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Overview

📄Microchip SAMD Datasheet

See Table 6-1 in the SAMD datasheet linked above for all possible pin configurations on the SAMD51 microcontrollers.

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/76c1f389-0fec-4a13-b2b4-38583b551634/Untitled.png

Example

Let's say we want UART hardware-enabled communication but have already used the default Tx and Rx pins on the board for something else.

Table 6-1 can seem daunting at first, so here's an example of how to read it.

Untitled

Checking the datasheet (Table 34-1), we know UART pins need to have PAD[0],PAD[1],PAD[2] listed in the 14th and/or 15th column in Table 6-1. The screenshot above shows two other pins that we should be able to use for UART. Pins #35 and #36 (PA16 and PA17) are on the payload breakout, but we should still be able to use them!

To demonstrate, we'll use a PyCubed board and connect to it over REPL:

Press any key to enter the REPL. Use CTRL-D to reload.
Adafruit CircuitPython x.y.z; PyCubedv02 with samd51j19
>>> import board
>>> import busio
>>> uart = busio.UART(board.SDA2,board.SCL2)
>>>

It works! 🎉 Weird, huh?

This is because there are multiple "nicknames" defined for these pins already. See Payloads & Interfacing with External Boards for more details on the connector.

Just as a cool side-example, you can easily see what pins are defined for the board object using the REPL:

>>> import board
>>> dir(board)
['__class__', '__name__', 'AIN5', 'BATTERY', 'BURN1', 'BURN2', 'CHRG', 'DAC0', 'EN_GPS', 'EN_RF', 'I2C', 'L1PROG', 'MISO', 'MOSI', 'NEOPIXEL', 'PA16', 'PA17', 'PA19', 'PA20', 'PA22', 'PB16', 'PB17', 'PB22', 'PB23', 'RELAY_A', 'RF1_CS', 'RF1_IO0', 'RF1_IO4', 'RF1_RST', 'RF2_CS', 'RF2_IO0', 'RF2_IO4', 'RF2_RST', 'RX', 'RX2', 'SCK', 'SCL', 'SCL2', 'SDA', 'SDA2', 'SD_CS', 'SPI', 'TX', 'TX2', 'UART', 'VBUS_RST', 'WDT_WDI', 'board_id']
>>>

We can also use microcontroller to get the exact same result and reduce confusion in our coding syntax. (note: reboot the board between experiments to reset the configurations)

>>> import microcontroller
>>> import busio
>>> uart = busio.UART(microcontroller.pin.PA16, microcontroller.pin.PA17)
>>>

<aside> 💡 So to summarize:

You can call the same pin many different names from within CircuitPython because we've set up "nicknames" for them. But at the end of the day, what hardware-accelerated features the pins have are dictated by the datasheet.

</aside>