I see a Wallace and Gromit rabbit hole here haha Eventually he fully automates his youtube channel production with picos and other controllers. Automated recording, editing and uploading, machine learning based video ideas from analytics. Only, he is still the host, and the machines are now his boss. But at least there is infinite tea.
I’ve never used a micro controller but I appreciate their simplicity in doing a single job well. No lengthy boot times, updates or antivirus to worry about. I’m thinking of all sorts of home automation ideas.
@Hilldweller ... Or maybe not? When I think "simplicity", I very explicitly don't think "add it to the internet". Instead I think stuff like "use headphone connectors to network them!"
Another important difference is that [most] micro controllers support analogue sensors whereas something like the Raspberry Pi only supports digital sensors.
My first thought when you started that board was "Oh look, a Cylon." Then having your By Your Command title straight afterwards really tickled my funny bone. Small things amuse small minds I guess. Good episode, as always.
I am an experienced amateur programmer, having programmed PICs, Arduinos, BBC Micro:bits etc for years. I have bought two Picos along with 3rd party experimenting boards and struggled for a while adjusting my thinking to programming the Pico. I have read some very wordy documents from these suppliers, possibly too quickly, and missed one or two crucial bits of information before starting my experimenting. Having watched your very clear video this morning I immediately discovered where I was going wrong and all is now well. You have done it yet again Chris, do keep producing your excellent videos! There are lots of us out here that will watch everything you produce because we will always learn something new and very useful from them. More tutorials on using the Pico itself would be most welcome. Many thanks to you!
Thanks for this -- great to hear you have things working. I have a follow-up Pico I/O video here: ruclips.net/video/TDj2kcSA-68/видео.html -- and another Pico planned, currently for May 1st, although that may change.
I don't think there has ever been a retail product that has been so affordable and yet you can do so many different things with it. In addition to microcontroller functionality, you can also use it as a directly programmable computer by installing Picomite and writing/running BASIC programs on the Pico itself via terminal software. At the default 133 MHz speed I'd estimate it's 50 times faster at interpreted BASIC than a Commodore 64. Not to mention it'll happily run at 250 MHz. The low power consumption when underclocked makes it ideal for managing my solar-powered motion sensor light system where I want to maximize battery life as much as possible. It's a great little device.
Got my Pico PIO counting at 62.5 Mhz and not missing a count. It will output square wave at 125Mhz with less than 200 picosec jitter! Hope to use it in the lab to do fpga style functions at fraction of cost. Much potential in robots and science hardware. Thanks for a great video!
Yes, I think another video on various use cases of the Pico would be cool. Maybe invite viewers to submit their working set ups to show and tell? Or anyway just to get a flavor of the different ways it can be used.
I was thinking how might the Pico send sensor data back "home". Let's say when controlling a Robot wirelessly over a distance > bluetooth range? I'm sure there are lots of ways but 802.11s Mesh Wifi could be a peer-to-peer solution? A video showing its use with OpenWrt here: ruclips.net/video/cw8ykKgVKbM/видео.html
Instead of paying $50 for a USB rubber ducky, you could use this $4 Micro Controller(the pico) instead, although it would lack the USB storage mirage, it's still really useful for just $4. Look up the "Duckberry Pi", so much cheaper but it's the same results.
It's literally the first thing I did, too. Reminds me of when I first started learning Assembler. It was back in the day when DOS programs always had a copyright string on startup. There was a very specific sense of accomplishment seeing it print *my* copyright string for the very first time. And that sense of "w00t!" still arrives with every initial "hello world," whether it be text, blinking lights, or whatever, decades later.
That was a very simple and elegant demonstration of the Pico's capabilities and got me thinking about the possibilities. Thanks very much as always! I can't believe it starts immediately after power on!
Just got a raspberry pi and found this channel and have been binge watching videos since 2016 apparently. Really great channel that deserves more subs!
Fantastic episode, Chris - an incredibly clear explanation of the difference between the Pico and 'full fat' Pi. Please please do some more videos exploring the possibilities. The speed it started your running your code when you switched on the powerbank was just jaw-dropping!
Great video for people like me who bought a Pico entirely on the basis of it being $4 and being familiar with Raspberry Pi as a computer but with no programming experience. I now have a $4 flashing LED, the world is my oyster!
Chris - thank you for another fun and informative video. I appreciate your dry humor. As I sit in now unfrozen Texas on Sunday mornings, I tell my wife it is time to listen to my favorite Brit. Personally, I would appreciate more microcontroller videos, especially looking at communications between the microcontroller and a single board computer using, say, SPI. However, I will comment that, with the advent of the Pico, there is more overlap with another of my favorite channels - Dronebot Workshop. In an ideal world, the two of you could collaborate on some videos, but who knows? Again, thank you for another enjoyable Sunday morn!
