Raspberry Pi Pico and MicroPython - Getting Started

The Raspberry Pi Pico is an incredibly power microcontroller board that you can pick up for less than the cost of an Arduino Uno. Not only does it provide much more processing power and memory, but it also lets you code in beginner friendly Python.
Out of the box MicroPython, the version for microcontrollers, is not installed. So let me show you how to set that up and create a full, professional development system for your Raspberry Pi Pico MicroPython projects.
Don't forget to check out the project page on my website at...
bytesnbits.co....
MicroPython website
micropython.org/
Raspberry Pi documentation
www.raspberryp...
www.raspberryp...
Thinny IDE
thonny.org/
Python.org
www.python.org/
Pycharm
www.jetbrains....

[@IronRiviera]

Excellent content, as usual

[@BytesNBits]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@RAMMSTEIN082]

Thanks man. Very useful video. Hope you make more videos about Raspberry Pi Pico

[@BytesNBits]

More to come!

[@meysamkhezri2723]

Thank you for this great tutorial! I installed pycharm and micropython plugin but when I run the parameter it says it can't find machine module. How can I tell pycharm thar runs code on pico not my computer? I enabled micropython support with correct device type and device path but still not working

[@BytesNBits]

You need to use the REPL terminal. Make sure your Pi Pico is connected to the PC. In your PyCharm tools menu you should see a mIcroPython menu. Inside there there's an REPL option. This will open up a terminal window on the Pi Pico. Any commands you type in will execute on the Pico.

[@meysamkhezri2723]

@@BytesNBits thank you for your help. It seems the micropython plugin does not work well with latest version of pycharm(2024.1.3) so repl is not working for me. I was trying to downgrade pycharm to version 2022.1.4 but the current micropython plugin does not working on that version.maybe I have to find the snapshot of both of them that working well

[@umutkayacan7659]

Cool stuff

[@BytesNBits]

Thanks. That was fast!

[@SeamusMcNeil]

Can you imagine going back in time and showing this to anyone who had a BBC Micro or Commodore 64 or indeed any other computer from the 80's era and show them this board - they would think you were from another planet sharing alien technology. lol It truly is amazing what we have; and indeed in some cases, take for granted. Thanks again for another great video mate.
Cheers.
Jim

[@BytesNBits]

Hi. You're spot on. I still find it amazing you can get this computing power in such a small package an for only £4. And what do I build with it... a dice???
Some thing more impressive next time :)

[@yahmk3978]

Thank you!

[@BytesNBits]

No problem.

[@DuneKraftwerk]

What about debugging prior to download to the chip ?

[@BytesNBits]

You can do a bit of debugging in the desktop but of course it can't simulate the hardware.
To debug the application you need to download to the device and then run the code from within the REPL window - I'll cover this is another tutorial.
Micropython doesn't have a debugger built in so it's back good old print statements and such like. These will pop up in the console if you're running in REPL.

[@DuneKraftwerk]

Thanks for the reply, I prefer debugging the "pure" python part ( the core of your program anyway) on Vscode which is well equipped for debugging Python and Nodejs. Your video is interesting , but the pycharm setup is a bit complicated for a hobbyist like me, I prefer upycraft for up/dn operations.