Thank you so much for posting this. I've been struggling with the C tool chain for hours trying to follow the RPi docs and other youtubers. I really like how you simplified it to just a blink example instead of all the examples, which takes a long time to build. GREAT WORK!

Best instructions I've seen so far for setting up the Pi Pico on Windows - THANK YOU!!!

i almost cant believe it... after at least a dozen individual attempts and probably over 50-60 hours of debugging trying again giving up debugging etc... this one video finally made it work for me even after probably polluting the crap out of my paths variables. thank you so much

5:20 AM perfect time to watch a NotEnoughTECH video.

A lot of their design decisions were for performance I believe. They explain their design decisions in detail in their sdk manual I think. It's about as convoluted to set up on Linux. But with the project generator it's really not that big of a deal. The project is only just out, and Im sure people on github will streamline the whole process, or even create new interpreters for more languages in the future.

I'm not sure why this was so difficult. I was so close with my own test environment, but I just couldn't get it until I saw your examples. Cmake makes me feel dumb. Thank you for alleviating my frustrations.

Thanks Matt, did not realise the effort needed to use c on a windows machine

In the 1980s we had Turbo C. In the early 90s we had Turbo C++. They were very fast, easy to install and easy to use (one key to compile, link, debug). Now with 500 times the processing power, 4,000 times the memory and maybe 20 times the hassle in installation, where are we? It now takes many times longer to build for much the same result.

Thanks for video, really helpful. I'm a beginner looking for information, not sure should I to start with micro python or c++?

Wow .. thank you.. perfect..

Great video as I wanted to learn how to use C++ with the pico and I followed all the setup instructions (I think) but I lost you at 8:48, when I open an empty folder it is just that, Empty! you have files in your folder how did they get there?

Fantastic Video, once running it's OK but certainly takes a lot to get started, I'm glad the Arduino released support for the Pico PI, there are not that many examples of using the board with peripherals. Hopefully, there is wide adoption of the RP2040 otherwise we just drift back to our comfort zone with other proven solutions.

Is it possible to use the Pico to convert analog RGB video signal from old console to digital like Displayport/DVI?

were i can get the test folder

I tried the Pico getting started guide and was able to compile from the command line. Tried their instructions and then yours for Visual Studio Code and could not get it working on Win7. I'm wondering how they came up with a Windows toolchain so convoluted and difficult to set up. The Pico is kind of a cool little part but some of Raspberry Pi's implementation decisions are puzzling. Unless you have a day or 2 to waste I'd recommend using MicroPython or waiting for Arduino to add Pico support.

Thanks.

Excellent video, you helped me fix my install and I am up and running now on Windows 10. I was very excited about the Pi Pico until I saw the SDK setup process. This is an absolute mess, do they really except your average hobbyist will deal with this much complexity? Everyone is just going to wait for Arduino IDE support now. And if your are using Arduino IDE, why not just use an Arduino???

smooth

you are so right... why is it so difficult to start with the pico... does pico hardware means giga windows setup difficulties?

I'm a real time C embedded developer, and you're right, this is incredibly painful. I found creating a fresh clean Windows VM was necessary, all the existing dev stuff I use on a daily basis just wasn't compatible. It's at least half a day if not more I'll never get back. I very rarely use Python, but the MicroPython stuff took about 3 minutes to get up and running. Unfortunately MicroPython doesn't perform at all well compared to native C.

microPython it is then, just like you said I hope arduino will release a new update along with RP2040 :)

Here's the thing: On Raspberry Pi (doesn't matter which), they have an official setup bash file that sets up EVERYTHING ready to go and ready to compile. (Also, in the 70-page doc, they say there is an unofficial setup script for Windows 10 (and probably 11, as Win 11 wasn't released yet)

I know basic c (pun intended). Is it worth it switching to micro python? If micropi is better suited for microcontrollers i would gladly learn it

Does the board already come with preload bootloader? I had problem writing code to my Arduino nano which didn't come with bootloader. I don't want to go through the process of burning bootloader to the microcontroller board.

I didnt get the CMakeLists.txt. Do I just type your example from the video or is a template included somewhere that I missed?

Most of my blue bar at the bottom of VS Code is blank. I'm pretty sure I've done all the steps, but how do I select the compiler (gcc)?

