Arduino vs Pico - Which is the Best Microcontroller For You?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 เม.ย. 2024
- Two of the most popular microcontrollers are the Arduino and the Raspberry Pi Pico. There are quite a lot of similarities, but also some important differences. Which is the best one for your project? Let me explain!
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Arduino and Raspberry Pi Foundation are also such great companies. The fact that Arduino is open source and that they fully support alternative manufacturers is absolutely unheard of in other industries.
It was clearly visible during the pandemic. There has been no shortage of Arduino boards, and some Raspberry Pi models are almost impossible to buy to date.
@@krzysztofklis You are not wrong maybe there will be a Risc V version of the PI to counter this but democratizing tech is always a good thing IMO.
@@dudds6699 RISC V cannot solve supply chain issues. There is a shortage of Pis because not enough are getting made, whos to say that if they switched to RISC V, which is still inferior, that they wouldnt have supply chain issues there too, everyone is having supply chain issues at the moment, it isnt something they can just fix by changing to RISC V.
Imagine a phone or a computer without WiFi.
MCUs without WiFi are boring.
@@edgarmondragon4708 that's your opinion, most MCUs used in applications don't have WiFi because it isn't needed and it would over complicate a lot of projects.
WiFi is only needed for iot, or for remote control which is a very small area in which MCUs are used and in remote control there are a lot better technologies than WiFi, with better range that are simpler to use. So most MCUs are fine without WiFi and if you do need WiFi chances are you don't need to performance or features of most other MCUs as the projects tend to be simpler Iot things rather than projects that need complex real time processing and control.
Both have their place both with and without WiFi but there is a reason that most MCUs, even modern ones don't come with WiFi built in, for the vast majority of application it just isn't necessary.
The fact you seem to think that MCUs without WiFi arent any good, either means you only do iot stuff or you are just a tinkerer that doesn't really do any complex projects, like even with a quadcopter or RC vehicle, WiFi isn't great due to its range, something simple like a PID controlled hot plate also doesn't need WiFi, the majority of projects just don't need WiFi.
As I prefer having Wifi available, I tend to select ESP32 (or even ESP8266) instead. They can also be programmed via the Arduino IDE or MicroPython.
yes me too ... and if one doesnt require so many io's ESP8266 is around 1/4th of the pico
cost wise
th-cam.com/video/eKcnBWXWAhQ/w-d-xo.html
I try to support R Pi wherever I can because of the ethos of the company and I have a new Pico W. However, to my very limited understanding it’s still inferior to the 32bit, BLE ESP32.
And cheaper.
I use ESP solutions in some of my commercial projects - although I use their official FreeRTOS-based toolchain with multitasking support - it simplifies things a lot :)
You're an awesome communicator Gary, informative, articulate with a perfect amount of sincere carsima. I totally look forward to exploring the rest of your channel's videos.
Wow, thank you!
Arduino does use actual C++ with gcc under the hood. It just does some pre-processing to create a proper C++ file (concatenates .ino and .pde files, generates function prototypes, sticks #include at the beginning, etc). But you can use all of the features, like constexpr, templates, lambdas, auto, SFINAE black magic, etc.
Firstly, great job on consolidating all the info on this topic. Very well summarized and presented.
Which board would I pick - well I’ve been doing embedded projects for years and am not afraid on getting closer to the chip with tooling etc. so for me, it’s a clear win to get the pico. For someone new trying out physical computing for the first time I would still start arduino uno because there are hundreds of thousands of projects with pictures/blogs/git repos etc. and if you need to learn something it’s just one google away. Circuit python is gaining traction especially with backing from amazing people like Adafruit but the body of code that Arduino tradition has is just unmatched right now.
Once your degree of sophistication with tooling increases you just outgrow the atmega328p and start into ARM Cortex.
Great video! Thank you Gary this is well explained. I’ve used arduino for years for art projects and have struggled to understand the differences among them. Your video was the most clear and succinct explanation I’ve come across. I’ve subscribed to your channel and look forward to more!
Really liked this video Gary 👍🏻
Only thing I feel was missing was maybe a comparison of the IO in detail.
Maybe that’s best left to a follow up video that breaks down some of these key comparisons.
Also, I’d love to see you do a microcontroller history video!
I personally have yet to get back into (actually physically doing) one of my favourite hobbies when I was younger and that was electronics and reading about digital electronics and microcontrollers.
I’m in Australia and I used to read a magazine called Silicon Chip that featured a series on PICAXE microcontrollers from the UK (you’ve probably heard of them).
I bought some and started getting into programming etc. but after I packing up to move house in the mid-2000’s, I have yet to break it out all again and get back into it.
