Pico Eval Board

3.5inch LCD Display Module for Raspberry Pi Pico, 65K Colors, 480 × 320, SPI

Overview

Introduction

A function evaluation board specially designed for Raspberry Pi Pico.
Rich onboard resources are available to help users get started and learn quickly.

Features

Standard Raspberry Pi Pico header supports Raspberry Pi Pico series boards.
3.5-inch resistive touch screen, 65K colorful, bringing clear and vivid display effect.
Standard 3.5mm audio jack, for headphones or other audio peripherals.
Micro SD card slot through the SDIO interface, faster access speed than SPI interface.
Integrates battery header and recharge circuit, allowing it to keep running without a wired power supply.
Other rich resources like a buzzer, photoresistor, and RGB LED.

Specifications

LCD Parameters
Control Chip	ILI9488	Resolution	480 × 320 Pixels
Communication Interface	SPI	Display Size	73.44 × 48.96 mm
Display Panel	IPS	Pixel Size	0.153 × 0.153 mm

ICM20948 Parameters
Accelerometer Characteristics	Resolution: 16 bits Range (optional): ±2, ±4, ±8, ±16g Operating Current: 68.9uA
Gyroscope Characteristics	Resolution: 16 bits Range (optional): ±250, ±500, ±1000, ±2000°/sec Operating Current: 1.23mA
Magnetometer Characteristics	Resolution: 16 bits Range: ±4900µT Operating Current: 90uA

Pinout

Video

Dimension

Pico Getting Started

Firmware Download

MicroPython Firmware Download

C_Blink Firmware Download

Introduction

Raspberry Pi Pico Basics

MicroPython Series

Install Thonny IDE

In order to facilitate the development of Pico/Pico2 boards using MicroPython on a computer, it is recommended to download the Thonny IDE

Download Thonny IDE and follow the steps to install, the installation packages are all Windows versions, please refer to Thonny's official website for other versions
After installation, the language and motherboard environment need to be configured for the first use. Since we are using Pico/Pico2, pay attention to selecting the Raspberry Pi option for the motherboard environment

Configure MicroPython environment and choose Pico/Pico2 port
- Connect Pico/Pico2 to your computer first, and in the lower right corner of Thonny left-click on the configuration environment option --> select Configture interpreter
- In the pop-up window, select MicroPython (Raspberry Pi Pico), and choose the corresponding port

Flash Firmware

Click OK to return to the Thonny main interface, download the corresponding firmware library and burn it to the device, and then click the Stop button to display the current environment in the Shell window
Note: Flashing the Pico2 firmware provided by Micropython may cause the device to be unrecognized, please use the firmware below or in the package
- Pico firmware library
- Pico2 firmware library
How to download the firmware library for Pico/Pico2 in windows: After holding down the BOOT button and connecting to the computer, release the BOOT button, a removable disk will appear on the computer, copy the firmware library into it
How to download the firmware library for RP2040/RP2350 in windows: After connecting to the computer, press the BOOT key and the RESET key at the same time, release the RESET key first and then release the BOOT key, a removable disk will appear on the computer, copy the firmware library into it (you can also use the Pico/Pico2 method)

MicroPython Series

【MicroPython】 machine.Pin class function details
【MicroPython】machine.PWM class function details
【MicroPython】machine.ADC class function details
【MicroPython】machine.UART class function details
【MicroPython】machine.I2C class function details
【MicroPython】machine.SPI class function details
【MicroPython】rp2.StateMachine class function details

C/C++ Series

For C/C++, it is recommended to use Pico VS Code for development. This is a Microsoft Visual Studio Code extension designed to make it easier for you to create, develop, and debug projects for the Raspberry Pi Pico series development boards. No matter if you are a beginner or an experienced professional, this tool can assist you in developing Pico with confidence and ease. Here's how to install and use the extension.

Official website tutorial: https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/pico-vscode-extension/
This tutorial is suitable for Raspberry Pi Pico, Pico2 and the RP2040 and RP2350 series development boards developed by Waveshare
The development environment defaults to Windows11. For other environments, please refer to the official tutorial for installation

Install VSCode

First, click to download pico-vscode package, unzip and open the package, double-click to install VSCode

Note: If vscode is installed, check if the version is v1.87.0 or later

Install Extension

Click Extensions and select Install from VSIX
Select the package with the vsix suffix and click Install
Then vscode will automatically install raspberry-pi-pico and its dependency extensions, you can click Refresh to check the installation progress
The text in the right lower corner shows that the installation is complete. Close VSCode

Configure Extension

Open directory C:\Users\username and copy the entire .pico-sdk to that directory
The Copy is completed

Open vscode and configure the paths for the Raspberry Pi Pico extensions

The configuration is as follows:

Cmake Path:
${HOME}/.pico-sdk/cmake/v3.28.6/bin/cmake.exe

Git Path:
${HOME}/.pico-sdk/git/cmd/git.exe    

Ninja Path:
${HOME}/.pico-sdk/ninja/v1.12.1/ninja.exe

Python3 Path:
${HOME}/.pico-sdk/python/3.12.1/python.exe

New Project

The configuration is complete, create a new project, enter the project name, select the path, and click Create to create the project
To test the official example, you can click on the Example next to the project name to select
The project is created successfully
Select the SDK version
Select Yes for advanced configuration
Choose the cross-compilation chain, 13.2.Rel1 is applicable for ARM cores, RISCV.13.3 is applicable for RISCV cores. You can select either based on your requirements
Select default for CMake version (the path configured earlier)
Select default for Ninjaversion
Select the development board
Click Complie to compile
The uf2 format file is successfully compiled

