PicoMiteVGA: Raspberry Pi Pico Boot-to-BASIC Microcomputer
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- čas přidán 22. 06. 2024
- PicoMiteVGA boot-to-BASIC computer built from a Raspberry Pi Pico using the circuit designs and code available on Geoff Graham’s website here: geoffg.net/picomitevga.html The PicoMiteVGA was created by Peter Mather, Geoff Graham and Mick Ames, also building on work by Miroslav Nemecek, as detailed on the aforementioned page.
My previous video about the PicoMite, where we look in more detail at MMBasic and GPIO control, is here: • PicoMite: Running BASI...
There are a number of cool, short videos demonstrating various aspects of PicoMite VGA on Peter Mather's channel here: www.youtube.com/@petermather3...
The Siliconchip PicoMiteVGA kit that I could not order in the UK, but which looks excellent, is here: www.siliconchip.com.au/Shop/2...
If you wish to build a PicoMiteVGA, everything you require is available at geoffg.net/picomitevga.html However, I have shared the STL files for the solderable breadboard brackets I created here: www.thingiverse.com/thing:575... And my breadboard layout is here: www.explainingcomputers.com/i...
For information, the parts I ordered from Pimoroni and CPC Farnell were as listed below. Please note that I have no association with either company.
MicroSD card breakout: shop.pimoroni.com/products/br... -- also available from Pololu here: www.pololu.com/product/2597
Raspberry Pi Pico H: shop.pimoroni.com/products/ra...
Female headers to mount Pico: shop.pimoroni.com/products/pi...
2N7000, TO92 package MOSFET -- two required:
cpc.farnell.com/microchip/2n7...
1N4148 TR diode (100V, 200mA) -- two required, but minimum order quantity of five:
cpc.farnell.com/on-semiconduc...
Trimmer (trim pot), 25 Turn 200R - 3296W-1-201LFx1:
cpc.farnell.com/bourns/3296w-...
100 nF capacitor, one required, but minimum order quantity of five. This is a bypass capacitor for the SD card wiring, and as explained in the video, in the end I did not need to fit it. But you may need to add one of these capacitors for stable SD card operation:
cpc.farnell.com/multicomp/mcr...
15-pin D-Sub (VGA) socket:
cpc.farnell.com/itw-mcmurdo/h...
Mini DIN 6-pin (PS/2) socket:
cpc.farnell.com/pro-signal/ps...
Large perfboard (solderable breadboard):
cpc.farnell.com/sparkfun-elec...
Reset switch -- the one I had in stock was very similar to this:
cpc.farnell.com/multicomp/r13...
I also has in stock the required resistors, namely:
220Ω resistors (red, red, brown, gold), 0.25W or higher -- seven required.
10KΩ resistors (brown, black, orange, gold), 0.25W or higher -- four required.
Buying resistors like this individually is hard! These are the cheapest packs of these values I could find on CPC Farnell:
220Ω - cpc.farnell.com/unbranded/mcf...
and
10KΩ - cpc.farnell.com/unbranded/mcf...
Also used were eight M3 nuts and bolts, about 12mm long, and some wires. I actually cut up a Pimoroni jumper pack, as again buying a lot of different wire colours in small quantities is difficult: shop.pimoroni.com/products/ju...
For additional ExplainingComputers videos and other content, you can become a channel member here:
/ @explainingcomputers
More videos on computing and related topics can be found at:
/ @explainingcomputers
You may also like my ExplainingTheFuture channel at: / @explainingthefuture
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:15 Plan A
05:07 Plan B
07:24 The Components
09:56 Brackets & Firmware
12:19 Making Progress
16:37 Assembled
19:02 Final Demo
23:10 Wrap
#PicoMiteVGA #MMBasic #BASIC #explainingcomputers - Věda a technologie
There are some cool short videos showing various PicoMiteVGA output on Peter Mather's channel here: www.youtube.com/@petermather3049/videos
If you are an ExplainingComputers channel member, I also discussed the wider implications of the PicoMiteVGA in Member Video #11 -- and it generated some great disussion: czcams.com/video/aaBKSpyyV4s/video.html
I'm sorry you couldn't order the Silicon Chip kit from the UK. As a small business, it is difficult for us to comply with foreign VAT laws. If there is enough demand, we might be able to arrange for Practical Electronics magazine to sell kits locally.
@@nicholasvinen Yes, if you could, that would be very helpful. I have an annual subscription to your magazine, if that makes any difference.
Do you have any ports left for interface to the outside world and can the basic that comes with it do that?