I now have a RPi 4 8GB but yet to do anything with it other than get it running RPi OS, so keen to get back into it all but I just feel like I’m missing so much from mid-2000’s to late 2010’s that I’d sorta like to get a handle on the developments since the time of PIC microcontrollers and maybe a bit about the languages/IDEs.
Lol just a small request ☺️👍🏻
Don't put any pressure on yourself. Just do it for fun and get started again. When you don't think "I have to do this" and instead just "start doing" it becomes fun again! Much love from the USA!
Thanks a lot for making this video and explaining crisply. All the efforts from you for making these videos are making our life easier for learning.
Very informative. A year ago I designed and built my own Energy Management System based on a Rasp Pi Zero with Python but I wanted to interface to a micro-controller to read pulse outputs from 3 electricity meters (PV generation, Consumption & Purchase). I was going to use IC2 for the Pi to request the pulse counts every x mins. My first choice was the Pico as I could use Micro Python but found that Micro Python does not support the Pico as a client. I found a web comment from the developers that it was too complicated and unreliable.
So I switched to a Arduino Nano Every and found the IC2 client library and the IC2 general support was very good and I soon had written the client code; all interrupt based.
One issue was the Nano is a 5V board so a 3V3 to 5V logical level converter was needed on the IC2 interface, plus a 5V supply was needed. Another issue is that I could not get the Arduino IDE to run on a Windows 10 PC with a usb connection so had to use the web IDE. Finally, I burnt out one Nano when it was connected to a 5V supply via the 5V pin and the usb socket at the same time.
Great Video!! I've been using Arduino for the 5 years but have kept my Eye on Raspberry Pi. Most of my projects can be done with a Nano however some of the not complicated projects that require multiple I/O are tough to design due to limited or over lapping pins for different protocols. The Pico with multiple SPI busses and I2C support will solve that nicely. I'm also thrilled that it can be programmed from the Arduino IDE. I will be strongly considering the Pico but I don't think I'll get rid of my Nanos though. My number one complaint is the 3.3v logic level voltage needed. The Nano shines with its onboard regulator
Thanks this helped serve as a starting map of the space. Now to look at your other videos to see if I can fin out more!
Thanks for the great content. I've got classic Arduino boards and a couple Pi Pico boards, I might be more tempted by the Pico and other RP2040 based boards, I like the idea of dabbling with the lower level stuff for the fun of it but also having the MicroPython for easier coding too.
The lower level stuff is quite interesting, I wrote a few cool things, a heap manager, a context switcher, and now I'm trying to get interprocess communication working and then make a better scheduler based on priority and status of each process.
PIO would be interesting! And thank you so much for all your videos over the years!
Yes, a PIO programming example video would be interesting & useful. Thanks.
th-cam.com/video/eKcnBWXWAhQ/w-d-xo.html
For this content the presentation and comments seem equally valuable. I'm contemplating picking up this microcontroller/electronics/interfacing hobby (again). I would be relying on the existing support infrastructure to get started. My box of Basic Stamp stuff has been gathering dust for over a decade & it doesn't seem practical to start again with those boards. Thanks for sharing (everyone)
Between Arduino and Pico, ESP32 is the best!
Absolutely. If you need 5V and have a very simple problem to solve ---> Arduino, otherwise ---> ESP32. The Pico is a solution in search of a problem: it is half as fast as the ESP32, has half as much flash and RAM, has fewer pins, lacks Wifi/BT, and has a smaller development community. The ESP32 also tends to be cheaper, although nowadays the chip crisis causes so much fluctuation that it is hard to compare prices...
th-cam.com/video/eKcnBWXWAhQ/w-d-xo.html
My primary reason for selecting a Nano would be it's 5V (with reasonably good GPIO selection). For 3.3v, I often default to an ESP32 these days, but if I don't need Wifi and 3.3V is fine, the Pico looks like a fine choice whenever I need loads of GPI and the dual i2c buses certainly nice.
Especially for beginners, who want to control one or the other LED directly, the current limit of 4mA is not insignificant. There a UNO with its 20mA pPin already has its advantages
Black Pill is nice too, I know is a 3V3 but the IO is 5V-tolerant so you can use standard 5V CMOS or TTL no problems. My only concern is about the diode on the USB because I don't know the model but probable the legacy USB power (500mA) will be safe. I was thiking on get a Nano because the small form factor but this was more cheap and powerful, knowing I can use 5V on IO is a nice feature. That have 25mA IO, just take into consideration the full limit on 120mA for all the IOs sum.
My main reason to not use the pico pi is the fact that it's just such a severe overkill which is reflected in the price.
The feature list is absolutely great for the price, no doubt. But why pay for a load of stuff most projects don't use?
For example USB hardware support alone almost justifies the price point. The other one with that feature atmega32u4 costs almost the same and is way older.
