Get Started with MicroPython on Raspberry Pi Pico

If you’re new to MicroPython, our official guide, "Get started with MicroPython on Raspberry Pi Pico", is a great place to start. Learn the basics of MicroPython and physical computing, connect your Pico to displays and sensors, build alarms, reaction games, and more.

This  book to help you get started with Raspberry Pi Pico. From installing MicroPython to getting to grips with PIO, this is your essential guide to getting the most out of your new microcontroller board.

Learn how to program your new microcontroller board. No experience needed.

Microcontrollers, like RP2040 at the heart of Raspberry Pi Pico, are computers stripped back to their bare essentials. You don’t use monitors or keyboards, but program them to take their input from, and send their output to, their input/output pins. Using these programmable connections, you can light lights, make noises, send text to screens, and much more.

In Get Started with MicroPython on Raspberry Pi Pico, you will learn how to use the beginner-friendly language MicroPython to write programs and connect up hardware to make your Raspberry Pi Pico interact with the world around it. Using these skills, you can create your own electro-mechanical projects, whether for fun or to make your life easier.

Throughout this book you’ll be learning about Raspberry Pi Pico, but the skills you learn will also apply to any other development board based around the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller – and even other devices, so long as they are compatible with the MicroPython programming language.

Raspberry Pi Pico is a new low-cost, high-performance microcontroller board with flexible digital interfaces. Microcontrollers are computers stripped back to their bare essentials. You don’t use monitors or keyboards, but program them to take their input from, and send their output to the input/output pins. Using these programmable connections, you can light lights, make noises, send text to screens, and much more.

In Get Started with MicroPython on Raspberry Pi Pico, you will learn how to use the beginner-friendly language MicroPython to write programs and connect hardware to make your Raspberry Pi Pico interact with the world around it. Using these skills, you can create your own electro-mechanical projects, whether for fun or to make your life easier. 

• Set up your Raspberry Pi Pico and start using it
• Start writing programs using MicroPython
  
• Control and sense electronic components
  
• Discover how to use Pico’s unique Programmable IO
  
• Make a reaction game, burglar alarm, temperature gauge, and many more
  

Errata: To avoid the possibility of erratic readings from inputs such as a push-button or PIR sensor, you are advised to change the pin input setup code line to include a ‘machine.Pin.PULL_DOWN’ call to pull down the pin’s resistor manually. For example:

button = machine.Pin(14, machine.Pin.IN)

…should change to:

button = machine.Pin(14, machine.Pin.IN, machine.Pin.PULL_DOWN)

Page 113: the size of Pico’s file system is in fact 1.375MiB, not 128kB, which means it can continue to log data for much longer than stated.

Learning Resources:

• Everything to know about Raspberry Pi Pico GPIO Expansion
• Getting started with Raspberry Pi Pico HAT Expansion
• Everything to know about Raspberry Pi Pico Breadboard Kit
• Which Micro-Controller Board is better: Pico or Arduino UNO?
• Get Started with MicroPython on Raspberry Pi Pico
• Raspberry Pi Pico: The $4 advanced Microcontroller based on RP2040 Dual Core ARM Cortex-M0+