I recently purchased a Pico Omnibus (Dual Expander) and a Pico Unicorn Pack to test out the new Raspberry Pi Pico.
Using the Pimoroni Micropython UF2 gave an easy way to get the demo.py working as an initial step.
Still on the learning curve - and wanting to use other library modules that support different devices from other vendors - is there a way of extracting the Picounicorn Module such that it may be simply copied to the /RP2 folder with other source and library files as part of a larger project, or could a set of modules be made available to allow a pick-and-mix approach.
Given the simplicity of using Micropython and Thonny to learn programming skills, I am sure that there are many new users (like me) that lack the expertise and experience to be able to make the step-change required if one has to also use the C/C++ SDK etc. to make progress to the next level.
Thank You.
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Still looking for a solution…
Looking at:
https://github.com/pimoroni/pimoroni-pico/tree/main/micropython/modules/pico_unicorn
one can see the source and library files which are used as part of the build process to generate the .UF2 file to support a number of Pimoroni products.
Within the libraries there are various ‘C’ files etc. which would therefore require writing a new make file(?) to build a stand-alone module using only those files that are relevant to the PicoUnicorn display - a task, which unfortunately as I am only just starting in this hobby - and wishing simplify things and focus only on Micropython at the moment, will be far beyond my capabilities for a while!
There is also a question as to how one then references that file within main.py script within the /RP2 folder.
The RPi-Pico/RP2040 is an amazing new initiative within the world of microcontrollers - and an exciting first step with a new architecture.
However the RPi-Pico also fits in a ‘different place’ to the Linux based Raspberry Pi SBC, so I guess it will take a while for a new ‘eco system’ to evolve and provide less experienced users the tools and scripts to simplify the learning curve to its use.
This might be worth a watch, if you haven’t seen it already.
Pirate Radio 0x00 - Raspberry Pi Pico software support - where we’re at! - YouTube
They discuses a fair bit of what you mention in your post. You won’t find specific answers to all your questions, but I think it will help with where things are going, well hopefully going. ;)
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Thank you - I hadn’t seen the video. The reality is that with any new device it will take a while for all the different building blocks to become available, and it will be interesting to see how things evolve.
That’s pretty well how I saw it too. We’ll just have to have a little patience for now.