Another popular microcontroller is the ESP32-PICO-KIT, or any number of variants of the ESP32. It would be nice to see a comparison between the RP PICCO and the ESP32 PICCO. Great content as always and thanks for sharing.
The single best introduction and explanation of the Pico on the entire internet. Definitely would like to see follow-ups with some practical applications. Including how to use that onboard temperature sensor.
I'm starting to think I was lucky there weren't these kinds of toys when I was a kid. If there had been, I would have never left my room... except maybe for a monthly visit to an electronics store.
In the 80s and early 90s I had an electronic components store on my way home from primary school. It was mandatory visit every single day and guys there were very helpful with dropping hints on resistor, LEDs, small DC motors. They influenced my life very much and in a good way.
@@SergiuszRoszczyk You lucky bastard! I needed to take a 30 minute bus drive and walk for another 15 minutes to get to the electronic component store. And the staff there wasn't interested at all to help a young kid in his projects. Later I found a TV repair shop around 15 minute bike ride from home. Component selection wasn't that great, but the owner was always ready to help and almost always found a substitute component when I showed him the schematics.
Excellent video. Extremely clear and to the point. For a guy that grow-up with Spectrums, 2068s, C64, C128s this channel makes me feel like I'm on my game.
Chris, I always enjoy your content as it is so well produced and “explained”. You might need to start another channel called Explaining Microcontrollers. :-)
I just bought a Raspberry pi pico on a whim while I was ordering some other components. This was absolutely the introductory video I needed, thanks for the work you put in to making it.
I could listen to you explain stuff all day Chris. 👍 The soldering part... "40 Shiney, molten, metal connections later..." 😂 That kind of silly dry humour cracks me right up. I love it. Also, thanks for all the time you put in helping us plebs. 👍👍
There's some fantastic macro filming in this episode. Really clean soldering job and all in focus. And yes, would love to see more microcontroller videos!
I’m looking forward to a day when I have time to tinker with things such as this again. Teaching remotely has kept me away from being able to explore how I could use something like this. I know I’d enjoy seeing what you’d do with it, if you’re so inclined. Cheers!
That british wit of yours, Chris. This microcontroller has everything; this is the first one I see with an onboard temperature sensor. I'm sure you got a lot of exciting ideas. I'm looking forward to see what you got in mind for it. Now I have my own Pi 400. Guess who is responsible for tempting me to buy one. And now I want this microcontroller to go with it.
When the Pico was released , I didn't buy it as I thought I didn't need it as I have many other micro-controllers , But as soon as i saw your video and satisfying electronic imagery ,I feel I should buy one....
I know, I held off buying the PyBoard (-or rather a clone-) because I though "that would be like buying the kitchen sink" [proverbial] and "seeing as I have everyting BUT the kitchen sink already, I'll probably get by". But then it was Three-pound Sixty, plus an order from either CPC or Pi/Hut¦Moroni (which was going to happen anyway). Now, seeing as I have two "Black Pills" (the lesser and the great) it was not a stretch to end up with two Picos already (from qualitatively different sources). If a system is good and keenly priced AND vulnerable to ham-fistedness in its usual use, it's probably worth having a back-up.
It's been pretty great in my experience. I just finished a project with serial bluetooth, hid, and basic inputs. The C++ library space is fairly thin at the moment, so a lot of it had to be done by hand, but once I programmed it, everything just kinda worked as expected which was nice. And the best part is that it's fast with lots of memory despite being only $4. I've already got another project in the works.
Regular Arduino's (AVR) the M0 gives you more but the gotcha is it is most likely NOT tolerant above 3.3v which AVR's are 3.3 and 5v tolerant. Teensy being a bigger arm will absolutely smoke this board as would anything sporting a STM32 F4 ( Cortex M4 ) the G series is massive in robotics as not only is it a grunty CPU but has FPU among a huge range of I/O including FDCAN which is essential for robotics / precision.
@@zac_in_ak Sure price is one factor I suppose but there really should be more involved than that, pound for pound an esp32 is a better overall choice than this board and its err cheap for alot better performance and options.
@@sethrd999 I grabbed it because of its decent performance and cheap price since I'm new to microcontrollers and don't even know what I need or want. A good way to dip your toe in. trying out circuitpython and micropython
Yes Chris, after that introduction to a Pico controller I am keen to see where you want to go with it. Another top video for a Sunday's evening viewing. Thanks.
Awesome ! I got one of these in a Kit with accessories in a bundle when I bought my pi400. When it arrived I had no ruddy idea what it was, now I do, thanks Chris !
Much appreciated. You explained the basics of getting the Pico up and running very simply and clearly. Yes - please do go ahead with a further video on additional I/O tasks.
I love working with microcontrollers. I used a couple to build a wirelesss on air system for my wife to use when she’s meeting with her therapy clients during COVID lockdown so I don’t inadvertently interrupt her sessions. One controller hosts a small API on bare http sockets that then listens for the other controller to send a signal when a switch is thrown. Once it receives the signal it’ll switch a red LED on telling me it’s not safe to enter her office or wherever she is taking client calls. All powered by MicroPython.
