This is a placeholder topic for “RP2040-Zero, a Pico-like MCU Board Based on Raspberry Pi RP2040” comments.
RP2040-Zero, A Low-Cost, High-Performance Pico-Like MCU Board Based On Raspberry Pi Microcontroller RP2040…
Read moreThis is a placeholder topic for “RP2040-Zero, a Pico-like MCU Board Based on Raspberry Pi RP2040” comments.
RP2040-Zero, A Low-Cost, High-Performance Pico-Like MCU Board Based On Raspberry Pi Microcontroller RP2040…
Read moreThis board seems to support CircuitPython but not Micropython. Is this correct?
Mine seems to work ok using programs written in MicroPython.
Hi Omar,
Any RP2040 board with the recommended >4MB of flash will be able to run micropython perfectly.
In short this board does support it!
Can you share a few project that you did with this board?
A very compact board, pity there isnt a PiicoDev/Qwiic connector!!
BTW, pinout for GP9 labelled I2C1 SCL, should be I2C0 SCL.
Tim
Thank you all for your input which made me try harder! I was trying to use Thonny to install micropython via the interpreter setup page but for some reason could not get a stable installation. In the end I set the RP2040-Zero to download mode and did a drag and drop of 20/12/2022 RPiPico UF2 and it worked perfectly first time.
Free Pascal works on the Pico, compiles faster than C/SDK or Arduino too.
The Pico Zero has a single WS2812 and Michael’s example worked fine.
The easiest way to install is grab fpcupdeluxe, works on Windows and Linux not Pi’s yet. Make a Pico folder and install the Pico tools there.
I have ported a few Piicodev boards to Free Pascal.
The reassignment of i2c pins was not too hard to figure out.
Hi Tims,
Good spot! I had to look twice to notice that the bus number was wrong when skimming the pinout.
This isn’t an exact replacement for the RP2040-Zero but Adafruit have a QT Py board that uses the same RP2040 chip that does feature a PiicoDev/Qwiic connector.
The QT Py is a good alternative but pricey in comparisom.
The CE write-up details the memory as 4MB of SPI Flash, but the Adafruit url as 8MB?
But if I understand correctly, the Pico-W only has 2MB of on-board Flash memory, am I comparing apples with apples?
Hi Tim,
Good catch! I’ll mark this as something that needs updating, it seems Adafruit have quietly upgraded the flash chip.
Yep! Both the RP2040-Zero and Pico (W) have 2MB of flash, so you can be confident that most projects will fit on anything with equal or more than that. More flash just means that you can put more code and libraries on at one time. The RP2040 actually supports anything up to 16MB IIRC!
This board has a problem with high I2C clock rates. 100khz is ok not 400khz.
Found this when I tried to use it with a Piicodev OLED.
The OLED needs I2C 400khz to draw the screen correctly, at 100khz the pixels are distorted. Probably because the screen does not get loaded quickly enough.
Running the RP2040-Zero I2C at 400khz; i2c.scan()
shows the devices correctly but if you try to use them it responds with cannot communicate. If the I2C clock is dropped back to 100khz the devices work ok except for the OLED, the screen is distorted. Using the same code on a Raspberry Pi Pico works fine.
Guess I wont be using the OLED with the RP2040-Zero.
cheers
Jim
Hi Jim,
Great findings, it would be great to see those edges on an oscilloscope - I wonder if inline 120 ohm resistors might be able to save the higher clock speeds.
The PiicoDev adapter for Pico needs them because the Pico’s outputs have a very steep edge when toggling their IO.
I’ve added a note for the team to update the product page
Liam