I am amazed and very pleased to discover that since a few days ago, everything you need to program the BBC micro:bit is available from the Debian archive. All this is thanks to the hard work of Nick Morrott and the Debian python packaging team. The micro:bit project recommend the mu-editor to program the microcomputer, as this editor will take care of all the machinery required to injekt/flash micropython alongside the program into the micro:bit, as long as the pieces are available.
There are three main pieces involved. The first to enter Debian was python-uflash, which was accepted into the archive 2019-01-12. The next one was mu-editor, which showed up 2019-01-13. The final and hardest part to to into the archive was firmware-microbit-micropython, which needed to get its build system and dependencies into Debian before it was accepted 2019-01-20. The last one is already in Debian Unstable and should enter Debian Testing / Buster in three days. This all allow any user of the micro:bit to get going by simply running 'apt install mu-editor' when using Testing or Unstable, and once Buster is released as stable, all the users of Debian stable will be catered for.
As a minor final touch, I added rules to the isenkram package for recognizing micro:bit and recommend the mu-editor package. This make sure any user of the isenkram desktop daemon will get a popup suggesting to install mu-editor then the USB cable from the micro:bit is inserted for the first time.
This should make it easier to have fun.
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