Micropython Modules for the Pi-Pico.

Discussion about programs, libraries and tools that work with MicroPython. Mostly these are provided by a third party.
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Victor_UK
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2021 8:46 am

Micropython Modules for the Pi-Pico.

Post by Victor_UK » Mon Apr 05, 2021 9:37 am

H Everyone - This is my first post on this Forum...

Having managed to get the new Raspberry Pi Pico on the cover of the February issue of HackSpace Magazine - I also purchased a Pico Omnibus (Dual Expander) and a Pico Unicorn Pack from Pimoroni to test things out.

Although I have previously worked with 8051 assembler and FPGA/VHDL - for Linux and Python/MicroPython I am very much still on the learning curve.

With the Pico - using Thonny on a Pi-400 and the Pimoroni Micropython UF2 it gave an easy way to get the demo.py working as an initial step.

Wanting to use other library modules that support different devices from other vendors - I started to look for a way of extracting the Picounicorn Module such that it may be simply copied to the /RP2 folder with other source and library files as part of a larger project, or could a set of modules be made available to allow a pick-and-mix approach.

looking at: GitHub/pimoroni

one can find the source and library files which are used as part of the build process to generate the .UF2 file to support a number of Pimoroni products. Within the libraries there are various ‘C’ files etc. which would therefore require writing a new make file(?) to only build those parts relevant to the display - a task, which unfortunately, will be far beyond my capabilities for a while!

Given the simplicity of using Micropython and Thonny to learn programming skills, I am sure that there are many new users (like me) that lack the expertise and experience to be able to make the step-change required if one has to also use the C/C++ SDK etc. to make progress to the next level.

The RPi-Pico/RP2040 is an amazing new initiative within the world of microcontrollers - and an exciting first step with a new architecture. However the RPi-Pico also fits in a ‘different place’ to the Linux based Raspberry Pi SBC, so I guess it will take a while for a new ‘eco system’ to evolve and provide less experienced users the tools and scripts to simplify the learning curve to its use.

I have raised this topic on the Raspberry Pi Forums

...where it has been suggested that posting here might highlight a way forwards.

I am aware that maybe this is already a topic of discussion - somewhere - but I must admit I am feeling a bit swamped with learning Python and Linux etc. so possibly can't see the wood for the trees

Thank you.

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