Chris, yet another entertaining, informative video with the added easter egg of including Glen A Larson's ground breaking work of using flashing LED's in Battlestar Galactica and Knightrider. As always you have made my day and by extension the world a brighter place. Many thanks. P.S. It would be great to see the Pico being used to control a motor.
A Pentium running at 133 mhz was the pride and joy of our family once. Obviously we also had a 3dfx Voodoo card with 4 mb. YES! Really! That was the stuff dreams were made of and made our house where we all played, much to the despair of my mum who provided us with crisps and lemonade.
This pico (or any other microcontroller) can easily and by far (orders of magnitude) outperform any modern computer at tasks it is designed to do. And there are many of them computers just can't do
Excellent explanation, sir. Having never worked with microcontrollers, this video sparked some interest for me as it doesn't seem as complicated as I thought it was for all of these years.
I bought a couple of pico:s the same day as the release. A Pico Explorer Base is the next thing I'm going to "invest in". It has been sold out for a long time at Pimoroni but seems to be in stock again. 😀 Didn't know about Thonny. Great tip and excellent video as always. Thank you.
Great video Chris! I am wanting to teach a younger family member some electronics / programming and the format of this video will be nice start to get the ball rolling. Would be very excited to see some 2 wheel robot motor control examples and some examples of using sensors. Much love from Sheffield, 8-bit.
Here is what makes the Pico interesting: Programming it in C for speed. Using hardware interrupts to to sense events in the real world, probably using one core for real-time response, the other core for slower command and control processing. Using the high-speed GPIO to capture or generate data streams. Feeling really brave, how about creating an environment where one core is coded in C to handle the interrupts and the GPIO source and sink while programming the other core in Python for data processing and manipulation. Else-wise, this video is about two months late.
Great that you’ve introduced the Pico, Chris. I’ve been programming on mine since January in C. Working on making a fuel injection controller out of the Pico.
@Jim McIntosh thanks Jim. I have the programming completed, using both cores, and the Pico is plenty fast enough. I have breadboarded all the external circuits, and that’s working, with simulated sensor input. Working on designing the pcb now.
@Jim McIntosh that’s my hope. I’ve used Megasquirt before (and a much older Holley). If this thing works, I’ll post on the Pico Forum, because there may be others interested. What I like is that I totally understand the end to end solution, and all parts are cheap and replaceable. I plan to build two, so that I have a spare for roadtrips.
Excellent timing -- my Pico arrived a day ago. Coming from Arduino/ESP32 and C, your intro was spot on informative. I would look forward to another Pico project.
A good, simple add on to his program would be to add code to take one of the GPIO inputs, and add a trigger to start, then maybe count the number of trigger presses and make that many iteration loops ... aka the old SIMON game.
very interesting, I have long left my hobby in microcontrollers because I have complicated ports and programming, after seeing your video, the technology has changed a lot, it seems simpler, I want to start again
the Pico supports HID emulation out of the box, so that is considerably easier to set up then it is with ESP32 and other atmel micro controllers (though there are some limitations with the Pico as far as analog inputs IIRC)
@Jim McIntosh a shop near my house had it, the owner built it I think, it didn't have a coin slot but had a switch he will press whenever someone wanted to play. He passed away now, Lots of kids including me came to play there.
Actually if you have a raspberry Pi I don't think you will even need this. Just connect the button and joystick wires to the gpio pins directly and program it to recieve input.
I was not very interested in Pico since I was happy with Arduino Uno and nano. but after watchinh your video I have changed my mind and going to purchase a Pico ASAP. Thank you very much.
@Hilldweller Exactly what I thought when writing that comment. Sadly my experience of forth is limited to my brief interest in minecraft circa ten years ago.
Oh yes, please do. And not just microcontrollers but also components, specifically those useful for smarthome designs: sensors, relays, converters etc. Thank you!
@@hariranormal5584 It costs less than using a packaged chip. The silicon chip is glued to the board and the bond wires go directly from the chip to the board. The black resin is there to protect it all.
Hi Chris, Thank you for the fine introduction to the Raspberry Pi Pico. I'd like to see more content about microcontrollers on this channel. For example: - Connecting the Pico to a classic Raspberry Pi computer. Preferably using I2C, but any protocol and connection would be fine. - Using the PIO state machines for something exciting - more LEDs! - Using interrupts on microcontrollers - The Teensy family of microcontrollers, maybe used for running ML/neural networks Please consider these topics. Thanks!
Raspberry Pi Foundation may have been concerned that including tea making functionality would have caused users to defenestrste themselves... (Father Ted reference)
Thanks, Chris, a good introduction to the Pico. My Pico doesn't pull sufficient current to keep my USB power bank switched on. If you have the same problem, I suggest a 3xAAA battery pack connected to pins 38 & 39. My partner's car recently took to flattening it's battery while parked, so my first project will be a data logger to measure voltage and discharge current of a car's battery.
