Featured Articles
Announcing Pi
Technical Specifications
Raspberry Pi FAQs
Win a Pi
GPIO Pinout
Raspberry Pi Wishlist
Comparison Chart
Quiz
Group Actions
Engagement
  • Author Author: Workshopshed
  • Date Created: Date Created
  • Views 25194 views
  • Likes 8 likes
  • Comments 4 comments
Related
Recommended

VSCode and MicroPython for the Pi Pico

Workshopshed

I've recently been experimenting with MicroPython on the Pi PicoPi Pico. There are a few steps you need to get this setup.

 

  • Install the MicroPython Firmware
  • Suitable editor
  • Upload the code
  • Setting the code to run at boot

 

Although it is designed for a younger audience, I found the "Getting Started with MicroPython" book to be a useful reference. I also used the pi-pico-python-sdk

image

 

Installing the firmware

Installing the firmware is covered on the the https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/rp2040/getting-started/ page.

 

You need to download a suitable uf2 image and then copy it to the Pi Pico as a file. Before you first plug in the Pi Pico, hold down the "BootSel" button then connect the USB. This makes the device appear as a harddisk on your computer and you can copy over the UF2 image. If you then un-plug and replug the Pico Pi it reverts to programming mode.

 

https://micropython.org/download/rp2-pico/

 

Suitable Editor

The recommendation from the Raspberry Pi foundation is Thonny, you can also use the Mu editor.  However, as I already had VSCode installed I didn't want to install yet another editor just for this project so I decided to use VSCode instead. You can use any text editor or IDE for writing your code, the Pico Pi does seem to support UTF-8 and ASCII formats for the files. As I had already done some python development with VSCode I had the extensions for syntax highlighting and intellisense already installed but needed something that would allow me to upload and run the code.

 

Upload the code

The Pico Pi defaults to being a USB Serial device. So should appear on your machine as a COM port. So for this reason some kind of tool is needed to copy the files to the board. I used the Pico-Go extension for VSCode but the Pymakr extension should also work. These provide buttons on the status bar at the bottom of the screen to upload and run the code. You can also get more options from the menus such as deleting all the files on the board or downloading the board content. Note that these work at a project level so will upload all of the files in the working folder including subfolders. The extension also gives you access to the REPL via a terminal window.

REPL is the read–eval–print loop, an interactive prompt. This allows you to run Micropython commands one at a time.

image

You can also upload code using the command line using RShell or Ampy
https://mikeesto.medium.com/uploading-to-the-raspberry-pi-pico-without-thonny-53de1a10da30

 

Setting the code to run at boot

To auto run the code, it is simply a case of having the file named "main.py". This will be run when the board starts up.

Note that there is also "boot.py", this typically sets up the hardware on the board so if you make an error in that you can stop the board working. You'll need to reflash the firmware to get your board back in operation.

  • Hi Andy, thank you for the post!

    I am using Vscode along with Pico-go extension and found it extremely easy for a beginner like me to get started with PICO hardware. Only one thing I could not figure out is how I could add a micropython .py file into the library, so that I could import the same from my code? What is the easiest way to do this with Vscode and Pico-go? 

  • Glad I read this article.

     

    I had originally found the Pymakr extension on VSCode and thought to give it a go but it did not work straight out the box. Looks like you have to tweak the global settings to get the Pymakr terminal to connect to the Pico board. So I've now uninstalled Pymakr and switched to Pico-Go and this connected without bother.

     

    According to VSCode marketplace, Pico-Go originally was a derivative product of Pymakr but it has now received significant rewrites.

    I see there is some good docs to read through too at: Quick Start - Pico-Go

     

    Just to add... as quick start guides go, this Pico-Go guide is very good.

  • in reply to neilk

    Yes there is a Circuit Python firmware you can use. Makes putting files on easier as it just acts like a disk. As AdaFruit are making their own RP2040 board you should expect good tutorials and code available for Circuit Python.

     

    https://learn.adafruit.com/getting-started-with-raspberry-pi-pico-circuitpython

     

    The choice between Python and C is mostly about what you are familiar with. And it should be possible to compile C code as add-ons for Python meaning that you can have performance critical stuff too in Python if you need it.

     

    https://docs.micropython.org/en/latest/develop/cmodules.html

     

    For me the next thing is to look at those PIO blocks, wondering if I can use them as tone generators for a buzzer.

     

  • Hi Andy, nice post.

     

    I've been playing around with VS Code and C/C++, trying to get the process nice and simple.

     

    MicroPython looks a lot simpler!!!!!!!!!!!

     

    I've also seen some references to Circuitpython being available to load as an image on the pico, but haven't followed it up yet. Any comments?

     

    Neil