“The Pico is great for development especially using the Arduino IDS and I am working this way to save me from having to learn Python - 'cos I'm thick.”
“The Pico is a promising board for a great price, but the user experience generally falls short of classic Arduino AVR boards. It mostly comes down to the Ecosystem. Official support is for MicroPython or C++ programming. The former does not have that all that many libraries and the latter is aimed at professionals rather than hobbyists. CircuitPython seems to have more libraries for various I2C and SPI chips, but uses a different file structure and a different set of standard libraries to MicroPython. This sort of fragmentation is not helpful. I also believe that running a compiled set of instructions (C++, Arduino) rather than an interpreted (Python) is better for most applications. If you want speed - you compile.
There are two board libraries for the Arduino IDE - the slow Arduino Mbed one and Earle Philhower the 3rd's. The latter is well maintained, but not particularly well documented and you need to search forum posts and GitHub pages. As good as it is, it is just a very helpful gentleman doing it as a hobby at the end of the day. Many of the Arduino libraries do work, but the odd one does flop over with the Pico when compiling. And then there is the faff of constantly pressing the BOOTSEL button when connecting, otherwise, the IDE won't upload. Then if you have the Serial Monitor running, it won't upload. Then it sops liking one USB port and you must connect to another. Then it does not like any USB ports and you need to restart the computer.
When everything works, however, you do get to enjoy the much larger memory and clock frequency compared to the old AVRs. You can also enjoy the second core and programmable IO, if you know how to.
Last, but not least. TEH PIN NUMBERING IS PRINTED ON THE BOTTOM OF THE PCB !!! AAARGHH!!! There is clearly room on the top! Pimoroni have done it for the PicoLipo and put a whole load of other stuff on the board. But for 4 quid, this official board is a good deal at the moment if Wi-Fi is not important. (Otherwise ESP boards are very competitive.)”
