Introduction

About this course

In this course you will learn about the different types of Raspberry Pi Pico, and importnatly how to install MicroPython onto yours.

About the Raspberry Pi Pico

The Raspberry Pi Pico is a family of microcontrollers developed by the Raspberry Pi Ltd. It is a low-cost, high-performance microcontroller board with flexible digital interfaces. The original Pico was built on the RP2040 microcontroller chip, which features a dual-core ARM Cortex-M0+ processor with 264KB of SRAM and 2MB of flash memory. The Pico is designed to be easy to use and is ideal for a wide range of projects, from simple electronics to complex robotics.

The Pico has 40 pins, also known as General purpose Input/Output (GPIO) pins, which can be used to connect to a wide range of sensors, displays, and other devices. We cover how to use the GPIO Pins in a later course - Raspberry Pi Pico with MicroPython - GPIO Mastery.

In August 2024 the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 was launch, powered by the RP2350 microcontroller chip. This chip features a dual-core ARM Cortex-M33 and also dual-core RISC-V Hazard3 all in the same package with 520KB of SRAM and 4MB of flash memory. The Pico 2 is designed to be even more powerful and versatile than the original Pico, with more memory and processing power for more complex projects.

The Pico is compatible with a wide range of programming languages, including MicroPython, CircuitPython, Rust, and C/C++. It can be programmed using a variety of development environments, including Thonny, Visual Studio Code, and the Arduino IDE. The Pico also features a range of digital interfaces, including I2C, SPI, UART, and PWM, making it easy to connect to a wide range of sensors, displays, and other devices.

Don’t worry if those acronyms seem confusing - there are plenty of tutorials to get you up to speed.

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