# Using Adafruit Feather 32u4 Bluefruit LE **URL:** \ **Category:** Support\ **Created:** [January 9, 2023, 3:26am UTC](https://mworks.discourse.group/t/using-adafruit-feather-32u4-bluefruit-le/863 "2023-01-09T03:26:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kohitij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/919ad9/32.png) [@Kohitij](https://mworks.discourse.group/u/Kohitij)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 3:26am UTC](https://mworks.discourse.group/t/using-adafruit-feather-32u4-bluefruit-le/863/1 "2023-01-09T03:26:38Z")
Hi Chris, Currently, I see that Adafruit Feather M0 Bluefruit LE is out of stock. So I decided to buy a very similar board – Adafruit Feather 32u4 Bluefruit LE I followed all the instructions as mentioned here to setup: > [@Setting up an Adafruit Feather M0 Bluefruit LE as a Firmata device](https://mworks.discourse.group/t/setting-up-an-adafruit-feather-m0-bluefruit-le-as-a-firmata-device/59): > > The [Adafruit Feather M0 Bluefruit LE](https://www.adafruit.com/product/2995) is a good choice for use with MWorks’ [Firmata interface](https://mworks.github.io/documentation/latest/components/firmata_device.html), particularly if you need to connect via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). The following steps detail how to prepare your board for this role. (If you’re using a different board, see the [general Firmata setup guide](https://mworks.discourse.group/t/setting-up-an-arduino-or-compatible-microcontroller-as-a-firmata-device/57).) [Update the BLE firmware](https://learn.adafruit.com/introducing-adafruit-ble-bluetooth-low-energy-friend/dfu-on-ios). This is very important, as new boards purchased in 2019 are still shipping with BLE firmware from 2015, which is not adequate for MWorks’ needs. [Install and set u…](https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-feather-m0-bluefruit-le/setup) However, while I can run the firmata\_blink demo from the Arduino IDE, I wasn’t successful in running the Firmata blink .mwel demo experiment. It gives the following error: **00:00:10** : ERROR: Firmata device “arduino” did not respond to request for protocol version **00:00:10** : ERROR: Can’t start iodevice (arduino) and no alt tag specified Extended information: parser\_context: mw\_finalize **00:00:10** : ERROR: Failed to parse experiment /var/folders/jw/dgvzbxln27d530zz4pyrqp480000gn/T/MWorks/Experiment Cache/\_Users\_kohitijkar\_Documents\_firmata\_blink.mwel/tmp/\_Users\_kohitijkar\_Documents\_firmata\_blink.mwel.xml Also: When I run the MWorks file, the Adafruit device Bluetooth LED glows momentarily before the error is shown on the MWorks console Is this device not supported? Thanks, Ko ---
**Author:** ![cstawarz](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/mworks.discourse.group/cstawarz/32/3_2.png) [@cstawarz](https://mworks.discourse.group/u/cstawarz)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 3:21pm UTC](https://mworks.discourse.group/t/using-adafruit-feather-32u4-bluefruit-le/863/2 "2023-01-09T15:21:17Z")
Hi Ko, The 32u4 doesn’t have enough memory to run StandardFirmataBLE. My current recommendation for a Firmata-compatible board is the [Arduino Nano 33 IoT](https://store-usa.arduino.cc/products/arduino-nano-33-iot-with-headers), which works well for both serial and BLE connections. Unfortunately, that one is also out of stock, at least at the Arduino store, and I don’t have an alternative to recommend. At present, I _do not_ recommend the similar-sounding [Arduino Nano 33 BLE](https://store-usa.arduino.cc/collections/boards/products/arduino-nano-33-ble-with-headers), as we’ve had [some issues with it](https://mworks.discourse.group/t/replacing-nidaq-with-arduino/90/6) in the DiCarlo Lab. Sorry I can’t be more helpful! Chris ---
**Author:** ![Kohitij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/919ad9/32.png) [@Kohitij](https://mworks.discourse.group/u/Kohitij)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 4:12pm UTC](https://mworks.discourse.group/t/using-adafruit-feather-32u4-bluefruit-le/863/3 "2023-01-09T16:12:13Z")
Thanks for the response, Chris. Just out of curiosity — since this board works when I use it via USB, is it possible to add it directly to the iPad via a lightning cable USB adapter? Thanks Ko ---
**Author:** ![cstawarz](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/mworks.discourse.group/cstawarz/32/3_2.png) [@cstawarz](https://mworks.discourse.group/u/cstawarz)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 4:36pm UTC](https://mworks.discourse.group/t/using-adafruit-feather-32u4-bluefruit-le/863/4 "2023-01-09T16:36:26Z")
Hi Ko, > Just out of curiosity — since this board works when I use it via USB, is it possible to add it directly to the iPad via a lightning cable USB adapter? I don’t think I’ve actually tried it, but I’m pretty sure that won’t work, as I can’t imagine that iPadOS would provide support for USB-serial interfaces. I’d like to enable wired Firmata connections on iPad’s by adding support for [Firmata over MIDI](https://github.com/mworks/mworks-issues/issues/323). Since the Firmata protocol itself uses MIDI messages, this should be pretty straightforward, but I haven’t had a chance to work on it yet. Cheers, Chris ---
**Author:** ![Kohitij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/919ad9/32.png) [@Kohitij](https://mworks.discourse.group/u/Kohitij)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 5:49pm UTC](https://mworks.discourse.group/t/using-adafruit-feather-32u4-bluefruit-le/863/5 "2023-01-09T17:49:41Z")
Hi Chris, Yes, if the wired Firmata connections are available, that will be great! We bought many of these 32u4 boards. So will be good to be able to use them. Thanks, Ko ---
**Author:** ![cstawarz](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/mworks.discourse.group/cstawarz/32/3_2.png) [@cstawarz](https://mworks.discourse.group/u/cstawarz)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2023, 1:37pm UTC](https://mworks.discourse.group/t/using-adafruit-feather-32u4-bluefruit-le/863/6 "2023-01-17T13:37:38Z")