[WIP] MicroPython upgrade to v1.25

[miketlk]

🚧 Work in Progress – Early Draft

This pull request is opened early to:

• Share current progress
• Gather feedback from contributors
• Discuss implementation approaches

💡 Note: This PR is not ready for review or merging. Some parts may be incomplete, untested, or non-buildable at this stage. Feel free to comment on design decisions, request clarifications, or suggest alternatives.

Summary

This PR upgrades the specter-diy project to support MicroPython v1.25. The majority of compatibility changes were implemented in the f469-disco submodule and its nested user C modules. This PR updates the submodule reference and makes necessary adjustments to the build system and documentation to reflect the MicroPython API changes introduced in v1.25.

IMPORTANT: This draft PR has temporary submodule pointers to my own forks that must be fixed before merging!

Changes

• Updated f469-disco submodule to latest commit compatible with MicroPython v1.25
• Updated build scripts to ensure compatibility with MicroPython's v1.25 engine and compiler
• TODO: Review and update Python scripts and CI jobs that rely on MicroPython internals or output structure
• TODO: Update documentation (README.md, docs/) to reflect new module requirements, build commands, or known issues

Testing

• TODO: Confirm clean build of the full firmware against MicroPython v1.25
• TODO: Smoke test key functionality on STM32F469I-DISCO hardware with optional Specter Shield
• TODO: Validate that f469-disco submodule functions (QR, display, etc.) are callable from Specter firmware

Checklist

• Code builds without errors
• Tests added or updated
• Documentation updated if necessary
• Code reviewed for security and edge cases

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[Copilot]

Pull Request Overview

This PR upgrades the Specter-DIY project to support MicroPython v1.25 by updating the f469-disco submodule, adjusting build scripts for the new mpy-cross layout and compiler flags, and pointing .gitmodules to a test fork and branch.

• Updated f469-disco submodule commit to a Micropython v1.25–compatible version
• Modified Makefile to use the new mpy-cross/build path, add CFLAGS_EXTRA, and clean up old binary
• Temporarily redirected .gitmodules to a personal fork and branch for testing

Reviewed Changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

File	Description
f469-disco	Bumped submodule pointer to new commit supporting MicroPython v1.25
Makefile	Changed mpy-cross copy path, added CFLAGS_EXTRA flags, and updated clean step
.gitmodules	Pointed f469-disco to a temporary fork URL and added a test branch

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (2)

.gitmodules:3

• This URL points to a personal fork for testing. Remember to revert to the official upstream repository URL before merging to avoid confusing future contributors.

url = https://github.com/miketlk/f469-disco.git

.gitmodules:4

• The branch attribute is temporary for this draft. Remove or update it to the default branch once the upgrade is merged upstream to maintain consistency.

branch = micropython-upgrade

[moneymanolis]

I am just throwing this comment in from Stepan when I had asked back in the day what it would take to make the simulator run on ARM64 Macs: "Basically to port to the latest micropython we need to rewrite gui with the new version of lvgl and fix f469 integration."

@miketlk: My questions then

• Do we have to update the version of lvgl since we update MicroPython?
• If so, where do we update the version of lvgl?
• And do we need to make changes to the GUI, i.e. how we call the the lvgl api? I don't know, example might be that we have to call lv.button() instead of lv.btn()
• In any case we should verify that the GUI doesn't break.

Another question: Should it now work with this update to build the simulator on ARM64 macs?

[miketlk]

Hi @moneymanolis, that's a great question on LVGL that worth discussing with other contributors too. The udisplay_f469 user module of f469-disco which is responsible for LVGL integration is not ready yet.

Basically, we have two ways:

• Create new bindings for the current LVGL
• Upgrade LVGL to the most recent stable version

The first way is preserving almost 100% compatibility with existing Python code. The second one needs the Python app to be updated. But it's more future-proof, gives us a sleeker UI and wider portability options for possible alternative hardware. For the efforts' perspective, they could be quite close, not taking into account updating of Python code.