Thanks, Chris, very good presentation. I hope you will not stop here and go deeper explaining multicore, interruptions/irq, exceptions. memory control, stacks, registers and all other good stuff which is usually taken care by OS and now we have to do it by our self.
Thanks Chris. I particularly enjoyed the "cup of tea" comment! I could do with a good reason to learn python, so please do take us into the world of microcontrollers. Anything which can get processing jobs done quicker and cheaper is worth looking at, and this tiny controller looks like a great introduction to the genre
Yes please, more microcontroller goodness would be very much appreciated. Nice use of the soldering iron BTW, I think it's the first time I've ever seen you brandishing one.
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
Your challenge, Chris, is quite clear; creating a Pico controlled tea-making network.
:)
It might be better to wait for the upgraded model, the Raspberry Tea-co.
@@MarkTheMorose 😂
@@MarkTheMorose Waiting Lol
I see a Wallace and Gromit rabbit hole here haha
Eventually he fully automates his youtube channel production with picos and other controllers. Automated recording, editing and uploading, machine learning based video ideas from analytics. Only, he is still the host, and the machines are now his boss. But at least there is infinite tea.
This is me officially letting you know I’d like to see more videos on raspberry pi picos and microcontrollers. Thanks, from The States
I am impressed. You've done it again. My experience with Micro Python has just doubled. Thank you for taking the time to educate us.
Hi Thomas.
exp = 0
exp = exp * 2
@@gpa30051984 Where'd you find the source code? 😂
I’ve never used a micro controller but I appreciate their simplicity in doing a single job well. No lengthy boot times, updates or antivirus to worry about. I’m thinking of all sorts of home automation ideas.
@Hilldweller ... Or maybe not? When I think "simplicity", I very explicitly don't think "add it to the internet". Instead I think stuff like "use headphone connectors to network them!"
Another important difference is that [most] micro controllers support analogue sensors whereas something like the Raspberry Pi only supports digital sensors.
Yes. Think of something that is better off done automatically and make it happen. Like a keyboard macro for your house.
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 that would not be automatic, then
@Hilldweller ESP8266 is dirt cheap and perfectly adequate for many purposes. Very easy to integrate into bigger projects too.
My first thought when you started that board was "Oh look, a Cylon." Then having your By Your Command title straight afterwards really tickled my funny bone. Small things amuse small minds I guess. Good episode, as always.
I am an experienced amateur programmer, having programmed PICs, Arduinos, BBC Micro:bits etc for years. I have bought two Picos along with 3rd party experimenting boards and struggled for a while adjusting my thinking to programming the Pico. I have read some very wordy documents from these suppliers, possibly too quickly, and missed one or two crucial bits of information before starting my experimenting. Having watched your very clear video this morning I immediately discovered where I was going wrong and all is now well. You have done it yet again Chris, do keep producing your excellent videos! There are lots of us out here that will watch everything you produce because we will always learn something new and very useful from them. More tutorials on using the Pico itself would be most welcome. Many thanks to you!
Thanks for this -- great to hear you have things working. I have a follow-up Pico I/O video here: ruclips.net/video/TDj2kcSA-68/видео.html -- and another Pico planned, currently for May 1st, although that may change.
I dont comment often, but just wanted to say - love the channel, you make fantastic videos!
Awesome! Thank you!
I don't think there has ever been a retail product that has been so affordable and yet you can do so many different things with it. In addition to microcontroller functionality, you can also use it as a directly programmable computer by installing Picomite and writing/running BASIC programs on the Pico itself via terminal software. At the default 133 MHz speed I'd estimate it's 50 times faster at interpreted BASIC than a Commodore 64. Not to mention it'll happily run at 250 MHz. The low power consumption when underclocked makes it ideal for managing my solar-powered motion sensor light system where I want to maximize battery life as much as possible. It's a great little device.
Very well said! :)
Another great video. Really appreciate your efforts, and the continued excellence of your work. Look forward to your program each Sunday morning.
Thanks! 🤗
Baam💥
Mr. Paul we are ur fans too❤️👍
You both are great guys. I am your and his fan
Wow Paul never knew you commented : )
Got my Pico PIO counting at 62.5 Mhz and not missing a count. It will output square wave at 125Mhz with less than 200 picosec jitter! Hope to use it in the lab to do fpga style functions at fraction of cost. Much potential in robots and science hardware. Thanks for a great video!
Yes, I think another video on various use cases of the Pico would be cool. Maybe invite viewers to submit their working set ups to show and tell? Or anyway just to get a flavor of the different ways it can be used.