@@fgregerfeaxcwfeffece but ATMEGA32U4 $4.72USD, RP2040 $1USD + SQI flash 8Mbit $1.6USD still is more cheap
My Black Pill STM32F401 is overkill, I know but the most cheap MCU i can get is the ATTINY10 and well, that is too much little next is STM32F030F4P6 $54MXN while a more old PIC16F628A is $68MXN somes times new is more cheap,
Used many arduinos, bought a few picos some months ago. I haven't dived in yet but I will now. Thanks for the video, very informative.
th-cam.com/video/eKcnBWXWAhQ/w-d-xo.html
So informative, thanks a lot!
I was not aware of the Pico until I watched this. I've put together several projects using Arduino, but I've got to say that anything that properly uses interrupts and not the clunky void loop() will come as a breath of fresh air. And using the full C++ compiler and error checking can only be a good thing too. Still, a Pico can be bought for pocket money, so I'm going to be giving it a go.
The microcontrollers on an arduino board are just off-the-shelf chips, be it atmel, ST, etc. You can also program them in C/C++ if you want. I'm not saying you shouldn't play with the pico, i'm just pointing out that just because it says arduino on the silkscreen doesn't mean you have to use their ide. You can program it in assembler if you really wanted to.
I love the pico so much, I've built megaman blaster for my son its soooo easy to program and so much fun! I also built simon game with it sooo easy go and buy one. And i bought it on Amazon in original price, i recommend it for anyone who whats to tinker with electronics. Note, learning python is much easier than c and c like languages
I’m working on a project with Arduino in mind, but I’ve realised that I can use a Pico in its place if I need to. I only need a couple of digital I/O and a couple of analog inputs. The 5v in and GND are in basically the same positions so I can swap them in a pin header and use the same pins for I/O and analogue inputs. The pico is slightly wider so I’ve got 2 rails of female headers on one side of my protoboard.
I had made use of the Arduino nano clone board to run a matrix of LEDs controlled by Glediator, there were some serious limitations (512 total) from it being an 8bit processor, eventually I would like to try to build a large custom LED display that would probably work WAY better with the pico, given there’s enough software support to make it work...
Just got a pack of 10 RP2040 microcontrollers along with 10 of the 12 MHz SiTime SiT8008 MEMS oscillators for those microcontrollers just so they can run, as I figured why not check it out. I wonder if it can still boot from the normal SPI flash and / or MRAM, rather than QSPI version which tend to be a bit more expensive especially for MRAM memory chips.
Awesome comparison with excellent recommendations!
Glad you enjoyed!
If you know JavaScript, there's the Espruino (and its family). The Puck JS can be coded from the browser over bluetooth, and runs on a cell battery so you can set it up in long-term standalone projects.
I do need to look at PIO programming - that seems handy.
Informative, thanks ! Can Pico be used for industry grade designs ?
I'd like to see a Pico setup with MicroPython in one core, C++ in the other core and some PIO for the low level. Quite the capable chip and environment. A fun and useful example would be a GPS to WWVB emulator.
I would like to see a video about the RP2040 PIO programming please, I enjoy your style of explaining things.
Great video! Really good! 😄
Having used both modules. Which one I’d use in a new project? May well depend on the speed and how complex the design may be. A couple of LEDs and a servo would be a nano. A weather system may be either.
I probably have a dozen different Arduino's a few full pI's and now 2 Pico Board's (one for a PicoScope and a spare) plus a Badger 2040 to play with an ink display - that was cheaper to buy than buy a display and a pico individually. But my current project is using ATTiny 1604s as these have all the arduino infrastructure support but on a 14 pin chip costing less than 2 Euro's and it has now become so cheap to have dedicated pcbs made up in China. So for me the choice comes down to the io requirements - pin count and type of comms. So really interested in the PIO side of the 2040.
Well, my main reason to choose the Atmel/Microchip Arduino is the voltage to work with. I can choose a Lithium cell with 4.2 to 2.5V to run a 8MHz ATMEGA WITHOUT any power components! Also the GPIO output is 5V when I power an Arduino with 5V. The Pico has only 3.3V and needs (the board has) an regulator to step down. But on the logic side you need to step it up, if you has 5V components.
Also you can use the bare ATMEGA328P in your projects, what you "can't" with SMD components (directly).
That last is the big selling point to keep alive the UNO. I don't like too much be cause the way is set the board, the Leonardo is more nice and I have a Zero too.
But just the UNO use a DIP IC so you can easly move around. I mean, to me making a custom board is not problem use a QFP but to beginners is more easy.
However, the price side. . . one ATMEGA328P-PU is 109MXN and the Pico is 125MXN and the black pill STM32F401 (if you want 5V-tolerant IO) 136MXN, is a little tough, because you need to add the crystal and capacitors and the cost is the same but you get more performance.
