Getting Started with Raspberry Pi Pico

Copyright 2021-2023 Moddable Tech, Inc.
Revised: May 30, 2023

This document describes how to start building Moddable applications for the Raspberry Pi Pico. It provides information on how to configure host build environments, how to build and deploy apps, and includes links to external development resources.

Note: The Pico port is solid and mostly complete. Possible future work includes:

• Mods
• JavaScript Atomics
• Web Workers making use of the second core
• PIO integration
• Building on Windows

• About Raspberry Pi Pico
• Overview
• Platforms
• macOS
  • SDK and Host Environment Setup - macOS
  • Building and Deploying apps - macOS
  • Troubleshooting
• Windows
  • SDK and Host Environment Setup - Windows
  • Building and Deploying apps - Windows
• Linux
  • SDK and Host Environment Setup - Linux
  • Building and Deploying apps - Linux
• Debugging Native Code
• Reference Documents

Please see the Raspberry Pi Pico documentation for details.

Before you can build applications, you need to:

• Install the Moddable SDK and build its tools
• Install the required development tools for the Raspberry Pi Pico platform

The instructions below will have you verify your setup by running the helloworld example on your device using mcconfig, a command line tool that builds and runs Moddable applications.

See the Tools documentation for more information about mcconfig

When building with mcconfig, you specify your device target by providing the platform identifier of your development board to the -p argument. For example, use the following command to build for the Pico Display:

mcconfig -d -m -p pico/pico_display

A list of available Pico subplatforms and their platform identifiers is provided in the Platforms section below.

The Raspberry Pi Pico has the following features:

• RP2040 microcontroller running up to 133 MHz
• Dual-core ARM Cortex M0+
• 264 KB RAM
• 2 MB flash

The Moddable SDK supports devices built with the Pico. The following table lists each device, its platform identifier, a list of key features specific to the device, and links to additional resources.

Name	Platform identifier	Key features	Links
Rasberry Pi Pico	pico	LED, 26 external pins	Raspberry Pi Pico documentation
Rasberry Pi Pico W	pico/pico_w	Wi-Fi, LED, 26 external pins	Raspberry Pi Pico documentation
Pimoroni Pico Display	pico/pico_display simulator/pico_display	1.4" IPS display 135 x 240 16-bit color 4 buttons RGB LED	Pimoroni Pico Display
Pimoroni Pico Display 2	pico/pico_display_2 simulator/pico_display_2	2.0" IPS display 320 x 240 16-bit color 4 buttons RGB LED	Pimoroni Pico Display 2
Waveshare Pico LCD 1.3	pico/pico_lcd_1.3	1.3" IPS display 240 x 240 16-bit color 4 buttons 1 joystick	Waveshare Pico LCD 1.3
Adafruit ItsyBitsy RP2040	pico/itsybitsy	Neopixel, 1 button	Adafruit product page
LILYGO T-Display RP240	pico/lilygo_t_display	1.14" ST7789, 2 buttons, red LED	LilyGO T-Display GitHub repository
Pimoroni PicoSystem	pico/picosystem	1.54" IPS LCD, 240 x 240, D-pad & 4 buttons, RGB LED	Pimoroni product page
Sparkfun Pro Micro RP2040	pico/pro_micro	Qwiic/STEMMA connector, Neopixel	Sparkfun product page
Adafruit QT Py	pico/qtpy	STEMMA/Qwiic connector, Neopixel, 1 button	Adafruit product page
Adafruit Trinkey QT2040	pico/qt_trinkey	STEMMA/Qwiic connector, Neopixel, 1 button	Adafruit product page
Pimoroni Tiny 2040	pico/tiny2040	RGB LED, 1 button	Pimoroni product page
WAVESHARE 1.28inch Round LCD	pico/ws_round pico/ws_round_touch	1.28" IPS 240×240 Round Display	WAVESHARE product page touch LCD version
Seeed Studio XIAO RP2040	pico/xiao_rp2040	Neopixel	Seeed Studio product page
ili9341	pico/xiao_ili9341	ili9341 QVGA display 320 x 240 16-bit color	Wiring Guide - Pico
ili9341	pico/ili9341	ili9341 QVGA display 320 x 240 16-bit color	Generic 2.4" & 2.8" Displays (Resistive Touch) Wiring Guide - Pico
ili9341	pico/ili9341_i2s	ili9341 QVGA display 320 x 240 16-bit color potentiometer, buttons i2s audio	Wiring Guide

pico-ili9341-i2s-thumb.png

Most of steps these are condensed from the Raspberry Pi Pico C SDK document. Refer to the document for details.

1. The Moddable SDK Getting Started document describes how to configure the host build environment and install the required SDKs, drivers, and development tools. Follow the instructions in the Host environment setup section for macOS.

