Raspberry-Pi-Pico-Kit-B

Raspberry Pico

Raspberry Pi Pico is a low-cost, high-performance microcontroller board with flexible digital interfaces. It incorporates Raspberry Pi's own RP2040 microcontroller chip, with a dual-core Arm Cortex M0+ processor running up to 133 MHz, embedded 264KB of SRAM, and 2MB of onboard Flash memory, as well as 26x multi-function GPIO pins.
For software development, either Raspberry Pi's C/C++ SDK or the MicroPython is available. There are also complete development resources and tutorials to help you get started easily, and integrate it into end products quickly.

Details of the Start Kit

Raspberry Pi Pico with pre-soldered header x1
Pico-LCD-1.14 x 1
Pico-10DOF-IMU x 1
Breadboard x1
1*3PIN yellow pin header x 1
Pico-Dual-Expander x 1
USB-A to micro-B cable x 1
Jumper wires x 1

Features

RP2040 microcontroller chip designed by Raspberry Pi in the United Kingdom.
Dual-core Arm Cortex M0+ processor, a flexible clock running up to 133 MHz.
264KB of SRAM, and 2MB of onboard Flash memory.
Castellated module allows soldering direct to carrier boards.
USB 1.1 with device and host support.
Low-power sleep and dormant modes.
Drag-and-drop programming using mass storage over USB.
26 × multi-function GPIO pins.
2 × SPI, 2 × I2C, 2 × UART, 3 × 12-bit ADC, 16 × controllable PWM channels.
Accurate clock and timer on-chip.
Temperature sensor.
Accelerated floating-point libraries on-chip.
8 × Programmable I/O (PIO) state machines for custom peripheral support.

Pinout

Dimensions

User Guides for MicroPython

Flash Firmware

Download Testing Firmware to your computer and extract it.
- There are two uf2 files, the pico_micropython_20210121.uf2 file is MicroPython firmware.
Press the button on the Pico board, connect the Pico to the USB port of the computer via the Micro USB cable, and then release the button.
- After connecting, the computer will automatically recognize a removable disk (RPI-RP2).

Copy and drag the firmware file downloaded earlier to the RPi-RP2 mobile disk.
After the copy is completed, Pico will automatically restart, and after the automatic restart, pico will be recognized as a virtual serial port.

【Note】 1. Is the mobile disk not automatically recognized after connecting to Pico?
▶ Check that the BOOTSEL button is not pressed or released in the middle.
▶ The Micro USB cable used must be a data cable, and the USB cable that can only be used for power supply cannot be used.
2. You can also operate on the Raspberry Pi, the operation steps are the same, also connect the pico to the Raspberry Pi, and then drag the firmware to the mobile disk.

Software Environment Debugging

Windows

To facilitate the development of Pico boards using MicroPython on the computer, it is recommended to download Thonny IDE.

Download Thonny IDE and follow the steps to install
- Thonny IDE download link (Windows version)
- Thonny official website
After the installation is completed, the first time you need to configure the language and motherboard environment because we are using Pico, so pay attention to selecting the Raspberry Pi option.

Raspberry

If you want to control Pico on Raspberry Pi, please refer to this configuration step.
Current Raspberry Pi systems come with Thonny IDE.
But if Thonny is not updated to the latest version, there is no Pico support package, and you need to update Thonny to the latest v3.3.3 version.

Enable a terminal and enter the following command to update thonny.

sudo apt upgrade thonny

Open Thonny IDE (click Raspberry logo -> Programming -> Thonny Python IDE).
Select Tools -> Options... -> Interpreter.
Select MicroPython (Raspberry Pi Pico and ttyACM0 port.

LED Control Demo

Connect the Pico to the computer (without pressing any keys), if you have not flashed MicroPython before, please follow the #Flash Firmware operation.
Select Tools -> Options... -> Interpreter.
Select Raspberry Pi Pico in the interpreter options (be careful to download the latest version of Thonny, otherwise there is no option).
port selection.
- On the computer, the port is selected as, after connecting to Pico, the COM port recognized by the computer.
- On the Raspberry Pi, the port is identified as /dev/ttyACM0.
Then confirm.
After confirmation, you can see that there will be multiple Pico information in the command line interface, and now you can enter the MicroPython program here to control the Pico.

