This post will describe the initial steps you need to perform to set up a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W. You need to complete this before you can start doing any project work.
Step 1: Physical Setup
- Inspect the Pico: Ensure your Raspberry Pi Pico or Pico W is undamaged. If it doesn’t have pre-soldered headers and you plan to use it with a breadboard, solder headers onto the GPIO pins.
- Connect the Pico to Your Computer:
- Hold down the BOOTSEL button on the Pico.
- While holding BOOTSEL, connect the Pico to your computer via a micro USB cable. You need a USB cable with a micro USB on one end and standard USB on the other.
- Release the BOOTSEL button. This puts the Pico into USB Mass Storage Mode, and it will appear as a drive named RPI-RP2 on your computer.
Step 2: Install MicroPython
MicroPython is a lightweight Python implementation designed for microcontrollers like the Pico. It’s the easiest way to start programming.
- Download the MicroPython Firmware:
- Go to the official Raspberry Pi website: MicroPython for Raspberry Pi Pico. MicroPython – Raspberry Pi Documentation
- Download the latest MicroPython UF2 file for the Pico or Pico W (e.g., rp2-pico-YYYYMMDD-unstable-vX.Y.Z.uf2).
- Install the Firmware:
- With the Pico in BOOTSEL mode (showing as RPI-RP2 on your computer), drag and drop the downloaded .uf2 file onto the RPI-RP2 drive.
- The Pico will automatically disconnect and reboot with MicroPython installed. The RPI-RP2 drive will disappear.
Finally…
This post described how to set up a Raspberry Pi Pico 2. Now your Pico is ready to use. I use Thonny to develop Python code on the Pico. See this post on how to setup Thonny.