I was thinking how might the Pico send sensor data back "home". Let's say when controlling a Robot wirelessly over a distance > bluetooth range? I'm sure there are lots of ways but 802.11s Mesh Wifi could be a peer-to-peer solution? A video showing its use with OpenWrt here: ruclips.net/video/cw8ykKgVKbM/видео.html
Instead of paying $50 for a USB rubber ducky, you could use this $4 Micro Controller(the pico) instead, although it would lack the USB storage mirage, it's still really useful for just $4.
Look up the "Duckberry Pi", so much cheaper but it's the same results.
it´is so satisfying when one test a new hardware and see the LEDs turning on for the first time.
The Microcontroller version of, "Hello World" 😉
It's literally the first thing I did, too. Reminds me of when I first started learning Assembler. It was back in the day when DOS programs always had a copyright string on startup. There was a very specific sense of accomplishment seeing it print *my* copyright string for the very first time. And that sense of "w00t!" still arrives with every initial "hello world," whether it be text, blinking lights, or whatever, decades later.
@@NorthernKitty You can make yourself a little piece of code to morse "Hello World" 😁
The Sunday ritual: Crossword puzzle from the NY Times, The Puzzle on NPR, ExplainingComputers. Sundays are amazing!
Thank you Mr. Barnatt for making this video about the pico. It was very educational. Raven
That's the best intro to the Pi Pico I have seen.
yes please .. take a look at micro:bit and the likes .. love your content, your voice, your editing .. sooo much effort
ESP32 etc...
That was a very simple and elegant demonstration of the Pico's capabilities and got me thinking about the possibilities. Thanks very much as always! I can't believe it starts immediately after power on!
You made me buy my first Raspberry Pi, and now i'm ordering my first Pico because of this video. Thank you.
Enjoy your Pico! :)
I've learned more about this in a few minutes on your video than in hours of struggling with it other places on the net. Well done.
Just got a raspberry pi and found this channel and have been binge watching videos since 2016 apparently. Really great channel that deserves more subs!
Thanks for watching!
Fantastic episode, Chris - an incredibly clear explanation of the difference between the Pico and 'full fat' Pi. Please please do some more videos exploring the possibilities. The speed it started your running your code when you switched on the powerbank was just jaw-dropping!
Thanks Alan. There seems strong support here for more Pi Pico episodes! And I agree that the speed of running the code is really cool.
Great video for people like me who bought a Pico entirely on the basis of it being $4 and being familiar with Raspberry Pi as a computer but with no programming experience. I now have a $4 flashing LED, the world is my oyster!
Chris - thank you for another fun and informative video. I appreciate your dry humor. As I sit in now unfrozen Texas on Sunday mornings, I tell my wife it is time to listen to my favorite Brit. Personally, I would appreciate more microcontroller videos, especially looking at communications between the microcontroller and a single board computer using, say, SPI. However, I will comment that, with the advent of the Pico, there is more overlap with another of my favorite channels - Dronebot Workshop. In an ideal world, the two of you could collaborate on some videos, but who knows? Again, thank you for another enjoyable Sunday morn!
I've never seen any explanation like that ever, I even paused the video to say THANK YOU!
Thanks for watching.
Another popular microcontroller is the ESP32-PICO-KIT, or any number of variants of the ESP32. It would be nice to see a comparison between the RP PICCO and the ESP32 PICCO. Great content as always and thanks for sharing.
The best explanation and demo I've come across since purchasing my Picos. Thanks for making this such a breeze and easy to follow!
Oh yeah, been waiting for raspberry pico from my favorite RUclipsr
The single best introduction and explanation of the Pico on the entire internet. Definitely would like to see follow-ups with some practical applications. Including how to use that onboard temperature sensor.
I'm starting to think I was lucky there weren't these kinds of toys when I was a kid. If there had been, I would have never left my room... except maybe for a monthly visit to an electronics store.
Except you wouldn't leave your room to go to an electronics store as you'd just order everything online instead
I'd have made a smart suit out of all of these tiny boards lol
This! This was what I did (15 years ago) for nearly an year after college. I stopped because I had to find a job to put food on the table 😂😂😂
In the 80s and early 90s I had an electronic components store on my way home from primary school. It was mandatory visit every single day and guys there were very helpful with dropping hints on resistor, LEDs, small DC motors. They influenced my life very much and in a good way.
@@SergiuszRoszczyk
You lucky bastard! I needed to take a 30 minute bus drive and walk for another 15 minutes to get to the electronic component store. And the staff there wasn't interested at all to help a young kid in his projects.
Later I found a TV repair shop around 15 minute bike ride from home. Component selection wasn't that great, but the owner was always ready to help and almost always found a substitute component when I showed him the schematics.
Excellent video. Extremely clear and to the point. For a guy that grow-up with Spectrums, 2068s, C64, C128s this channel makes me feel like I'm on my game.