2. Set up the Pico SDK Create a pico directory in your home directory at ~/pico for required third party SDKs and tools.

   cd $HOME
   mkdir pico
   

3. Install required components using brew.

   brew install cmake
   brew tap ArmMbed/homebrew-formulae
   brew install arm-none-eabi-gcc
   

4. Set PICO_GCC_ROOT environment variable to point to the bin directory of your arm-none-eabi toolchain. For macOS, it is set to brew --prefix; typically this is /usr/local on x86_64 architecture and /opt/homebrew on arm64.

   export PICO_GCC_ROOT=$(brew --prefix)
   

5. Install the pico sdk, extras and examples:

   cd $HOME/pico
   git clone -b 1.5.0 https://github.com/raspberrypi/pico-sdk
   cd pico-sdk
   git submodule update --init
   

   cd $HOME/pico
   git clone -b sdk-1.5.0 https://github.com/raspberrypi/pico-extras
   

   cd $HOME/pico
   git clone -b sdk-1.5.0 https://github.com/raspberrypi/pico-examples
   

6. Set the PICO_SDK_DIR environment variable to point to the Pico SDK directory:

   export PICO_SDK_DIR=$HOME/pico/pico-sdk
   

7. Build some pico tools:

   cd $PICO_SDK_DIR
   mkdir build
   cd build
   cmake ..
   make
   

After you've setup your macOS host environment, take the following steps to install an application on your Pico.

1. Build and deploy the app with mcconfig.

   mcconfig is the command line tool to build and launch Moddable apps on microcontrollers and the simulator. Full documentation of mcconfig is available here.

   Specify the platform -p pico with mcconfig to build for the Pico. Build the helloworld example:

   cd $MODDABLE/examples/helloworld
   mcconfig -d -m -p pico
   

The app will be built and installed. xsbug will be launched and connected to the Pico after a few seconds.

Note: If the device is unresponsive, you may see this message:

 Hold the BOOTSEL button and power-cycle the device.
 Waiting for /Volumes/RPI-RPI2.....

Put the device into programming mode by holding the BOOTSEL button when powering on the Pico.

You will know that programming mode is active when a disk named RPI-RP2 appears on your desktop.

• If the macOS DISK NOT EJECTED PROPERLY remain on your screen, you can download and use the ejectfix.py tool to make them auto-dismiss.

  See the article at the Adafruit blog for details.

Not yet available.

Not yet available.

Note: This setup was performed on a Ubuntu 20 VM using VirtualBox.

Most of steps these are condensed from the Raspberry Pi Pico C SDK document. Refer to the document for details.

1. The Moddable SDK Getting Started document describes how to configure the host build environment and install the required SDKs, drivers, and development tools. Follow the instructions in the Host environment setup section for Linux.

2. Set up the Pico SDK

   Create a pico directory in your home directory at ~/pico for required third party SDKs and tools.

   cd $HOME
   mkdir pico
   

3. Install required components using apt.

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install cmake gcc-arm-none-eabi libnewlib-arm-none-eabi build-essential
   

4. Set PICO_GCC_ROOT environment variable to point to the bin directory of your arm-none-eabi toolchain. For Ubuntu 20, it is set to /usr.

   export PICO_GCC_ROOT=/usr
   

5. Install the pico sdk, extras and examples:

   cd $HOME/pico
   git clone -b 1.5.0 https://github.com/raspberrypi/pico-sdk
   cd pico-sdk
   git submodule update --init
   

   cd $HOME/pico
   git clone -b sdk-1.5.0 https://github.com/raspberrypi/pico-extras
   

   cd $HOME/pico
   git clone -b sdk-1.5.0 https://github.com/raspberrypi/pico-examples
   

6. Set the PICO_SDK_DIR environment variable to point to the Pico SDK directory:

   export PICO_SDK_DIR=$HOME/pico/pico-sdk
   

7. Build some pico tools:

   cd $PICO_SDK_DIR
   mkdir build
   cd build
   cmake ..
   make
   

After you've setup your Linux host environment, take the following steps to install an application on your Pico.

1. Put the device into programming mode by holding the BOOTSEL button when powering on the Pico.

   Make sure you're using a data-sync capable cable, not one that is power-only.

   Note: a USB hub with power switch is very helpful here.

   You will know that programming mode is active when a disk named RPI-RP2 appears on your desktop.

   

   Note: For best results with a virtual machine, capture the Pico device in both the Boot mode state and running state. The image below shows the configuration in VirtualBox:

   

2. Build and deploy the app with mcconfig.

   mcconfig is the command line tool to build and launch Moddable apps on microcontrollers and the simulator. Full documentation of mcconfig is available here.

   Specify the platform -p pico with mcconfig to build for the Pico. Build the helloworld example:

   cd $MODDABLE/examples/helloworld
   mcconfig -d -m -p pico
   

The app will be built and installed. xsbug will be launched and connected to the Pico after a few seconds.

Refer to the Getting Started With Pico for instructions on setting up your hardware.

These instructions have been tested on a macOS host using the two Pico SWD setup described in Appendix A: Using Picoprobe.

1. Build pico-openocd as described in the document.

2. In a console, start openocd and set the console aside.

   cd ~/pico/openocd
   ~/pico/openocd/src/openocd -f interface/picoprobe.cfg -f target/rp2040.cfg -s tcl
   

3. In another console, change the directory to the build results directory and start gdb:

   cd $MODDABLE/build/bin/pico/debug/<app>
   arm-none-eabi-gdb xs_pico.elf
   

4. Connect to openocd. load the app. reset the device.

   (gdb) target remote localhost:3333
   (gdb) load
   (gdb) monitor reset init
   (gdb) continue
   

Getting started with Raspberry Pi Pico

Hardware Design with RP2040

Raspberry Pi Pico C SDK