But having the possibility to change the IC is nice on the UNO, especially if you are a full newbie and blow the IC by connect something wrong.
yeah I would love to learn more about PIO
TNice tutorials is just the pick up I needed, thanks man
I think for beginners Arduino is definitely the one to go for because of all the educational resources and tooling available. Once you become more experienced then Pico is a viable alternative for projects, and perhaps preferred for cost and obtaining control over low-level details.
Pushing 50 and I picked up my first Arduino less than a month ago... Tempted there exactly as you describe!
I have a few Node MCUs with Wifi on them to try and make the clock I have working on a 'clone' maybe talk to the internet for accurate time...
I feel like I have bitten off more than I want to chew, but I AM only a month in, and I DO see the plusses of the Pico already.
@@Summ0ns Haha, age same. Same condition. First time user since a month. Great stuff indeed, it's a huge step forward compared to hobby electronics just 30 years ago. About the need for an accurate time, the logger shield of Arduino has an RTC chip on it where one can set the time and it would stay on par while the battery lasts. One more, the SIM800 shield receives date & time stamps of SMS messages accurately. Or simply buy a PCF8523 DIP version of the chip and connect some minimal components to connect via I2C to it, and voila. I wonder if there are RTC chip only shields though, if one is only interested in the RTC functionality.
Side note to the Pico, it has huge potential, to start with it is not restricted to this tiny RAM the Arduino Uno for instance has. Using the Mega just for a bigger RAM is a bit overkill in my case.
@@Summ0ns hey, i'm half your age but more then twice as scared lol. I'm studying fundamental physics and did 3y of electrical engineering previously, but because of how the french system is (stupidly and antiquated) set up during those 3 years we did ONLY theory, basically 4h of ridiculously advanced math (2h theory 2h applied) the same 4h for physics every day (and the expected 4h of work required at home to digest the 20 pages of theoremes you wrote).
There were a couple of algorithmic and programming hours in a week. staying in the sadistic aspect of this formation the language was of course C, simple basic painful to look at C, not C++.
That gave me CPTSD, (sorry for the lame joke but i couldn't resist lol CPTSD is a pathology close to PTSD in the 5th edition ofbthe diagnostic statistical manual DSM5 if you didn't catch the ref, and jokes are always better when tediously explained)
But seriously though, in those 3 years i did more math then i ll ever use even doing reaserch in astrophysics (well i've gone further since but its the intensity of the french prepa system that separates it from other high education, the math they teach in prepa (short for preparation and the precursor formation for entering an engineering school, basically its 2y of mathematical hell working minimum 12h a day, the level of overkill (for math used by engineering) is like using a nuke to raze a house).
But in those years of intense theoretical science we had only a teeny tiny bit of indigestible C lessons, the vast majority of typical engineering stuff (programming, system building study etc) is done in engineering school, prepa is meant to teach you all the science but since its ridiculously overkill (i usually use the analogy of using a hydrolic press to crack an egg lpl) i completely ignored the fqr less impactful (regarding grade coefficient, math was coef 17 and 15 -calculus&algebra, programming was like 2-3) and immediately hated it.
We were doing the most boring mathematical operations on the most boring programming language stuff like "code the equation to find the zeros of this horrible function", so in all seriousness i did kind of develop a "ptsd" for coding, using quotes cause its obviously nothing like actual ptsd.
But i've always been a science addict, even the horrible rigid competitive nature of prepa didn't take that from me, and always had the mind of an engineer, thanks to my gp who i spent lots of time with in his workshop and was a retired but always active multi discipline engineer, built his house himself (helped by workers obviously but he designed everything) even though he'd been at high level project management, finishing by commanding a 5000 worker fuel refinery facility in africa.
Anyway i learned tons from him and most of all he instilled the passion for hands on tinkering, building stuff, which, along with the passion for the theoretical aspect i ve always had since.
I ve done tons of messing around building all sorts of things from a legit from scratch powerful crossbow (hand made from a foot thick massive beam of wood, took me weeks no powertools) to portable rustic spot welders, car battery jumper/megapower bank complète with 1.5, 3, 5, 12, 19.5v &230VAC outputs for all appliances...
But the idea of opening up a code page (don't even know what its called lol program?) is more terrfying to me then any quantum mechanics lol.
