Just new to MicroPhyton, I just collected some code pieces in the web to get a "Clock" background task coded with RTC and NTP Sync by just some code lines.
BTW. No flickering on the display etc.

Please feel free to comment; need to learn ;-)

# RTC Clock with NTP Sync for M5STACK
# References:
# https://forum.micropython.org/viewtopic.php?t=4329
# Lobo Version to init RTC and timezone
# https://forum.micropython.org/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=3553&p=21616&hilit=timezone#p21616
from m5stack import machine
from m5stack import lcd
from time import strftime
import utime
import _thread

# move to lowest line on M5STACK display
lcd.setCursor(0, 227)
lcd.setColor(lcd.WHITE)
lcd.print("RTC Clock 1")

# initiate rtc
rtc = machine.RTC()
print("Synchronize time from NTP server with TZ=Germany ...")
rtc.ntp_sync(server="hr.pool.ntp.org", tz="CET-1CEST,M3.5.0,M10.5.0/3")

def watch():
    while True:
        # start position for Date
        if not rtc.synced():                                                            # set color to sync status    
            lcd.setColor(lcd.RED)
        else: 
            lcd.setColor(lcd.GREEN)
#       lcd.setCursor(92, 227)                                                          # uncomment if you need date on display
#       lcd.print("Date {}".format(utime.strftime("%Y-%m-%d", utime.localtime())))      # uncomment if needed
        # start position for time only
        lcd.setCursor(213, 227)                                                         # uncomment if date active (see upper lines)
        lcd.print(" Time {}".format(utime.strftime('%H:%M:%S', utime.localtime())))
        utime.sleep(1)

_thread.start_new_thread ("clock",watch, ())

@jimit
@daslolo

MicroPython VS Arduino is no comparison of equals

MPY is running FreeRTOS as uOS and so you have total different opportunities.
Best of these for my IoT Application will be Over the Air updating with low amount of traffic.
As only packages of text (code) will be sent; the traffic is low and update faster than Arduino USB connection (even without compiling).

So I look forward for an adventure switching from Arduino to MicroPython with M5STACK,

If you ever considered running multiple thread or tasks - for sure give it a try.
If you just want to learn something new, the same. ;-)

Cheers

@calin
ok.

Good point, I came from ATMega and ARM Arduino with "Standard" Arduino knowledge and was totally surprised that M5STACK MicroPython is running FreeRTOS.

I will also review your links.

Just new to MicroPhyton, I just collected some code pieces in the web to get a "Clock" background task coded with RTC and NTP Sync by just some code lines.
BTW. No flickering on the display etc.

yes, already answered, thanks to @simm

Use Lobo's implementation, will work.

See here :

https://github.com/loboris/MicroPython_ESP32_psRAM_LoBo

Interesting point : never thought about that since using Motorola (yes, long time ago) and TI DSP with ASM programming for folding memory pages by microcode for FFT.
What are you trying to do? Audio analysis or lower / higher frequencies?

posted my first MicroPython Code here :

http://forum.m5stack.com/topic/197/micropython-clock-task-with-rtc-and-ntp-sync

@daslolo
So, feel free to compare by yourself with Arduino.
The "Clock" code does it all for me on displaying time (and date if needed), and if synced to NTP with green or red time digits. Just as a task in the background.

Just new to MicroPhyton, I just collected some code pieces in the web to get a "Clock" background task coded with RTC and NTP Sync by just some code lines.
BTW. No flickering on the display etc.

Please feel free to comment; need to learn ;-)

# RTC Clock with NTP Sync for M5STACK
# References:
# https://forum.micropython.org/viewtopic.php?t=4329
# Lobo Version to init RTC and timezone
# https://forum.micropython.org/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=3553&p=21616&hilit=timezone#p21616
from m5stack import machine
from m5stack import lcd
from time import strftime
import utime
import _thread

# move to lowest line on M5STACK display
lcd.setCursor(0, 227)
lcd.setColor(lcd.WHITE)
lcd.print("RTC Clock 1")

# initiate rtc
rtc = machine.RTC()
print("Synchronize time from NTP server with TZ=Germany ...")
rtc.ntp_sync(server="hr.pool.ntp.org", tz="CET-1CEST,M3.5.0,M10.5.0/3")

def watch():
    while True:
        # start position for Date
        if not rtc.synced():                                                            # set color to sync status    
            lcd.setColor(lcd.RED)
        else: 
            lcd.setColor(lcd.GREEN)
#       lcd.setCursor(92, 227)                                                          # uncomment if you need date on display
#       lcd.print("Date {}".format(utime.strftime("%Y-%m-%d", utime.localtime())))      # uncomment if needed
        # start position for time only
        lcd.setCursor(213, 227)                                                         # uncomment if date active (see upper lines)
        lcd.print(" Time {}".format(utime.strftime('%H:%M:%S', utime.localtime())))
        utime.sleep(1)

_thread.start_new_thread ("clock",watch, ())

@calin
ok.

Good point, I came from ATMega and ARM Arduino with "Standard" Arduino knowledge and was totally surprised that M5STACK MicroPython is running FreeRTOS.

I will also review your links.

Just new to MicroPhyton, I just collected some code pieces in the web to get a "Clock" background task coded with RTC and NTP Sync by just some code lines.
BTW. No flickering on the display etc.

@jimit
@daslolo

MicroPython VS Arduino is no comparison of equals

MPY is running FreeRTOS as uOS and so you have total different opportunities.
Best of these for my IoT Application will be Over the Air updating with low amount of traffic.
As only packages of text (code) will be sent; the traffic is low and update faster than Arduino USB connection (even without compiling).

So I look forward for an adventure switching from Arduino to MicroPython with M5STACK,

If you ever considered running multiple thread or tasks - for sure give it a try.
If you just want to learn something new, the same. ;-)

Cheers

Back online and running again. Thx

@jimit
Thanks for the update.
Also changed down to .38 upfront posting, but no change, the same as you mentioned.
So used FTP and REPL on .39 since.
Also hope they get M5Cloud working again soon, as I changed to MicroPython just recently and really enjoy it. ;-)

TTY snip for explanation :

MicroPython ESP32_LoBo_v3.2.11 - 2018-04-16 on M5Stack with ESP32
Type "help()" for more information.
<>> [M5-30xxxyyyyyyy] M5Cloud connected.
[M5Cloud] Uploading:/flash/config.json .
[M5Cloud] Uploading:/flash/main.py .
[M5Cloud] Uploading:/flash/boot.py .> M5 is connecting now ..

and IDE freezes