Thanks for this -- and I imagine you will like the video posting in a few hours! :)
Chris, I always enjoy your content as it is so well produced and “explained”. You might need to start another channel called Explaining Microcontrollers. :-)
I just bought a Raspberry pi pico on a whim while I was ordering some other components. This was absolutely the introductory video I needed, thanks for the work you put in to making it.
Great to hear! :) You may like my follow-up: ruclips.net/video/TDj2kcSA-68/видео.html
Yes, I would like to see more microcontroller videos, maybe a comparison of an arduino uno to the pi pico
I could listen to you explain stuff all day Chris. 👍 The soldering part... "40 Shiney, molten, metal connections later..." 😂 That kind of silly dry humour cracks me right up. I love it.
Also, thanks for all the time you put in helping us plebs. 👍👍
Thanks 👍
There's some fantastic macro filming in this episode. Really clean soldering job and all in focus. And yes, would love to see more microcontroller videos!
I like your channel with dry English humor and great tutorials. You are a great teacher so keep it up!
I’m looking forward to a day when I have time to tinker with things such as this again. Teaching remotely has kept me away from being able to explore how I could use something like this. I know I’d enjoy seeing what you’d do with it, if you’re so inclined. Cheers!
That british wit of yours, Chris. This microcontroller has everything; this is the first one I see with an onboard temperature sensor.
I'm sure you got a lot of exciting ideas. I'm looking forward to see what you got in mind for it.
Now I have my own Pi 400. Guess who is responsible for tempting me to buy one.
And now I want this microcontroller to go with it.
When the Pico was released , I didn't buy it as I thought I didn't need it as I have many other micro-controllers , But as soon as i saw your video and satisfying electronic imagery ,I feel I should buy one....
I know, I held off buying the PyBoard (-or rather a clone-) because I though "that would be like buying the kitchen sink" [proverbial] and "seeing as I have everyting BUT the kitchen sink already, I'll probably get by". But then it was Three-pound Sixty, plus an order from either CPC or Pi/Hut¦Moroni (which was going to happen anyway). Now, seeing as I have two "Black Pills" (the lesser and the great) it was not a stretch to end up with two Picos already (from qualitatively different sources). If a system is good and keenly priced AND vulnerable to ham-fistedness in its usual use, it's probably worth having a back-up.
It's been pretty great in my experience.
I just finished a project with serial bluetooth, hid, and basic inputs. The C++ library space is fairly thin at the moment, so a lot of it had to be done by hand, but once I programmed it, everything just kinda worked as expected which was nice.
And the best part is that it's fast with lots of memory despite being only $4. I've already got another project in the works.
Hi, useful to see. Be interested in seeing it compared with Arduino and/or Teensy etc to see why one would choose them over it or vica versa.
Regular Arduino's (AVR) the M0 gives you more but the gotcha is it is most likely NOT tolerant above 3.3v which AVR's are 3.3 and 5v tolerant. Teensy being a bigger arm will absolutely smoke this board as would anything sporting a STM32 F4 ( Cortex M4 ) the G series is massive in robotics as not only is it a grunty CPU but has FPU among a huge range of I/O including FDCAN which is essential for robotics / precision.
If you are just starting out you can’t beat that $4 price tag.
@@zac_in_ak Sure price is one factor I suppose but there really should be more involved than that, pound for pound an esp32 is a better overall choice than this board and its err cheap for alot better performance and options.
@@sethrd999 I grabbed it because of its decent performance and cheap price since I'm new to microcontrollers and don't even know what I need or want. A good way to dip your toe in. trying out circuitpython and micropython
Yes Chris, after that introduction to a Pico controller I am keen to see where you want to go with it.
Another top video for a Sunday's evening viewing.
Thanks.
Pico is one of the best codenames for the PI.
@Jack Warner why?
@Jack Warner Pico doesn't use os
As I remember ?
@@sannidhyabalkote9536 🙄
@Jack Warner > _start pico
@@jothain 😂
Awesome ! I got one of these in a Kit with accessories in a bundle when I bought my pi400. When it arrived I had no ruddy idea what it was, now I do, thanks Chris !
I watch the contents very well, I wish you continued success.
Thanks.
Much appreciated. You explained the basics of getting the Pico up and running very simply and clearly. Yes - please do go ahead with a further video on additional I/O tasks.
Thanks for this -- the additional video is here: ruclips.net/video/TDj2kcSA-68/видео.html :)
Your mind reading skills have reached god mode 😊
I love working with microcontrollers.
I used a couple to build a wirelesss on air system for my wife to use when she’s meeting with her therapy clients during COVID lockdown so I don’t inadvertently interrupt her sessions. One controller hosts a small API on bare http sockets that then listens for the other controller to send a signal when a switch is thrown. Once it receives the signal it’ll switch a red LED on telling me it’s not safe to enter her office or wherever she is taking client calls. All powered by MicroPython.
Chris, yet another entertaining, informative video with the added easter egg of including Glen A Larson's ground breaking work of using flashing LED's in Battlestar Galactica and Knightrider. As always you have made my day and by extension the world a brighter place. Many thanks. P.S. It would be great to see the Pico being used to control a motor.