But i realized to reach your full potential now you need to use computers, even when in your workshop, so i m dreadfully starting to enter the arduino Rsp Pi space, know next to nothing an am scared shitless of those tiny circuit board, its so fucking stupid i can enjoy building a super useless very lethal high voltage arc generator (nothing cooler then a blade a boom or a zap right) or learning about Bose-Einstein condensate (some twisted state of matter involving gases of bosons at very low densities and near cooled absolute 0)
But the idea of opening my computer and trying to replicate "this is my fist c program" we did on day 1 is the reason i m writing novel sized comments here instead of actually getting to work on it, procrastination lol
Thankyou this was awesome :)
actually some good information...
thank you
I mostly use teensy boards (with arduino libraries and the arm-none-eabi-gcc compiler) but I think I will have to try the RPi pico, it seems a very capable board especially for the price
It's surprisingly fast and capable for $4. MicroCenter had them on sale for $2 when they came out and I got a bunch.
Some of the earlier teensy boards didn't seem like that much of a bargain. But Teensy 4.0 blows my mind! 600 MHz, superscalar architecture, branch prediction, 64-bit floating point in hardware, Coremark score of 2313! (For reference, Arduino Mega 2560 has a Coremark score of 7.)
@@d.jensen5153 absolutely, for high compute applications the teensy 4.x can't be beaten, but I find myself using a lot of 3.2/3.6s which could be replaced by picos
best video ever! thanks Gary!!
Glad you enjoyed it
This is very interesting as a hardware engineer I have always loved arduino it makes hardware projects so fast and easy however i have had issues with debugging capability in the past, if you aren’t careful you can get in a mess very quickly, and also limitations due to only having a single core meaning I had to use 2 boards. I have loved the ultra low power capabilities possible with arduino and wonder if the pico can compete in this respect. I am definitely going to get a pico and have a play with it there are probably certain projects I would use it over an arduino
> "due to only having a single core meaning I had to use 2 boards"
You could just code things differently instead: either do some basic multitask stub via constantly looping over multiple smaller functions, or utilize a dedicated middleware solution like FreeRTOS.
@@TheLukasz032 Idk much abt anything, but I would use some protothreading library i found online to run stuff on my arduino.
It didn't seem to really have any issues at all. Really did work perfectly fine.
Any tips, for someone new learning circuits and these micro controllers ?
Very informative, I hadn't realised the Pico was a microcontroller. I had rejected RP for HW projects because it didn't have analogue in, but I'm a BBC guy born and breed so I'll definitely look at the Pico.
Which one of these would you suggest for using with a Militech Optical Zoom/Scanner eye implant?
I went with the Arduino Nano rp2040 connect because I didn't know about the Raspberry pico W ... I'd be curious to see a comparison of these.
I used to use Arduinos, but switched over to Teensy board several years ago because of speed and size. The 3.2 is similar to the Arduino Uno with numerous advantages. Teensy 3.2 has 3 serial ports which do not conflict with the serial over USB. It also will operate at 120 Mhz where as the Uno operates at just 16 Mhz. That is 7.5 times faster. It is als 1/4th the size. It also have digitalReadFast and digitalWriteFast, which is similar to port manululation. It is definitely much faster read and write times than the Uno. Check them out.
thanks bro it's really help
You can also program in Rust on a Pico. Reasons for using Rust instead of C/C++ is you get the same level of performance as C/C++ but the Rust compiler will catch a LOT more errors before they hit the hardware and the language itself is far less prone to programming error too.
Hi - yes, I'd certainly be interested in more on PIO - but accessed from the C/C++ environment rather than Micro Python. Thanks for this one, very useful comparisons.
Hmm.... Maybe I should do a video.
Wow, great video as always
I would like to hear some more details of the Pico
Have only gone the Arduino way till now 🙂
Thanks for sharing your experiences with all of us :-)
I am glad you liked the video. I have several videos about the Pico already on the channel, did you get a chance to watch them?
Official Arduino support for the Pico board / (RP2040 chip) is based on Mbed OS, inofficial support is based on the Pico C/C++ SDK (written in C, compatible to C++), build system: cmake.
i like inofficical more cause it's using the original C/C++ SDK from Rasbperry.
@@Henry-sv3wv Liking the unofficial one more because it uses the SDK from raspberry pi is not really a valid reason for using it. MBED is created and maintained by ARM and it is an ARM cortex M0 processor so why not use that since it was created by the people that created the core in the first place. Also why use the arduino IDE at all to program the pico when you can just use VSCode and the Raspberry Pi SDK?
please, compare both to hi level ESP modules
yes, please make a video on the programmable PIO feature.
Already live th-cam.com/video/QlKtEA5XKc4/w-d-xo.html 👍
@@GaryExplains : nice!!
Great video. I'd be interested in the PIO method and uses... Thanks!
My next project will be built around Pico W. I've used both, 4 regular Pico's and several Arduino projects. But I have several other raspberry pi's. Several RPi 1 Zero W's and RPi 4B's so I'm learning the easier python code at the same time and Debian Linux and electronics/robotics/AI/Computer Learning/Facial Recognition, etc. All very useful in today's world!
