pico-cpp

Bare minimum C++ project using the Raspberry Pi Pico SDK.

Install (Linux)

Before you start, make sure you have a basic development environment set up. For example, on Ubuntu, Raspberry Pi OS or other Debian-based systems:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install cmake build-essential git wget python3

Download a recent compiler from tttapa/docker-arm-cross-toolchain:

gcc_version=14
url=https://github.com/tttapa/docker-arm-cross-toolchain/releases/latest/download
mkdir -p ~/opt
wget $url/x-tools-arm-pico-eabi-gcc$gcc_version.tar.xz -O- | tar xJ -C ~/opt

(If you're using an ARM64 system, use x-tools-aarch64-rpi3-linux-gnu-arm-pico-eabi-gcc$gcc_version.tar.xz instead of x-tools-arm-pico-eabi-gcc$gcc_version.tar.xz.)

Then also install the Pico SDK if you haven't already:

sdk_version=2.0.0
url=https://github.com/raspberrypi/pico-sdk
mkdir -p ~/pico
git clone $url --branch $sdk_version --recurse-submodules --shallow-submodules ~/pico/pico-sdk

If you installed either the compiler or the SDK in a different location, you should edit .vscode/cmake-kits.json accordingly.

Build (VSCode)

Make sure you have the Microsoft CMake Tools extension installed. Then open the directory of this project in VSCode, and execute the following commands (using Ctrl+Shift+P):

1. CMake: Select a Kit. Then select RPi Pico ─ tttapa/arm-pico-eabi as the active kit.
2. CMake: Delete Cache and Reconfigure. (In case the extension doesn't configure the project automatically.)
3. CMake: Build (F7).

Build (CLI)

cd pico-cpp
export PICO_SDK_PATH="$HOME/pico/pico-sdk"
cmake -S . -B build --toolchain ~/opt/x-tools/arm-pico-eabi/arm-pico-eabi.toolchain.cmake
cmake --build build -j$(nproc)

Deploy

Plug in the Pi Pico while pressing the program button. Then copy the compiled UF2 file to the Pico's USB drive:

cp build/hello.uf2 /media/$USER/RPI-RP2

Check output

To see the output from the example program, use a utility such as GNU Screen:

screen /dev/ttyACM0 115200

Make sure to select the correct port and baud rate.