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2022-03-27 1:00 pm
Use a Raspberry Pi Pico instead of an Arduino Uno! Build a “Pico Uno” for Pico power with Uno ease of use.
The Raspberry Pi Pico is a low-cost microcontroller that can run circles around an Arduino Uno. Yet when it comes time to test out a new sensor or library, I inevitably grab a Uno board!
The main reason I rely upon a 12-year-old piece of technology over the newest wonder from Raspberry Pi is simple - the Uno is easy to use. It has female sockets to accept jumper wires, it has a reset key and a power LED, and it can be powered using USB or an external supply.
But it’s really easy to add all of those features to the Pico, so today we are going to do exactly that. In fact, I’ll show you three ways of building a “Pico Uno”:
1 - Super Simple - Female DuPont connectors, put together in less than 5 minutes.
2 - Pico Uno with Reset - A board with Reset and Power LED.
3 - Pico Uno with External Power - All of the above, plus a 2.1mm jack for external power.
To build the last one, we will also have to learn exactly how we use a Pico with external power.
Here is the Table of Contents for today's video:
00:00 - Introduction
01:55 - Pico vs Uno
08:44 - Prototyping Boards
11:45 - Simple Proto Boards
13:59 - Pico Uno with Reset
19:49 - Powering the Pico
24:36 - Pico Uno with External Power
33:49 - Conclusion
Hope you enjoy it, and I hope it shows you how easy it is to prototype with a Raspberry Pi Pico.
😎
Bill
"Never trust a computer you can’t throw out a window." — Steve Wozniak
TheOutlander reacted
2022-03-27 3:49 pm
Looking forward to this one
First computer 1959. Retired from my own computer company 2004.
Hardware - Expert in 1401, and 360, fairly knowledge in PC plus numerous MPU's and MCU's
Major Languages - Machine language, 360 Macro Assembler, Intel Assembler, PL/I and PL1, Pascal, Basic, C plus numerous job control and scripting languages.
Sure you can learn to be a programmer, it will take the same amount of time for me to learn to be a Doctor.
2022-03-27 3:58 pm
Me too!! Just got a couple of Pico’s and one of the newer 37 sensor kits to play with. 😊
2022-03-28 12:13 am
I've been using the rpi pico as my bog standard goto for a while, and I've got the cryton board you show, its really excellent for a bit of experimentation and I do recommend it. But I also like your thoughts on creating home brewed boards, at least three would be nice, one for each language. But the irritating thing about the pico is the lack of pin numbers printed on the board which was highlighted to me when watching the video.
And all those pico's in a pack, I think you must be expecting to stick a pin in the wrong hole and magic smoke some. 😎
It wont take much more effort to put your ideas of a pico carrier board into a pcb design, with pin numbers boldly printed on the board. Actually I have a pcb on order that will have a rpi pico and some grove connectors broken out for a specific project. And no, silly me, I did not print any pin numbers on the board. 🙄
If Id given it more thought, (or waited for your youtube) I would have designed a rather more generic pcb, especially as the minimum order is 5 boards (which cost all of £4 plus £2 postage if I remember right)
A great video and thanks for the inspiration.
2022-03-28 9:38 am
I've been using the rpi pico as my bog standard goto for a while, and I've got the cryton board you show, its really excellent for a bit of experimentation and I do recommend it. But I also like your thoughts on creating home brewed boards, at least three would be nice, one for each language. But the irritating thing about the pico is the lack of pin numbers printed on the board which was highlighted to me when watching the video.
And all those pico's in a pack, I think you must be expecting to stick a pin in the wrong hole and magic smoke some. 😎
It wont take much more effort to put your ideas of a pico carrier board into a pcb design, with pin numbers boldly printed on the board. Actually I have a pcb on order that will have a rpi pico and some grove connectors broken out for a specific project. And no, silly me, I did not print any pin numbers on the board. 🙄
If Id given it more thought, (or waited for your youtube) I would have designed a rather more generic pcb, especially as the minimum order is 5 boards (which cost all of £4 plus £2 postage if I remember right)
A great video and thanks for the inspiration.
Hopefully, you didn't delete your design work, and you can simply edit it and provide the new file for an members interested?