The PIO video is here: th-cam.com/video/QlKtEA5XKc4/w-d-xo.html 👍
Great video, Gary! Bring on the RP4720 :-) I used the RP2040 board from Adafruit, and I liked it a lot. I also like the ESP32-C3 and original ESP32 a lot. I look forward to a dual RISCV core version of the ESP32-C3. I hope that's in the making. Thanks again. Also: subscribed!
very well explained sir
Great comparison, thank you. I think the Pico needs to add wifi though, as I've found that using the Pimoroni wifi hat is a pain - makes it hard to access the IO pins, as the Pimoroni module is a full HAT.
Looks like you got your wish with the WIFI! The Pico W is just that
Thank you. I would love to learn more about PIO
I did a PIO video here th-cam.com/video/QlKtEA5XKc4/w-d-xo.html 👍
@@GaryExplains -Thanks Gary, you are the best!
Great video!
Currently using the pico for my first microcontroller project I am doing.
Great to hear, I hope you have fun with it. 👍
I tried and it is installed thank u very much anda
Comming from Pic Micros and PicBasic Pro i have been looking for my next platform as Pic micros are more or less a thing of the past. I have been tinkering a bit with Arduinos and they are really good, but i just can't make friends with C++. It feels soo backwards and "not for me" that i have never been able to make any headway. Recently i dipped my toe in MicroPython and this makes so much more sense to me. Finally i can make sense of things and i have some Picos on order. While i wait i'm tinkering with a ESP32 dev board and it's an amazing board. Too much power for my tiny projects thou. The only thing i miss from the Arduino eco system is the 5 volt IO's. The 3.3v is making stuff a bit more complicated and you need to be careful not to let the blue smoke out. It's impossible to get it back in.
I would love to see the programmable IO examples.
th-cam.com/video/eKcnBWXWAhQ/w-d-xo.html
For what MCU?
AVR: it's just an assignment to appropriate MCU registers, so if you need all B pins as output, you do DDRB = 0b11111111, then to set high state on i.e. B3 you do PORTB = PORTB | (1
The decision gets more complex when you look at items like the Arduino Nano Sense BLE R2 that has many on-board sensors like a 9 axis IMU, temperature, pressure, light, and microphone that would be external components for the Pico. It's more expensive but the externals and additional circuit complexity might bring the Pico into the same range if you need the functionality. MicroPython will also run on the Nano, and using VS Code with the PlatformIO extension allows for standard C/C+= programming. Different horses for different courses and I'm happy to see an increasing number of possibilities on the market
I dipped my toe in with the Circuit Playground express but now I am running into all sorts of out of memory issues using circuitpython. Any tips on alternatives that have more memory or better memory management? My program isn't that big so it's a little frustrating to already be maxed out on what i'm trying to do. (Trying to just make a simple toy that plays audio files, runs a motor, detects temp and does something with that... etc.
Thanks prof. Very well explained. I do like both, personally use Arduino because was first out, just bough some pico, gonna put my hands on soon. Will we ever or soon see Arduino Risc-v / Rasp Ris-V version. That would be awesome, yeah just wondering if they're thinking about it.
I think Pine64 is getting ready to release a RISC-V board, but it’s going to be a lot more powerful than a microcontroller.
the fact you can program ATTiny chips with Arduino IDE is one of the awesome things about it
Yet another good one, Professor. As I have said previously, when you say, "If you'd like to see more..." I always will give an unqualified "YES, PLEASE!" (I want more pudding even though I haven't eaten my meat. ;~)
Are you a native English speaker? To me (as a child) the pudding would be incentive to eat your veg, so the meat thing sounds odd / a translation of a phrase.
Or maybe I'm just more of a carnivore than you 🤷
Please do a video on PIO!
i would like to mention that you can in fact just write plain c code in the arduino ide and upload it to an arduino. of course then you have to know all the respective c commands and registers of the processor that is on your arduino, but instead of using the digital write function you can just as well directly write to the registers and that allows for way more efficient code as the library function has a bit of overhead to make it simple to use.
also if you know how you can directly flash the processors on the arduino boards without using the arduino ide at all. the beauty of the older atmel chips was that they were very well documented and easy to program and flash with a properly set up ide of your choosing.( eclipse for example)
I just bought some Picos, Thanks for showing me another rabbit hole 🙂 A PIO video would be useful as I want to do I2C between a PI and Pico.
I am glad you liked the video. The PIO video is already live. You can do i2c without PIO it is already supported by both boards.
Excellent stuff...subbed. I want to try building a musical tracker that a youtuber has done which involves a raspberry pi4 and an arduino nano, and a touchscreen.
