Getting Started - Pico, MicroPython and Thonny
The big idea: A microcontroller is a tiny, cheap, complete computer on a single chip. The Raspberry Pi Pico is one of these tiny computers. In this very first lesson you will meet the Pico, teach it to speak the MicroPython language, install a friendly program called Thonny on your laptop, and make the Pico obey its very first typed commands. By the end you will have a working setup you will reuse in every lesson that follows.
You do not need any electronics or programming experience. We explain every single word the first time it appears. Read slowly, do each step on your own board, and you will get there.
What you will be able to do
- Explain, in plain words, what a Raspberry Pi Pico is and what is inside it.
- Tell the difference between a Pico and a Pico W.
- Say what MicroPython is and how it differs from the Arduino C/C++ way.
- Put ("flash") the MicroPython firmware onto a brand-new Pico using the BOOTSEL button and a UF2 file.
- Install Thonny, connect it to the Pico, and choose the correct interpreter.
- Type live commands in the REPL, and save a program as
main.pyso it runs on its own. - Fix the three most common "it does not work" problems.
What is the Raspberry Pi Pico?
The Raspberry Pi Pico is a small circuit board, about the size of a stick of gum. It is a microcontroller board. Let us unpack that word carefully, because it is the heart of everything.