2022-03-28 10:22 am
Hopefully, you didn't delete your design work,
I've still got the design work, but it would need a complete redesign to accommodate all the extra goodies the Bill put in. I'm minded to do it, and will post the gerber files so you or othes can get their own pcb made. That would be after I get the boards back to check I have not made a cockup as I have to confess a recent design of mine took 3 goes before I got it right. The turnaround for these boards is about a month unless one wishes to spend £50 for a courier as opposed to £2 for china post.
frogandtoad reacted
2022-03-28 11:27 am
Hopefully, you didn't delete your design work,
I've still got the design work, but it would need a complete redesign to accommodate all the extra goodies the Bill put in. I'm minded to do it, and will post the gerber files so you or othes can get their own pcb made. That would be after I get the boards back to check I have not made a cockup as I have to confess a recent design of mine took 3 goes before I got it right. The turnaround for these boards is about a month unless one wishes to spend £50 for a courier as opposed to £2 for china post.
Are they KiCAD files or something else?
I'm not an expert in this stuff so please forgive me... are gerber files all that is required for members to present to PCB manufacturers?
2022-03-28 11:36 am
gerber files all that is required for members to present to PCB manufacturers
Yes, all the pcb design progams will produce gerber files. I curently use easycad, but I have used kiccad.
frogandtoad reacted
2022-03-28 12:10 pm
@frogandtoad I have been looking for a project for my Pico's, this looks like a start
First computer 1959. Retired from my own computer company 2004.
Hardware - Expert in 1401, and 360, fairly knowledge in PC plus numerous MPU's and MCU's
Major Languages - Machine language, 360 Macro Assembler, Intel Assembler, PL/I and PL1, Pascal, Basic, C plus numerous job control and scripting languages.
Sure you can learn to be a programmer, it will take the same amount of time for me to learn to be a Doctor.
frogandtoad reacted
2022-03-28 12:21 pm
@byron I am fascinated by this concept of designing a PCB and getting it made for such a reasonable price. Do maker clubs not do a similar thing still, or have the authorities shut that down as too dangerous?
First computer 1959. Retired from my own computer company 2004.
Hardware - Expert in 1401, and 360, fairly knowledge in PC plus numerous MPU's and MCU's
Major Languages - Machine language, 360 Macro Assembler, Intel Assembler, PL/I and PL1, Pascal, Basic, C plus numerous job control and scripting languages.
Sure you can learn to be a programmer, it will take the same amount of time for me to learn to be a Doctor.
2022-03-28 12:29 pm
@frogandtoad I know even less about this, would a sub-forum be a good idea? Then maybe a thread per board?
First computer 1959. Retired from my own computer company 2004.
Hardware - Expert in 1401, and 360, fairly knowledge in PC plus numerous MPU's and MCU's
Major Languages - Machine language, 360 Macro Assembler, Intel Assembler, PL/I and PL1, Pascal, Basic, C plus numerous job control and scripting languages.
Sure you can learn to be a programmer, it will take the same amount of time for me to learn to be a Doctor.
2022-03-28 12:31 pm
Do maker clubs not do a similar thing still,
I've no experience of maker clubs, but I doubt if they actually make there own pcb's any more as they would in times past. As you say it just so easy and cheap these days to do your own design in a suitable pcb cad program. The one I use, easyEDA, does not take long to get to a level where simple pcbs can be drawn up and once the design is complete then just a click will send it off to the pcb maker (along with a credit card deduction)
This post was modified 2 years ago by byron
2022-03-28 12:35 pm
@frogandtoad I have been looking for a project for my Pico's, this looks like a start
Go for it... am sure @byron can lead you in the right direction
2022-03-28 12:36 pm
@byron Are there any reasonably priced places in NA or are they all in China?
First computer 1959. Retired from my own computer company 2004.
Hardware - Expert in 1401, and 360, fairly knowledge in PC plus numerous MPU's and MCU's
Major Languages - Machine language, 360 Macro Assembler, Intel Assembler, PL/I and PL1, Pascal, Basic, C plus numerous job control and scripting languages.
Sure you can learn to be a programmer, it will take the same amount of time for me to learn to be a Doctor.
2022-03-28 12:38 pm
Are there any reasonably priced places in NA or are they all in China?
The ones I have used have used have all been in China. But then I live in the UK, so USA ones would probably be pricy for me.
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