Pi Pico 2040

[Jeff_T]

Well I received a pico w 2040 today and I have two standard pico 2040 on the way. It's not exactly how I planned but without going into detail the three picos will work out to be a good number. Is the pico 2 the better option for future purchases?

I plan to try Micropython, Arduino c/c++ and Basic across the three microcontrollers starting with Micropython. I have no prior experience with the pico but I have downloaded some documentation and subscribed to some YouTube channels and it looks interesting especially the PIO.

I know there is some interest around the pico here and I would be glad to be given a few pointers or ideas and hopefully I can share the ups and downs I experience along the way.

[Chris Savage]

I plan to try Micropython, Arduino c/c++ and Basic across the three microcontrollers starting with Micropython. I have no prior experience with the pico but I have downloaded some documentation and subscribed to some YouTube channels and it looks interesting especially the PIO.

I can't wait to see what you come up with as you go.

[granz]

Is the pico 2 the better option for future purchases?

With a higher core clock speed, double the memory, more powerful Arm cores, optional RISC‑V cores, new security features, and upgraded interfacing capabilities, Raspberry Pi Pico 2 delivers a significant performance boost, while retaining compatibility with earlier members of the Raspberry Pi Pico series.

So, yes, I think that the Pico 2 is worth the little bit higher price. In addition, the W seems to be only about a dollar, or so, more and so I usually try to get the W versions.

[Jeff_T]

@granz yea I am just beginning to realize what I would probably want from a pico. I might go for this at some point

https://www.sparkfun.com/catalog/product/view/id/7697/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17479024039&gbraid=0AAAAADsj4EQ1cg3LGoA341VUC-oa1KHOB&gclid=CjwKCAjw87XBBhBIEiwAxP3_A4qvvd5sxmRJzgX96PbXF2fH7okm-Jh9oVRiwO4Hw5N5Rvu_7N3beBoCZJsQAvD_BwE

The basic picos I have are great for what I want at the moment and I think I am going to have some fun with these.

@Chris Savage I am not sure where I will go with this so it's a case of slow and steady trying to interface different peripherals and use Micropython to start with.

I blinked a led, used the onboard temp sensor and I wanted to see how a couple of my ESP32 projects held up. The internet radio and mp3 player both worked on the pico wh. I hooked the microcontroller to a VS1053 breakout on a breadboard and had to make some minimal modifications, for example I did not utilize a volume control so I set a fixed value.

If anyone is interested Sparkfun have a new audio player breakout that looks like it might be useful.

https://www.sparkfun.com/sparkfun-audio-player-breakout-my1690x-16s.html 

[Chris Savage]

@Chris Savage I am not sure where I will go with this so it's a case of slow and steady trying to interface different peripherals and use Micropython to start with.

There's no rush. I have so much going on now. But I am keeping on eye on what y'all are up to and hope to do some more experiments as I get time.

If anyone is interested Sparkfun have a new audio player breakout that looks like it might be useful.

Totally going to be looking into this tomorrow. Thanks for pointing it out. Up to now I have been using the DF Robot Mini, which is fine, but the file access is not at all intuitive. Files are referenced in the order they're written to the SD Card and NOT by filename.

[granz]

@granz yea I am just beginning to realize what I would probably want from a pico. I might go for this at some point

https://www.sparkfun.com/...

The basic picos I have are great for what I want at the moment and I think I am going to have some fun with these.

Yeah, I've seen those (and there are some other like that) and they look pretty good. They have the same processor as the Pico 2 (RP2350), and optionally, more flash. The only trouble that I have is the lower GPIO count. I have been looking for some of those boards that use the RP2350 and expose all of the additional GPIO, but there are too many pins for a convenient breadboard format. Maybe someday I'll get what I want in these. 

[Jeff_T]

Well I moved on from Micropython and I am now going to work with Picomite/MMBasic and I may be spending an extended amount of time with this.

I downloaded the firmware and user manual from https://geoffg.net/picomite.html

From the same page I downloaded an IDE for MMBasic called MM Edit which also came with a VT terminal called Maximite, so no Putty or Tera Term needed.

The basic is easy to work with but taking longer because every feature I want to try I have to refer to the manual.

I am impressed just how easy MMBasic is, I have flashed an led, mounted a SD card connected and tested a TFT display ILI9341.

MMBasic contains a GUI builder with a comprehensive number of widget controls, buttons and gauges and all that good stuff. The graphics functions for the firmware contains layers, framebuffers, blits and sprites there are hints on game creation I'm pretty blown away with the scope of things, a 2350 with psram would open up some great possibilities.

For my next step I am integrating sdcard, tft display and touch

[granz]

Well I moved on from Micropython and I am now going to work with Picomite/MMBasic and I may be spending an extended amount of time with this.

I downloaded the firmware and user manual from https://geoffg.net/picomite.html

Welcome to the BASIC side, young Padawan. 