More videos on pico and micro controllers please. Any content from you is always good content.
Hi chris , i'm Christian. (CD)
I can't help waiting for next pico video !!
Please, sir, I want more. Your explanations of this brave new world of SBCs and micro-controllers are quite facinating.
A Pentium running at 133 mhz was the pride and joy of our family once. Obviously we also had a 3dfx Voodoo card with 4 mb. YES! Really! That was the stuff dreams were made of and made our house where we all played, much to the despair of my mum who provided us with crisps and lemonade.
This pico (or any other microcontroller) can easily and by far (orders of magnitude) outperform any modern computer at tasks it is designed to do. And there are many of them computers just can't do
Excellent explanation, sir. Having never worked with microcontrollers, this video sparked some interest for me as it doesn't seem as complicated as I thought it was for all of these years.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation have, as usual, done a lot of work to make getting into it as easy as possible.
@@ExplainingComputers Indeed. Hats off to them.
I bought a couple of pico:s the same day as the release. A Pico Explorer Base is the next thing I'm going to "invest in". It has been sold out for a long time at Pimoroni but seems to be in stock again. 😀 Didn't know about Thonny. Great tip and excellent video as always. Thank you.
Just received my pico''s yesterday and exciting times are ahead! Looking forward to what you come up with using the pico! Well done!
Great video Chris! I am wanting to teach a younger family member some electronics / programming and the format of this video will be nice start to get the ball rolling. Would be very excited to see some 2 wheel robot motor control examples and some examples of using sensors. Much love from Sheffield, 8-bit.
Ah, Sunday with Chris! Please keep doing this for the next, oh, 30 years. Thanks -
:)
So that's what a Pico is all about! Thanks Sir Chris.
Here is what makes the Pico interesting: Programming it in C for speed. Using hardware interrupts to to sense events in the real world, probably using one core for real-time response, the other core for slower command and control processing. Using the high-speed GPIO to capture or generate data streams. Feeling really brave, how about creating an environment where one core is coded in C to handle the interrupts and the GPIO source and sink while programming the other core in Python for data processing and manipulation.
Else-wise, this video is about two months late.
great video , yes i would love to see other micro controllers being featured , eg esp32 etc , even using a pi to read data from them
The thing i liked the most are the holders for the breadboard. This shows the real hacker spirit.
On the brighter side, I used to run 'Doom', 'Dark Forces', X-Wing/Tie Fighter' and 'Rise of the Triad' on my 133MHz Pentium. (Hehehe)
I know, we are spoilt with CPU power these days.
And paying 100 dollars for 4 megabytes of ram. Man, I don't miss those days. 😂😂😂
@@dougr.8653 Haha. $4299 for a Pentium II with 266MHz and a 15" CRT...
@@dougr.8653 excuse me... 100 bucks for MB RAM.
@@punkrachmaninoff those days were rough af
Great that you’ve introduced the Pico, Chris. I’ve been programming on mine since January in C. Working on making a fuel injection controller out of the Pico.
@Jim McIntosh thanks Jim. I have the programming completed, using both cores, and the Pico is plenty fast enough. I have breadboarded all the external circuits, and that’s working, with simulated sensor input. Working on designing the pcb now.
@Jim McIntosh that’s my hope. I’ve used Megasquirt before (and a much older Holley). If this thing works, I’ll post on the Pico Forum, because there may be others interested. What I like is that I totally understand the end to end solution, and all parts are cheap and replaceable. I plan to build two, so that I have a spare for roadtrips.
That was.. illuminating. I'd had no idea how those things worked. Now I have my first clue! :D
Excellent timing -- my Pico arrived a day ago. Coming from Arduino/ESP32 and C, your intro was spot on informative. I would look forward to another Pico project.
Yes more detail. I need some help with getting started training myself and my homeschooled daughter
A good, simple add on to his program would be to add code to take one of the GPIO inputs, and add a trigger to start, then maybe count the number of trigger presses and make that many iteration loops ... aka the old SIMON game.
Check out adafriut and sparkfun lots of info
very interesting, I have long left my hobby in microcontrollers because I have complicated ports and programming, after seeing your video, the technology has changed a lot, it seems simpler, I want to start again
Now I want to make my own gamepad controller and use the Pi Pico as the brains.
Well - what are you waiting for? Just go for, buddy!
Hey I recommend a PvP arcade gaming station! Add a coin function too for some cash lol
the Pico supports HID emulation out of the box, so that is considerably easier to set up then it is with ESP32 and other atmel micro controllers (though there are some limitations with the Pico as far as analog inputs IIRC)
@Jim McIntosh a shop near my house had it, the owner built it I think, it didn't have a coin slot but had a switch he will press whenever someone wanted to play. He passed away now, Lots of kids including me came to play there.
