Any Success with Rpi Pico (RP2040)

Other Hardware 3rd Party Boards
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I'm starting a new project and need a 3.3V CPU running at least 20MHz (i.e. the venerable at328 won't quite cut it).

Have folks had issues working with the RP2040 in the Arduino IDE? I'm not doing anything very fancy (I2C + SPI + digital I/O).
I could use an ESP32 but I have some Pico's and would like to try them unless they are a major PIA.

Thanks John

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there are issues with every board.

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Thanks. So for me the Pico is not ready for Prime time. Thank you, you saved me a lot of wasted time

John

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I think the esp32 core has many issues and the maintenance is very slow there

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RP2040 or ESP32
Now adapting to RP2040 PICO W

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I'm not sure how you concluded that. I'm pretty sure "There are issues with every board" from Juraj means that all existing board designs have their imperfections, NOT that "Every Pico board has a problem."

Identified Pico problems:

  • Low power modes are pretty poor.
  • Few ADC channels.
  • Code protection (in external flash) is essentially impossible.
  • Running from external flash is pretty non-deterministic. (also true of ESP modules.)
  • Arduino's "core" is based on MBed, so as to support WiFi in the "rp2040 connect" product. This makes some other functions slower than they ought to be (IMNSHO) (the Philhower core is better, at least if you don't need the networking.)

Advantages:

  • Really fast.
  • Runs python as well as Arduino and Native SDK.
  • PIO peripheral is neat.
  • rp2040 chips seem to have avoided the great Chip Shortage, so many pico-like board are actually available!
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Thank you for your reply. I will give the Pico a shot.

Perhaps I phrased my initial question poorly. I was really looking for what you said. i.e. "was general use problematic". I figured I needn't reinvent the wheel here.

Thanks again, I try to remember to post my results.

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Since you are off the "Official" board path, you likely should include Teensy in your contemplation. Outside of Arduino native boards, Teensy is IMO the best supported product.

Teensy USB Development Board (pjrc.com)

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Thanks, I'll keep them in mind. For now since I have the Pico's I'll head in that direction. Seems right now the Teensy's are a victim of too short a supply chain.

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You can program the Picos in micropython too. Or use the official C++ SDK if you don’t want to use the Arduino IDE.

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Perhaps, but eBay seem to have them readily available. I guess Paul could tell us if eBay is selling clone hardware. Anyway, it was an option and I have had great success with Paul's designs and support.

teensy for sale | eBay

Ouch. I messed around with that back when the RP2040 first became available... left an aftertaste in my mouth like a cheap Scotch. Like, I get the whole Python thing and I have played with CircuitPython and MicroPython. But it just ain't for me. I'm old and learned C in the 1970's and C++ in the 1990's ... I can drink beer and program in C++ but I'd have to stay sober for Python... seriously, why even go there?

I guess one could load a BASIC interpreter too :upside_down_face:

Arduino RP2040 Standalone IoT Computer Running BASIC - Hackster.io

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Ah. I was looking at the Teensy LC. I see the more capable ones are available.

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