From the same page I downloaded an IDE for MMBasic called MM Edit which also came with a VT terminal called Maximite, so no Putty or Tera Term needed.

Actually, MM Edit is not really an IDE; it is an editor with direct upload capability - it does not do any compiling, or anything. You won't need Putty, or Tera Term, for loading the software/firmware, but you will need it to communicate with the program that you download to the PicoMite. If you are doing any simple IOT stuff, then you may not need a communications program, but if you want to interact with your game/sensor monitor/whatever, or to update the firmware on-the-fly, you will still need that comm program.

The basic is easy to work with but taking longer because every feature I want to try I have to refer to the manual.

I am impressed just how easy MMBasic is, I have flashed an led, mounted a SD card connected and tested a TFT display ILI9341.

MMBasic contains a GUI builder with a comprehensive number of widget controls, buttons and gauges and all that good stuff. The graphics functions for the firmware contains layers, framebuffers, blits and sprites there are hints on game creation I'm pretty blown away with the scope of things, a 2350 with psram would open up some great possibilities.

For my next step I am integrating sdcard, tft display and touch

The language pretty well blew me away, too. There is so much just built-in, and it is really incredibly easy to learn. Several people have commented that you can take a neophyte, set them down in front of a terminal with BASIC, and they are able to start programming with just a few hours of teaching. Those "elites" who bad-mouth BASIC just don't understand modern versions of the language, and are too l337 to take the time to learn. 

[Chris Savage]

Those "elites" who bad-mouth BASIC just don't understand modern versions of the language, and are too l337 to take the time to learn. 

BASIC can be quite useful, especially for fast development. The BASIC Stamp helped me realize many projects that others said could NOT be done on it. A couple of the projects on the main website are born out of that skepticism.

[granz]

I plan to try Micropython, Arduino c/c++ and Basic across the three microcontrollers starting with Micropython.

I know that you meant that you are planning on using the Arduino IDE on the Pico here, but in case you want to try the actual Arduino boards (or any of the former Atmel AVR chips,) you may want to look into BASCOM from MCS Electronics (https://www.mcselec.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1). This is also an impressive, modern BASIC. It is actually a couple versions, one (BASCOM-AVR) for the Atmels, like I mentioned, but also an older BASCOM-51 for the 8051 family of microcontroller chips.

Unlike the PicoMite BASIC, which runs solely on the Pico, these BASCOM BASICs are compilers, and run on your PC. Once done compiling, you download (built-in downloader for several programmers, including the Arduino bootloader) the code to your controller chip.

[granz]

BASIC can be quite useful, especially for fast development. The BASIC Stamp helped me realize many projects that others said could NOT be done on it. A couple of the projects on the main website are born out of that skepticism.

That's one of the things that I like most about BASIC - it makes for great RAD (Rapid Application Development - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_application_development), especially if you have an interpreter, or a good compiler, like Borland's TurboBASIC.

Another thing about BASIC is that it is so easy to teach to beginners. Someone with no previous knowledge of programming can learn it in just a few hours (that's how I got my start.  )

One more thing about BASIC is that they have implemented it (including Tiny BASIC) on almost everything. There is even a Tiny on the AVR ATmega328 of the Arduino. Back in high school, I was talking to one of the kids who was a year, or so, older than me about BASIC, and he told me that it was a program to allow programming. I asked him if BASIC could be written for a CardIAC (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CARDboard_Illustrative_Aid_to_Computation), he told me that yes, it could if you could give it enough memory (the real CardIAC had only 100_decimal words of memory.  ) He was right - I have played around with extending the CardIAC system to 16- or more bits (rather than the three decimal digits.) That could be enough to write a version of Tiny. Of course, trying to run that language by hand (the cardboard computer had to have the user perform every micro code operation by hand) would be enough to give a programmer nightmares. 

[Chris Savage]

That's one of the things that I like most about BASIC - it makes for great RAD (Rapid Application Development

I'll say this one last thing about BASIC, so as not to completely divert the topic of this thread. Many of the applications from my QuickBASIC Applications page were originally written on the C=64 / C=128 and only later ported over to the PC after Commodore went under and my business shifted to the PC world. Yes, even WKBBS started on the C=64.

[Jeff_T]

Things have been a little quiet for me lately but I did pick up a Sparkfun development board which I received yesterday.

Sparkfun have a category called Ding and Dent where they sell stuff with minor imperfections. I bought this RP2350 Thing Plus for $19.95 which has the JST battery connector with non standard +/- connections. This is not a big deal IMO as long as you remain aware of the crossed connection.

It has a radio module, micro SD slot, 8MB PSRAM, 16MB Flash and a few other goodies. Here is a link if anyone is interested.

One thing that I was disappointed with when I tried to add a small audio module to my order the shipping jumped from $7 to $31 so I took the audio breakout off the order. I could not understand why the shipping for the audio breakout was $24, I will write Sparkfun and ask if that is their normal shipping cost.