Waw, looks complicated to get this installed. But I'll give it a try !

why do we need to instal visual studio if we are using vscode?

Nice Petronas Motorsport shirt!

More then a GB for programing a 32-bit MC in C for blinking a LED you need python and cmake and git and VisualStudio what a jole ! Why not using the pico toolchain and any tiny IDE ?

I bought three as well, I just wanted the order value to be higher than the postage 😂

Do you find the lack of wifi on the device a problem?

Hello, I installed everything for C like it is in your video, but when I compile it, it write thin: ImportError: No module named argparse. Where can be problem? I don´t want to use micropython, beacouse it has limited functions. Thank you. Klims

This video in short - just do this 57 simple steps and you are ready to program! :D

my pico doesnt mount to the computer ? what should i do ?

the c++ toolchain is like... sooooo good if you ever programmed for any other microcontroller. you are not bound to an ide and you simply can write code for the thing like any old c++ program. its a pain in the ass to work with arduino ide, because it lacks almost all features an ide should have. i wont even go into things like avr studio etc, its a nightmare. a c++ developer will have all those steps you complain about already set up. it is the way we write software. the real problem here is windows itself. all these hiccups are the reason, barely any respectable c++ developer runs on windows. i see how it bothers you as an amateur, but you should keep in mind that the pico is mainly meant to be programmed from a raspberry pi, where everything already is in place. even on macos i just have to run cmake & make, its so convenient.

The whole SDK is just an un-streamlined mess. I will probably recommend to people to just wait for the Arduino IDE to be updated to support it before buying one. Even trying to get the SDK to work on my Linux computer has not been a pleasant experience.

I also got one, to have a play, but, they need to do a version with wifi and bluetooth like ESP32, thats where these low cost mcu's become really useful

hey mat. ich know you like raspberry. but when you are going to embedded programming. do your self a favour: take esp 8266. there are tons of ready to use software to use as firmware. and you can perfectly integrate it in your smarthome/nodered by mqtt or rest calls. its cheap too. and it has wifi! those komponents are also in some of your tasmotas (those whith wifi). with this skill your can reprogramm them as well. and dont do c or c++. take python! so in short: - buy an esp8266 (e or f) development board like the nodeMCU. - plug it with a usb calbe to your windows pc(or other OS) - flash micropython to the device - use visual studio with pymakr plugin - that is it.(configuration is nearly 0) im pretty sure its the easiest way to do embedded programming with great scalability AND WIFI.

cannot open source file "pico/stdlib.h" is the error I am stuck with

I agree. Why is it so difficult to install this system on windows? This is why I avoid MS products whenever possible.

oh god, I forgot 's' for NMake Makefile and spent 2 days wondering what the hell is wrong

Text size unfortunately is way too small!

Dobrze jedziesz Mateusz Żołnierczyk czy jakoś tak ugułem

Search for kolban-ESP32.pdf best manual for esp32

Now....I know why there is no stock on the pico boards nowhere 😹

Pity it isn't the Raspberry Pikelet. :D

I have to conclude, despite this very helpful video, that C on a Pico is utterly impractical.I need to be coding within 10 minutes of getting the thing out of the box. This looks like a week's misery to coax C into life. I don't know if it's any easier on a Pi, but why is there a push to use Python as a teaching language? It seems like a steaming pile of type-unsafe manure to me, but perhaps I'm missing something because it can't be that bad, can it?

Lol and you think arduino ide is better than VSCODE? There are so many great ides to write C/C++, arduino ide is for beginners and it doesn’t have anything other than autocomplete and it’s more like text editor than complete ide, so if you prefer arduino ide to program something, believe me you have some kind of problem...

I like the way you present this tutorial,, however ,, for the health of my eyes try to show us only your workbench , we don't need the 40% lost space around your screen. That's the only complain from this flying dutch boocaneer ; my compliments

first

Why bring out a great product but make most of us learn a new language and make it ridiculously hard to use the one we know.

Way to fast, slow down horse, no way I can follow this.

I don't understand why people use Windows to program MCUs

use linux. the pico has no power, 3v is a joke. rpi is a decent company. the rpi4 has 64bit chip and they still haven't released a 64bit os native, after multiple years. rpi support is garbage. Stick with arduino.

why i got red line in #include "pico.stdlib.h"