569305359631

Great - if you have a Pico, you can actually also do a bunch of the early examples we use with the CircuitPlayground Bluefruit, but you'll need to make some changes for LEDs vs. onboard LEDs, or sensors that you plug in. The overall playlist starts at bit.ly/circuitpython-tutorials. Also, there is an open google drive on my website gallaugher.com for the PhysComp course. You'll find Keynote slides in there with challenges & solutions. If you're a Windows User you can create a free iCloud account & open Keynote slides with a browser. Good luck!

Are you using an earlier version of macOS Ventura? If so you need to update your OS. github.com/raspberrypi/pico-feedback/issues/314