Looking at the pin diagram of Pico, we know that the control pin of Pico's on-board LED is GPIO25, here we try to control the on-board LED.
Run the following code in sequence in Thonny:

>>> from machine import Pin
>>> led = Pin(25, Pin.OUT)
>>> led.value(1)
>>> led.value(0)

After running the code in sequence, you can see that the Pico onboard LED lights are turned on and then off.
【Note】
If you want to know more about the functions of Pico Micropython, you can refer to Pico Python SDK Manual.

Hardware Connection

Please take care of the direction when you connect Pico, an USB port is printed to indicate. You can also check the pin of Pico and the LCD board when connecting.
You can connect the display according to the table.

LCD	Pico	Description
VCC	VSYS	Power Input
GND	GND	GND
MPU.INT	GP2	INT pin of ICM20948
LPS.INT	GP3	INT pin of LPS22HB
SDA	GP6	SDA pin of I2C
SCL	GP7	SCL pin of I2C
FSYNC	GP22	FSYNC pin of ICM20948

Connect the expansion board

Environment Building

Please refer to Here.

Download the examples

Open a Raspberry Pi terminal and run the following commands:

sudo apt-get install p7zip-full
cd ~
sudo wget  https://files.waveshare.com/upload/c/c5/Pico-Kit-B-code.7z
7z x Pico-Kit-B-code.7z -o./Pico-Kit-B-code
cd ~/Pico-Kit-B-code
cd c/build/

How to use

C Example

Go to the directory of the C example and build it.

cd ~/Pico-Kit-B-code/c/

Create the build folder and enter it. add the SDK:

../../pico-sdk #should be the path of the SDK according to the actual situation.

We have created the build folder in the example, you can just enter it.

cd build
export PICO_SDK_PATH=../../pico-sdk
(Note: Please check if you set the correct path of SDK, it may be different for different users)

Run cmake to generate the Makefile

cmake ..

Run make to build the example, it will take minutes.

make -j9

uf2 is generated after building.
Press and hold the button of the Pico board, and then connect the Pico to your Raspberry Pi or PC by USB cable, then release the button. Then copy the main.uf2 file which is saved in the build folder to the Pico (It should be recognized as a portable drive, which is named RPI-RP2).

Python example

Work with windows PC

1. Press and hold the BOOTSET button of Pico, and connect the Pico to your PC by USB cable. Release the button if the Pico is recognized as a portable drive.
2. Copy the rp2-pico-20210205-unstable-v1.14-8-g1f800cac3.uf2 from the Python directory to the Pico.
3. Open Thonny IDE (Note: Please use the newest version).
4. Click Tools -> Options -> Interpreter and choose the Port of Pico (you can check it in the Device Manager).

5. Click File -> Open..., choose Raspberry-Pi-Pico-Kit-B.py, and run it.

Working with Raspberry Pi

1. The steps to download the firmware is the same as Windows PC. Copy the rp2-pico-20210205-unstable-v1.14-8-g1f800cac3.uf2 to Pico.
2. Open the Thonny IDE in Raspberry Pi（Menu -> Programming -> Thonny Python IDE, you can check the version information in Help -> About Thonny to make sure that it is the version that supports Pico.
3. Click Tools -> Options... -> Interpreter to choose the MicroPython(Raspberry Pi Pico and the ttyACM0 port.

Please update the Thonny IDE if the pre-installed one doesn't support Pico.

sudo apt upgrade thonny

3. Click File -> Open...-> Pico-Kit-B-code/python/Raspberry-Pi-Pico-Kit-B.py and run the codes.

Expected result

1. The LCD keeps blank if you didn't run the demo codes;
2. After running the codes, the LCD turns on and displays the data which is collected by the Pico-10DOF-IMU.

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)

Resources

Demos

Official Document

Pico W

Firmware

Pico W MicroPython Firmware

Pico

User Manual

Schematic & Datasheet

Related Books

Raspberry Pi Open-source Demo

Development Software

Demo Codes

Demo codes for Raspberry-Pi-Pico-Kit-B

Related Product

Support

Technical Support

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