Hey Gary,
love your video, but there is an error that I cannot pass up, for RP2040 name, on the ram part you are wrong, the number "4" is actually floor(log2(ram/16k)) meaning that if the ram is doubled the number is actually 5,not 8 and if the ram is halved, it is 3 not 2,because it is log2 function, (if it is 8 it means the ram of RP2080 is 16 times the RP2040 and if it is 2 it means that RP2020 is 1/4 of RP2040), yeah, be extra careful with exponential and logarithmic (exponent and logarithms)
But good quality content nonetheless, keep it up
There seems to be some confusion about this, while I do see that there is some documentation around that uses the log() variant, this is what Eben said himself: th-cam.com/video/QFQn2fl_YSU/w-d-xo.html
@@GaryExplains They are both the same thing. What Eben said is essentially the same as the log method, just different ways of writing the same thing. Eben said (2^4) * 16 which is 256 kB. If you put 256 kB into the log formula then you get 4. Its just rearranging the equation. Even with the way Eben said it (2^4) * 16, if you did (2^5) * 16 (which would be an rp2050) then that is 512 kB which is double the ram, just like if you put 512 into the log formula you get 5.
In a new version of this video the Pico W should have a really good advantage.
Is the Raspberry Pi Pico or the Arduino Nano 2040 USB class compliant? Would like to build a MIDI controller with one of them.
Regarding debugging and writing low level code with arduino, you can always use atmel studio’s ide. That isn’t necessarily an advantage of the pi.
You could always write the binary by hand. The point is not about alternative software available for each platform, but rather the official software.
Honest question... how does microbit compare to these two? I have been playing with three microbits and a rasp berry pi
Good video however you forgot to mention one very important difference between the Arduino and Pico. That is power requirements. I'm not talking about it's operating power consumption (The Pico is super low power consumption) but powering the board and it's I/O limitations.
I have been using the Pico for many months and find it great to work and program with (using Thonney & MicroPython). Here's where you have to be careful.... The Arduino is a 5v device at it's core so you simply use a 5v power source and you're good to go. The Pico however is a 3.3v device at it's core. It does have an onboard 3.3v regulator with limited power. So you can power it with a 5v source. The I/O pins of the Pico are 3.3v level and are NOT 5v tolerant according to Pico info. So if you are interfacing with outside world (which you will likely always be doing) then you must make sure the voltages from the outside devices (CMOS / TTL etc) are only 3.3v max. This can be troublesome. So even if you are interfacing with a 5v Arduino for example you have a problem.
There are ways around this such as voltage level converters of various types some are more costly than others. I use these tiny boards that have 4 MOSFETS on them arranged in a unique way. There is a HI voltage side and a LOW voltage side. You connect your voltages accordingly for example 3.3v and 5v or 3.3v and 10v. There are 4 devices on each of the boards I use. if you set a HI or 3.3v logic level on the low side, the Hi side will go to say 5V. and if you put 0v on the low side the hi side will also go to 0v. They are also bi-directional. So you could set a 5v logic level on the hi side and the low side will go to 3.3v or 0v for a logic low. I hope I have explained it OK. You can get these on Amazon as well as other sources and are cheap (pack of 10 boards, 4 channels on each incl SIP solder pins for proto boarding for around $13. CDN) Mine are KeeYees brand and the boards are nicely made and labeled. They work great and I have tested them at 3.3v Low side and 10v High side and I have sent a PWM frequency just over 2mHz and all was fine.
Hopefully this will help avoid a problem for you. Good luck friends :-)
All of the Arm based Arduino boards are 3.3v.
It's a perfect time for ARDUINO to come out with an Arduino-PI as a mini-computer that competes with the Raspberry PI. currently the RPi is not available and pretty much ANY sort of 'version-1' would be a killer board and springboard the whole Arduino Community into a next-level capabilities.
Except designing an SBC is very different to designing a microcontroller dev board, arduino dont make their own chips either, they just use microcontrollers made by other companies, so if they made an SBC they would have the exact same supply chain issues Raspberry Pi and other SBC manufacturers are having. It also wouldnt really change the community much at all because most people that use arduinos are familiar with or at least know what a Pi is and when to use one. Arduino creating an SBC would be trying to push into an already crowded market and they would just be using the exact same type of chips as all the other SBCs unless arduino gains the skills and people to develop their own SBC, which is something Raspberry pi or most SBC manufacturers dont even do, so I cant see arduino doing it either. Overall there isnt any need for an arduino SBC, their products are massively overpriced for what they are anyway and chances are if they made an SBC it wouldnt be open source, just like the portenta H7 isnt.
th-cam.com/video/eKcnBWXWAhQ/w-d-xo.html
ESP32... The m5stack stuff is nice if you want a nice looking device with display.
