The easiest way to make some LEDs blink is using python. There are two ways of executing python code: Using an interactive command line, and saving `.py` files on the card10. The interactive command line is very practical to try out python commands, and debug '.py' files. Directly saving .py files makes the scripts you write available when you have card10 disconnected from your computer.
The easiest way to make some LEDs blink is using python. There are two ways of executing python code: Using an interactive python command line, and saving `.py` files on the card10. The interactive command line is very practical to try out python commands, and debug '.py' files. Directly saving .py files makes the scripts you write available when you have card10 disconnected from your computer.
## Using the interactive command line
You will be working using the command line. Everything that you need to enter in a command line is written like this: `echo "hello"`
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You need:
- a laptop with a free USB-A or USB-C port
- depending on what USB connectors are available on your laptop a USB-A to USB-C cable, or a USB-C to USB-C cable
<!-- usb-A to usb-C and usb-C to usb-C photo would be helpful here -->
- an application for opening a serial connection, e.g. screen (installation via command line:`apt install screen`) or picocom (installation via command line: `apt install picocom`)
Switch on your card10.
If your card10 display shows the text _USB activated._ your card10 is in the _USB storage_ mode, which is the wrong mode for the interactive pythong command line. A brief press on the _power_ button will exit the _USB storage_ mode.
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To get to the interactive command line, connect your card10 to your laptop. Typically, it will be called `/dev/ttyACM0` or `/dev/ttyACM1`.
You can find out what it is called on your machine by comparing the output of `ls /dev/tty*` before and after you connect your card10 to the laptop.
Depending on which tool you chose, you can open the interactive python command line
