In fact, Raspberry Pi officially suggests using MicroPython with the Pico especially for new users. Currently C/C++ on the Raspberry Pi Pico is a workflow best left for advanced users. PlatformIO comes in three versions, a command line tool, a dedicated IDE, or it can integrate with your existing IDE for example Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code.Īs we noted in our Raspberry Pi Pico review, the new platform has two officially supported languages, C and MicroPython. It is designed for IoT projects, but it can still be used to tinker with even the most basic Arduino code. Arduino Create is a cloud version of the Arduino IDE. The Arduino IDE has improved over the years and now we see built in features such as multiple board management and a means to search and install libraries of packages for add-ons and accessories. But the Arduino IDE is still what many use and think of when they see “Arduino.” The Arduino IDE is the go to editor for Arduino projects, but there are alternatives in the form of PlatformIO and Arduino Create, a cloud IDE from Arduino. Winner: Raspberry Pi Pico Coding Raspberry Pi Pico vs Arduino To put it into perspective, $109 would buy 27 Raspberry Pi Pico boards. Retailing for €89.90 (excluding taxes) which is approximately $109, the Portenta H7 has a high price for the level of tech squeezed within it. The Portenta H7 blows the Raspberry Pi Pico out of the water in every way, except the price. The Portenta H7 also comes with WiFi, Bluetooth, camera interface and a GPU. With only 32KB of flash storage the Uno again falls short of the 2MB found on the Pico.īut how does the Pico shape up against Arduino’s flagship board the Portenta H7? Well the Portenta H7 features a dual core Arm Cortex M7 + M4 that can run up to 480 MHz and have up to 2MB of flash storage and 1MB of RAM. SRAM on the RP2040 is 264KB, again much more than the Uno’s 2KB. First of all, we have a dual core Arm Cortex M0+ running at up to 133 MHz, much faster than an UNO’s 16 MHz 328P. The RP2040 used in the Raspberry Pi Pico is a level above a typical microcontroller. Microcontrollers do not necessarily need multiple cores and fast speeds as they are typically used for a single part of a process. While the ATMega328 is never going to compete with an Arm processor, it is a reliable chip for projects, proven by the countless number of Arduino projects on offer.Īrm chips are becoming more common with microcontrollers, Adafruit, Seeed and SparkFun have all developed boards with Arm chips. For example Arduino’s Portenta H7 has a dual core Arm Cortex M7+M4 CPU. The older and more popular Arduino boards are powered by Atmel chips such as the ATMega328P but the later boards now feature Arm CPUs. Winner: Raspberry Pi Pico SoC of Raspberry Pi Pico vs Arduino All of this from a $4 board means the Raspberry Pi Pico is a low cost “Swiss Army knife” of GPIO pins. But what the Pico also offers are a series of programmable IO (PIO) pins which can be configured to simulate other interfaces / protocols such as WS2812 “NeoPixels”, they can also be used to offload complex tasks to a background process. The Raspberry Pi Pico GPIO offers plenty of digital IO, three analog inputs and multiple I2C, SPI and UART connections. Adopting the DIP layout, the Raspberry Pi Pico provides us with an easy to use form factor which is easy to embed into a project. It is a more convenient package compared to the Raspberry Pi and Arduino Uno style layouts which favour a larger layout. The DIP package can be soldered into a carrier board, placed into a breadboard or stacked atop compatible addons. The DIP package is nothing new, Arduino boards such as the Micro have been using it for years. If you need a soldering iron, we have a great list of the best soldering irons for you to choose from. All 40 pins are broken out to standard pads and, around the perimeter, there are castellations which can be used to solder the Pico to a carrier board in a similar fashion to surface mount electronics. The Raspberry Pi Pico introduces a new form factor to the Raspberry Pi ecosystem, a 40 pin ‘DIP’ style PCB.
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