I'm personally a big fan of the TTGO T-Display. It is a full ESP32 board with battery charging support as well as a display as big as possible for a breadboard-friendly device. The display is useful for debugging and/or adding interactive features, especially as the board comes with not just one, but two GPIO buttons (plus a separate side-mounted reset button).
I want that PIO video!
I am using the Arduino for controling lots of devices an Sensors at my University. The Problem is, that you have lots of devices who give you an analog output soignal. For instance I have an assortment of MassFlowControllers here and they give me 0-5V output signals. I have build a universal controller Unit that can even work with MFCs from different companies. With tha Pico I would need to add a 5V ADC and extra power components all the time beacuase the Pico is only 3.3V. So the old atmel bords are here to stay at least for a while for me but I guess at some point even the Sensors will switch to purly digital.
When will you bring the next speed test ?
Combining the Raspberry Pi 5 with the Pico has got to be the best idea for my rocket ever 🙂💪
I appreciate your help
Yes to the pio video
👍 th-cam.com/video/QlKtEA5XKc4/w-d-xo.html
Pico can be programmed in the Arduino IDE, and since we now have a PicoW, I have no need for the ESP32 anymore. Win!
How about a update video after 2 years? The ecossystem of Pico have grown I think... I myself started recently and use FreePascal compiler (and Assembler) to program it.
This video contains an inaccuracy (at 4:05): the Arduino "language" is not "C-like," it IS C++.
However, the microcontroller doesn't implement, by default, some operations (like dynamic casting) and the standard library is missing. But it's not a different language, just pared-down C++.
Your comment contains an inaccuracy, please read this page in the Arduino documentation, where it says "To do so you use the Arduino programming language (based on Wiring)" - www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/Introduction
@@GaryExplains ... which is oversimplified explanation. Arduino IDE actually uses GCC compiler in the background, so ARDUINO can be programmed in C or C++ or even AVR assembly.
@@nenadloncar1331Yes, it uses AVR-GCC, you don't even need the Arduino IDE. Just use VIM, include the Arduino.h file, compile it with AVR-GCC and upload with AVRDUDE
I am having an issue i think it is that pico needs a DTR request on reboot and arduino does not.. i have software that does not send one and so i have to open the serial monitor in the IDE in order to force serial communcation to open up.. the UART on the pico requires this andni need to find a way to simulate the handshake and enable serial comms on the pico. Any suggestions?
Opinion: Arduino+Raspberry. They work very well together. By both :) For RP Pico, I don't know, never asked (so may be offtopic). But for RP 3B+ and a bunch of arduino nanos: they very well work together and do what the other can't. Eg. If you want to control 4 (or more) PWMs from one (or more) generic off shelf USB joystick in 2 hour with only knowledge to linux + C or python (like most of hobby electronics but full time programmers)? Go for RP (full board) + arduino nano(s) combo to live "both of two worlds": having linux + having a lots of PWM/UART/analog/etc supported IO ports (RP alone has too limited GPIO for this, and hats are not a "native" solution to "programmer type" tinkers) in two package separated 10 minutes of reading about I2C support.
God video! You forgot to say that the pico can run MMBasic too :) That is very cool!
Hello. Cool. I made a project like PicoBasic for those who miss BASIC from the 1980s (me). I developed a board with the RP2040 and another for the inputs/outputs with USB, AUDIO, Relays, SDcard, VGA. I adapted the original code (which is not mine) to include the ABNT standard keyboard. The manufacturing files, electrical diagram and videos are on my channel.
Another +1 for PIO vid
At 01:10 you are zooming in on the wrong microcontroller, the Atmega16u2 is just the USB to serial bridge of the Arduino Uno. It replaced the FT232RL of older Arduino versions; some may still remember the big uproar about fake FTDI chips, which led FTDI to the decision to pretty much destroy those chips by overwriting the device ID and vendor ID by their Windows driver. Obviously this was the wrong decision because most vendors redesigned their boards to use something else like the CH340 or the CP2102.
You can actually write C to arduinos, which is the way I was taught to use them at engineering school. According to my professor it is the best way to utilize them (I have not fact-checked on that).
You should have mentioned the Teensy range too...
Remember the pico has 3.3V logic levels, not 5V. This could affect the type of board you choose.
Many of the Arduino boards are also 3.3v.
@@GaryExplains Oh. I've been using the nano for the past 6 months. I've learned something new : - ))
Basically all the ATMega boards are 5v and the Arm boards are 3.3v.
I just wish it was smaller like a teensy and Arduino Pro mini...
Please do a PIO video.
Nice video. I use a android app to program pi pico and zero with my pixel 6. Wish they had more apps out there to do this as I really don't like windows or PC or laptops. The app I use is off the Google Play store it's called micro REPL