August 3, 2023

Pi Pico - RP2040 -- first steps

Pull one out of the wrapper, grab a micro USB cable and plug it in.
What happens?

Plugged into my linux machine, it gets mounted. I see RPI-RP2 as an icon on my desktop. It mounts as /run/media/tom/RPI-RP2/ and two files show up: 

INDEX.HTM
INFO_UF2.TXT
The "INFO" file has: 
UF2 Bootloader v2.0
Model: Raspberry Pi RP2
Board-ID: RPI-RP2
The "INDEX" file has a redirect to: Which is a top level page with documentation for all Raspberry Pi products.

Downloading code

Whatever you download should be a uf2 file. Usually you will need to hold down the BOOTSEL button as you plug it in to get it to appear as a flash stick. But fresh out of the box, it just comes up this way. Probably there is nothing in flash to boot, so this is what you get.

I am starting with the blinker00 demo from DWelch, so I do this: 

cp notmain.uf2 /run/media/tom/RPI-RP2/
Once I do this, it begins blinking after a short delay and the RPI-RP2 icon vanishes from my desktop. The device is also unmounted without me having to do anything.

When I unplug and replug now I get no RPI-RP2 icon and it just runs the blink demo.

When I unplug, hold down BOOTSEL and keep holding it down I get the RPI-RP2 and no blinking. Interestingly, I see no "notmain.uf2" file when I look at the contents of the mounted filesystem. Apparently when you copy the uf2 file, it does some magic extraction and places the binary image in the proper place on the flash stick.
Or something like that.

Feedback? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's Computer Info / [email protected]