@@Daveyk021 yes there are plenty of digital inputs and outputs, analog inputs,.PWM outputs, frequency measuring inputs, serial ports and more. All controlled via BASIC. I/O is via a 40-pin header but not all 40 pins are I/Os. There are some powers, grounds etc.
@@djsbriscoe I'll contact the editor of PE magazine shortly and see what we can organise, then let you know the result.
This is what we should be teaching kids in High School. This is an entire curriculum - basic electronics, soldering skills, breadboarding, and then programing.
I agree.
I agree with this
@@FoxWolfWorld and where does tik tok come from again i can never seem to remember
@@Weegeeguy208 Yeah, and in its country of origin, TikTok’s content is much different, more restricted and more educational/informative than what our kids in the West are subjected to 😠
Totally agree! I would have eaten it up.
Is it just me or wouldn't we "gentlemen of a certain age" have given our right arms away just to have BASIC running at this kind of speed back in the days of the ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro, etc.?
Thanks for an inspirational video and the resources, I shall be off to source the parts this very instant to build a PicoMite.
What a great, great, great project and amazing work by Geoff Graham and his team.
So true -- I had just the same thought. Runs fast, boots very quickly into BASIC -- and the ability to load and save programs to the micro SD card is so much easier and more reliable than using tapes!
True.
take a look at the Colour MAxiMite2 - >400Mhz clock - amazing results and language compatible (with idiosyncracies between the platforms) with the PiPicoMite, and various MicroMite flavours - over a dozen platforms of various capabilites & speeds, all running the same MMBasic with excellent code portability
The "team" needs to be named/recognised. It is Peter Mather and he churns out these new developments at an incredible rate 😎👍
There's already someone who turned the pico into a micro C64 with a tiny 320x240 display and hand-made mini keyboard/joystick. VGA timings and data were generated on-the-fly too due to lack of memory for a frame buffer. He's on YT somewhere just can't remember the channel name. It was an impressive little thing and nicely done too.
I suppose it's not really hard to make a frame buffer out of an external 256 or 512 k memory chip. SOmeone will be working on that right now I expect, or even finished it.
This needs to be packaged in to a kit form and sold as a project like the old transistor radio kits we had back in the day.
You can order a kit from several vendors like Silicon Chip in Australia or Budgetronics in the EU. I have seen kits on tindie as well even including the circuitry for audio.
If I remember correctly it was Heathkit that sold kits to make different projects.
4:00
@@richardpalmanteer9798 Yup. Tindie is like an open-source Heathkit for the modern age.
The latest release of the firmware V5.07.06 includes a full file system on the flash chip - no sdcard needed, and many other enhancements. Also note the PicoMiteVGA has extensive support for sound. Details of suggested wiring are given in the manual.
Thanks for this Peter, and for all your work bringing this to reality. It is very much appreciated. I will check out the latest firmware. :) I already have another PicoMiteVGA project planned . . .
Thanks to you and everyone involved in bringing fantastic projects like this to fruition. I'm going to have to try and build one, even if my soldering skills are nonexistent. 🙂
Peter, I've added a link to your channel (and the PicoMiteVGA videos there) to the video description, and in a pinned comment. :)
Such a brilliant little hack-up! Thanks Peter, and thanks Chris.
I think it is amazing the Pico can directly provide a VGA signal. The resolution is not very high, but still. Getting the timings right is not easy.
Not enough memory for a frame buffer, yet still it produces a picture, that's pretty astounding for such a small CPU. I have a few picos and have used them for all sorts of things. It's a surprisingly powerful little thing.
The PicoMiteVGA has a framebuffer and the option of adding two extra framebuffers in Basic memory. One of them acts as an overlay area allowing objects to move over a background and the other can be used to get artefact free updates by copying it to the main buffer during screen blanking
@@petermather3049 Yes, but what what was worth mentioning is that the pico can even do it without a frame buffer. this guy did it and made a pico C64 with mini LCD and custom mini keyboard: czcams.com/video/hgLhGpbC6E4/video.html
Although the code for generating VGA timing signals and data was not developed by him. He did make the first pico C64 :)
The DVI display out library can handle two color display out because each display out takes less than half the resources. Wouldn't have room for other IO but that's exceeding our expectations of microcontrollers by a landslide
The Parallax Propeller chip did similar tricks, 15 years ago.
I like these projects it reminds when I was younger, I used to pull things to bits, strangely I could never reassemble them but it was fun trying. 😊
Back in the day when filling out an application form for an electronics course, one of the questions was “Why do you want to study electronics” my mother said “ So you can learn to put everything back together” 😁
Just one word... AMAZING! Back in the 1980's, I never thought I would see a computer, the size of a stick of gum!! Great one Chris! Thanks!!
