Blog

I wrote a hands-on Raspberry Pi Pico 2 project book — free review copies for embedded developers

2026-03-03T20:07:40Z

Hi everyone, I’m Michael I write embedded systems books for beginners and professionals. I recently released: Embedded Systems with Raspberry Pi Pico 2 and RP2350: Projects and Deep Dives The book is built around the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 powere...(read more)

Use the Pico RP2350 in RISC-V mode without Pico VSCode Extension: build

2025-12-15T17:49:52Z

Raspberry published a VSCode extension for the Pico family. It's very useful and makes for an easy experience. I use it a lot.But for projects I publish, I prefer that there is no dependency on either VSCode or the extension. That...(read more)

C++ write your own stream class - part 2: a working Pico UART IO stream (embedded friendly C++)

2025-11-15T16:45:18Z

In C++ it's common to stream data. You write to a file using the << operator. You read with >>. example: cout << "hello, world! << endl; In this blog I'm making my own minimal in, out and in-out stream class fo...(read more)

modern C++ on a Pico: use C++ Standard Library algorithms - embedded friendly

2025-11-07T18:43:55Z

C++ has embedded friendly mechanisms that can help to structure your firmware. While keeping the design resource-lean.In this post, I use classes, C++ stl containers and algorithms to manage close-to-the-hardware resources with object...(read more)

OO Library to handle Pico PIO relative interrupts: library design

2025-08-27T21:10:59Z

This post explains the internal design of OO Library to handle Pico PIO relative interrupts: usage and example . I made an Object Oriented library that supports handling PIO interrupts with C++ objects.Goal: let a PI...(read more)

OO Library to handle Pico PIO relative interrupts: usage and example

2025-08-26T19:34:43Z

I made an Object Oriented library that supports handling PIO interrupts with C++ objects.Goal: let a PIO state machine call the very C++ object that can manage (or watch) that particular event. For who is this library? It's m...(read more)

OO Library to handle Pico PIO relative interrupts: intro

2025-08-23T16:04:49Z

Object Oriented library to design C++ classes that support PIO interrupts. Goal: make a PIO state machine call the very C++ object that's managing (or watching) it. When I designed a Pico library to manage stepper motors with the PIO co-cont...(read more)

Raspberry PIO stepper library documentation - 5: simple ramp up and down

2025-05-11T10:39:03Z

Raspberry PIO stepper library (pio_stepper_lib) is a C++ library that runs stepper motors in PIO state machines. It's intended to be easy to integrate and use in Pico projects. In this post: create ramps when motor starts, stops or changes direc...(read more)

Raspberry Pico stepper driver IC library, with example: Allegro A4988

2025-04-30T14:28:41Z

Pico C++ library for Allegro A4988 stepper driver IC. I created a generic stepper driver library, and made a first example: Raspberry Pico stepper driver IC library, with example: Texas Instruments DRV8711. In this post, I create a pl...(read more)

Raspberry Pico stepper driver IC library, with example: Texas Instruments DRV8711

2025-04-26T13:33:28Z

While designing a library for stepper motors, it bothered me that I had to put stepper driver IC logic across my user code.To solve that, I made a little driver lib. First I looked what logic shabaz and I put in our stepper projects, and s...(read more)

Raspberry Pico: talk to ICs with active high Chip Select (CS)

2025-04-25T10:10:07Z

SPI ICs usually have an active low chip select pin (~CS, nCS, ...). I have a Texas Instruments IC (stepper motor driver DRV8711) that has an active high CS. Initially, I bit-banged the CS pin: set it high with the GPIO API before communication, ...(read more)

Raspberry PIO Stepper Library: Trying it out with a Pi Pico and two Stepper Motors!

2025-04-23T19:13:36Z

Stepper motors are super-useful for precision movements. I made a little stepper motor board a while back, but never got around to testing it at the time. Jan Jan Cumps has created a stepper motor control library (click here to learn a...(read more)

Raspberry PIO stepper library documentation - 4: understand the step frequency

2025-04-21T17:47:28Z

Raspberry PIO stepper library (pio_stepper_lib) is a C++ library that runs stepper motors in PIO state machines. It's intended to be easy to integrate and use in Pico projects. In this post: the frequency of the pulse train it generates, and how...(read more)

Raspberry PIO stepper library documentation - 3: control multiple motors with 1 or more PIOs

2025-04-21T11:58:59Z

Raspberry PIO stepper library (pio_stepper_lib) is a C++ library that runs stepper motors in PIO state machines. It's intended to be easy to integrate and use in Pico projects. Check Raspberry PIO stepper library documentation - 1: in...(read more)

Raspberry PIO stepper library documentation - 2: advanced example with notification

2025-04-18T17:29:42Z