Raspberry Pico hardware and software development
A collection of notes about connecting hardware and creating software for the Raspberry Pi Pico.
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Pico experiment no 1: porting animated electronic eye to Pico
Choosing and using the Raspberry Pi Pico (or more specifically the RP2040 microcontroller) for our Colecovision experiments was such a breeze. How well would the Pico perform at other tasks?
Inspired by the Adafruit Electronic Animated Eyes for ARM Microcontrollers we port the software to the Raspberry Pi Pico and hook-up different types of LCD screens.
We start with the default OLED screen. Based around the SSD1351 driver chip and with a theoretical SPI speed of 20 [MHz].
Hook it up as follows:
| Pico signal | SSD1351 OLED |
|---|---|
| GPIO14 | Data/Command |
| GPIO 15 | Reset |
| GPIO 17 | CS |
| GPIO 18 | SCLK |
| GPIO 19 | MOSI |
| GND | GND |
| VBUS | 5V |
The Adafruit OLED screen is beautiful with an excellent viewing angle but a little bit on the expensive side. Ultimate goal is to drive a string of eyeballs as halloween or christmas decoration and price is definitely key here.
So we try some cheaper TFT panels.
First up is the EYEWINK 1.44" 128x128 panel.
The driver chip for this panel is the ST7735 it can run with a theoretical SPI speed of 28 [MHz].
Hook it up as follows:
| Pico signal | ST7735 TFT LCD |
|---|---|
| GPIO14 | Data/Command / (A0) |
| GPIO 15 | Reset |
| GPIO 17 | CS |
| GPIO 18 | SCLK / SCK |
| GPIO 19 | MOSI / SDA |
| GND | GND |
| 3V3(OUT) | VCC |
| 3V3(OUT) | LED |
Viewing angle is not as good as the OLED screen but definitely good enough for our intended use.
Second panel we test is the 1.8" 128x160 OPEN-SMART panel.
Driver chip for this panel is the ILI9163C controller.
Hook it up as follows:
| Pico signal | ILI9163C TFT LCD |
|---|---|
| GPIO14 | (D/C) RS |
| GPIO 15 | Reset |
| GPIO 17 | CS |
| GPIO 18 | SCLK / SCK |
| GPIO 19 | MOSI / SDA |
| GND | GND |
| 3V3(OUT) | VCC |
| GND | LED |
With LED connected to GND a little on the bright side (need to modulate the LED pin). Aspect ratio a little skewed.
Third panel to test is the 2.0" 176x220 OPEN-SMART panel.
Driver chip for this panel is the ILI9225 controller.
Hook it up as follows:
| Pico signal | ILI9225 TFT LCD |
|---|---|
| GPIO14 | (D/C) RS |
| GPIO 15 | Reset |
| GPIO 17 | CS |
| GPIO 18 | SCLK / SCK |
| GPIO 19 | MOSI / SDI |
| GND | GND |
| 3V3(OUT) | VCC |
| GND | LED |
Very nice picture. LED a little bright at full on, needs to be modulated.
Code for above experiment can be found on Github.