Import Project

The Cmake file of the imported project cannot have Chinese (including comments), otherwise the import may fail
To import your own project, you need to add a line of code to the Cmake file to switch between pico and pico2 normally, otherwise even if pico2 is selected, the compiled firmware will still be suitable for pico
set(PICO_BOARD pico CACHE STRING "Board type")

Update Extension

The extension version in the offline package is 0.15.2, and you can also choose to update to the latest version after the installation is complete

Arduino IDE Series

Install Arduino IDE

First, go to Arduino official website to download the installation package of the Arduino IDE.
Here, you can select Just Download.
Once the download is complete, click Install.

Notice: During the installation process, it will prompt you to install the driver, just click Install
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Arduino IDE Interface

After the first installation, when you open the Arduino IDE, it will be in English. You can switch to other languages in File --> Preferences, or continue using the English interface.
In the Language field, select the language you want to switch to, and click OK.

Install Arduino-Pico Core in the Arduino IDE

Open the Arduino IDE, click on the file in the top left corner, and select Preferences

Add the following link to the attached board manager URL, and then click OK

https://github.com/earlephilhower/arduino-pico/releases/download/4.0.2/package_rp2040_index.json

Note: If you already have an ESP32 board URL, you can use a comma to separate the URLs as follows:

https://dl.espressif.com/dl/package_esp32_index.json,https://github.com/earlephilhower/arduino-pico/releases/download/4.0.2/package_rp2040_index.json

Click Tools > Development Board > Board Manager > Search pico, as my computer has already been installed, it shows that it is installed

Upload Demo at the First Time

Press and hold the BOOTSET button on the Pico board, connect the pico to the USB port of the computer via the Micro USB cable, and release the button after the computer recognizes a removable hard disk (RPI-RP2).
Download the program and open D1-LED.ino under the arduino\PWM\D1-LED path
Click Tools --> Port, remember the existing COM, do not click this COM (the COM displayed is different on different computers, remember the COM on your own computer)
Connect the driver board to the computer using a USB cable. Then, go to Tools > Port. For the first connection, select uf2 Board. After uploading, when you connect again, an additional COM port will appear
Click Tools > Development Board > Raspberry Pi Pico > Raspberry Pi Pico or Raspberry Pi Pico 2
After setting it up, click the right arrow to upload the program

If issues arise during this period, and if you need to reinstall or update the Arduino IDE version, it is necessary to uninstall the Arduino IDE completely. After uninstalling the software, you need to manually delete all contents within the C:\Users\[name]\AppData\Local\Arduino15 folder (you need to show hidden files to see this folder). Then, proceed with a fresh installation.

Open Source Demos

MircoPython video demo (github)
MicroPython firmware/Blink demos (C)
Raspberry Pi official C/C++ demo (github)
Raspberry Pi official micropython demo (github)
Arduino official C/C++ demo (github)

User Guides

Raspberry Pi

Download Demo

sudo apt-get install p7zip-full -y
cd ~
wget https://files.waveshare.com/upload/5/5a/Pico-Eval-Board-Code.zip
7z x Pico-Eval-Board-Code.zip -o./Pico-Eval-Board-Code
cd Pico-Eval-Board-Code

Log in Raspberry Pi terminal by SSH or press Ctrl + Alt + T to open the terminal when using the screen.
Load and decompress the program to the Pico C/C++ SDK directory, if the SDK has not been installed yet, please refer to the tutorial

C

Press BOOTSEL on the Pico and connect Pico to the USB of Raspberry Pi by Micro USB cable.
Compile and run the c example demo of the Pico-Eval-Board.

cd ./c/

There are corresponding demos in this directory. Different demos correspond to different peripherals and functions.

The following takes 01_GPIO as an example. The GPIO demo will make the LED on the Pico blink every second.

cd ./01_GPIO/build
cmake..
make -j
#If there is no connection or Pico in download mode will report an error
sudo cp ./*.uf2 /media/pi/RPI-RP2/

3. Run the corresponding demo on the Pico.
4. Press the Reset key on the Pico-Eval-Board to reset the Pico. Please press the Bootsel key first and the Run key, and then release the Reset key. By now, Pico enters disk mode without plugging or unplugging.

MicroPython

According to the python environment configuration settings, use the Raspberry Pi desktop system.
Open the Thonny IDE of the Raspberry Pi system, pull the code file into the IDE, save it to the Pico file system, and click the Run button.

Windows

C

Download the demo

Pico-Eval-Board

Use the demo

1. Open the corresponding C program folder.

2. Open it by Vs code and choose the corresponding compile tool.

3. Click "Build" to compile:

4. Press the Reset button on the Pico-Eval-Board to reset the Pico, first press the BOOTSEL button and then the RUN button and then release the Reset button, the Pico can enter the disk mode without plugging and unplugging the Pico, and drag and drop the UF2 file under the build file to the RPI-RP2 drive letter.

5. At this point, Pico starts to run the corresponding program.

MicroPython

Please refer to Video Tutorial
Pico-wiki-tutorial

Resource

Document

Driver

CP210x_USB_TO_UART

Examples

Demo codes

Development Software

Support

Technical Support

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