diff --git a/atmel-samd/mpconfigport.h b/atmel-samd/mpconfigport.h
index cbd5146453..1f72477c77 100644
--- a/atmel-samd/mpconfigport.h
+++ b/atmel-samd/mpconfigport.h
@@ -78,6 +78,8 @@
 #define MICROPY_PY_SYS_STDFILES     (1)
 #define MICROPY_PY_IO_FILEIO        (1)
 #define MICROPY_PY_MICROPYTHON_MEM_INFO (1)
+#define MICROPY_PERSISTENT_CODE_LOAD (1)
+#define MICROPY_PY_BUILTINS_STR_UNICODE (1)
 
 // type definitions for the specific machine
 
diff --git a/py/emitglue.c b/py/emitglue.c
index f4b59df3eb..2bfc4ad82b 100644
--- a/py/emitglue.c
+++ b/py/emitglue.c
@@ -425,7 +425,7 @@ mp_raw_code_t *mp_raw_code_load_file(const char *filename) {
     return rc;
 }
 
-#elif defined(__thumb2__)
+#elif defined(__thumb2__) || defined(__thumb__)
 // fatfs file reader (assume thumb2 arch uses fatfs...)
 
 #include "lib/fatfs/ff.h"