Actually if you have a raspberry Pi I don't think you will even need this. Just connect the button and joystick wires to the gpio pins directly and program it to recieve input.
I was not very interested in Pico since I was happy with Arduino Uno and nano. but after watchinh your video I have changed my mind and going to purchase a Pico ASAP. Thank you very much.
11:45 ~ Blu-Tack again EC?
Always so handy!
I somehow missed the releasing the Pico, I'm really amazed by it and it has honestly rekindled my love for micro-controllers!
Great. :)
It would be great to see more Pico. As always enjoyed the video.
this guy is as fun as explaining raspberry pi to me back in 2014
😂 awesome reference to Knight Rider and Battlestar Galactica! 👍
Great shows.
free fire free fire Pico
I have like 3-4 of these now. I keep buying more. They're so cheap and so great.
I was waiting for this from the launch if it!!!
I got there in the end!
There are lots of Pico intros on youtube. Most are too fast and confusing. Your video is easy to follow, I'll use this one after I buy a pico.
Fourth?
In any case I’m very glad to see you take a look at the Pico! By popular demand I assume?
I count you as third -- so a bronze medal! :) And you are right the Pi Pico is reviewed here by popular demand. :)
@Hilldweller Exactly what I thought when writing that comment. Sadly my experience of forth is limited to my brief interest in minecraft circa ten years ago.
003mer makes videos using the pico and fourth. Check it out. He's top notch also.
Oh yes, please do. And not just microcontrollers but also components, specifically those useful for smarthome designs: sensors, relays, converters etc. Thank you!
My day is complete :)
Night night. 😴
Great video! Now I understand the basics of what a micro controller is vs a computer. Thank you!
The Pico became self-aware about 30 seconds after the video was recorded and ever since... Mr. Screwdriver has been missing.
:O
Its ok , Chris has dispatched a search party comprising of Stanley the Knife and Mr Scissors..
Great video. More Pico videos please. We definitely need an EC explanation on Programmable I/O
Remember those times when electronic toys have a black solid tar to protect the chipset?
Hahahahaha yeah, and I am not that old
@@mike_vahemoubayed8099 you are
You are that old
You realize it , like me
Chip-On-Board (COB) blobs are still very common
Do you know why they have it? I don't know actually
@@hariranormal5584 It costs less than using a packaged chip. The silicon chip is glued to the board and the bond wires go directly from the chip to the board. The black resin is there to protect it all.
Hi Chris,
Thank you for the fine introduction to the Raspberry Pi Pico.
I'd like to see more content about microcontrollers on this channel.
For example:
- Connecting the Pico to a classic Raspberry Pi computer. Preferably using I2C, but any protocol and connection would be fine.
- Using the PIO state machines for something exciting - more LEDs!
- Using interrupts on microcontrollers
- The Teensy family of microcontrollers, maybe used for running ML/neural networks
Please consider these topics. Thanks!
Great topic ideas, thanks.
Yes, More!
I really appreciate your channel! Even seasoned geeks can learn a lot from you!
"a whole career out of running lights" - gee, hadn't thought of it like that
Great set of videos, have been binge watching them in the last days, THANK YOU so much for taking the time to make such good content.
Thanks for watching!
Nice video bro 👍👍
I appreciate both this video and the Glen A. Larson reference.
Raspberry Pi Foundation may have been concerned that including tea making functionality would have caused users to defenestrste themselves... (Father Ted reference)
Thanks, Chris, a good introduction to the Pico.
My Pico doesn't pull sufficient current to keep my USB power bank switched on. If you have the same problem, I suggest a 3xAAA battery pack connected to pins 38 & 39.
My partner's car recently took to flattening it's battery while parked, so my first project will be a data logger to measure voltage and discharge current of a car's battery.
"No tea making facilities..." Well! That's a deal-breaker for me, I'm out! 😝
How about beer making? Would that get you back in?
Nah, if it can make coffee, I'm all in.
Thanks, Chris, very good presentation. I hope you will not stop here and go deeper explaining multicore, interruptions/irq, exceptions. memory control, stacks, registers and all other good stuff which is usually taken care by OS and now we have to do it by our self.
Raise your hand if you saw Monty Python instead of Micro Python when it appeared on the screen.
:)
✋
Thanks Chris.
I particularly enjoyed the "cup of tea" comment!
I could do with a good reason to learn python, so please do take us into the world of microcontrollers.
Anything which can get processing jobs done quicker and cheaper is worth looking at, and this tiny controller looks like a great introduction to the genre
No tea making facilities? NO TEA MAKING FACILITIES?!?!????
This is where I draw the line. The Pi team has gone too far.
Yeah, I had to close my tab and go cool off for a few hours before finally finishing the video. smh
Yes please, more microcontroller goodness would be very much appreciated. Nice use of the soldering iron BTW, I think it's the first time I've ever seen you brandishing one.