Good morning, gentlemen. Have a blessed Sunday to all of you! ✌️
Greetings!
What about the women?
@@wouldbang6928 thank God She/He/They didn't write that on 🐦. He/She/They'd have been cancelled
Greetings from across the pond near Albuquerque, New Mexico. This video reminds me of my Radio Shack TRS-80, including the expansion interface containing an extra 32KB of memory to add to the original 16KB internal memory. Many people trashed the TRS-80, but not me -- I learned BASIC, good programming techniques, some assembly language programming for the Z80 processor, and even had a Fortran compiler for it. Had a Radio Shack dot matrix printer to go with it, too. Even the computer table came from Radio Shack. My boss had one too, so it made for great collaborations. We routinely ran 6-degree-of-freedom ballistic trajectory simulations in BASIC for work. Fun times!
Oh to have an RP2040 dual-core 133MHz processor back in the late 1970s / early 1980s era.
This video also reminds me how thankful we should be for USB, HDMI, Bluetooth, wireless and wired networking, gigabytes of on-board memory, terabytes of external storage, multi-core processors (still admire the Z80 processor, though), SBCs, 8K resolution, etc.
Absolutely great video. Well done, Prof. Barnatt! 😀
Hail fellow Burqueno -
Thanks for this, and I agree -- we should be very thankful for the hardware we have today.
Chris, you have a gift for explaining things. You are a wonderful teacher. This was one of my many favorite videos you have made. I look forward every time a new video from EC shows up in my feed.
Another nice little project! It's amazing what one can do with a Pi Pico. Also, I was singing the Tetris theme (do, do-do-do, do-do-do-do, do-do, etc.) when you were demonstrating the Blocks game. All in all, 'twas a very good journey.
Thanks for your support. I am now imagining you singing to Tetris! :)
@@ExplainingComputers Better than imagining me swearing at Tetris! Nothing like playing a online multiplayer game of it, doing so well, then you goof up, try to recover, then before you know it, you're out and dropping an F-bomb. 😅
Something similar is the Agon Light. This uses a modern, fast, Z80 variant and runs BBC Basic out of the box, but can also be switched to run Forth. It has colour VGA, a PS2 keyboard interface, an SD card for storage, and also has sound output from a 3.5mm jack or a small on board buzzer.
Very interesting, I had not come across the Argon Light. Link for others here: www.thebyteattic.com/p/agon.html
That sounds like exactly the kind of thing I’ve been dreaming of building, including the use of Forth
Both Dave and Christopher uploading computing electronics projects in the same week is wonderful
Generally valid advice for both software and hardware: build it in the smalledt possible stages, test after each, and if it stops working, the cause is whatever you just did,
In interesting challenge would be to fold up the design into as small a form factor as could be conveniently constructed, preferably in a generally-available container. The sockets would likely be the major constraints there. It could be a way to build test points into a larger system or piece of machinery, if a Wifi data stream isn't suitable for some reason.
It's always a balance between quality control and time, ain't it.
Quite the project. Not one I would try tackling myself (my soldering is terrible), but it's great watching knowledge like Chris' make it work.
This is the kind of EC videos I like! Keep it up, Chris!
I love these boot-to-basic machines, even though my programming skills are somewhat lacking. I have another of Geoff Graham's creations, the Colour Maximite 2, which is a fantastic liittle machine, and a lot of fun to program. Now all we need is to build a nice keyboard case to put them in, just like back in the 80s!
A PicoMite VGA inside a keyboard is a great idea.
This is a really nice design, using one of the PICO's core for VGA output is something I wasn't really expecting,
I wonder what else one can dedicate extra cpu cores to?!
Thanks Chris, that was really interesting video (as usual)
Well, the PICO has only two cores. So one for VGA and one for your code. Sound could be another option. But that could probably be handled by the PIO's.
The RP2040 in the PICO is a great MCU.
Great Find, Anne Robinson. I love the nod to retro computers. I have a maximite somewhere from the same people. This could be a great project to get in on.
I love the way you create bookmarks of the video chapters and take advantage of CZcams features. Sort of like how the proper creation of a DVD would have been done back in the day. Awesome and thanks!
I'm glad that you appreciate the chapters.
I just peeked at the project website. Well organized, clear and high quality documentation. it's downright impressive.
This build reminded me of the old Phillips Electronic Engineer where you could build various items but without having to solder. A hairpin went through the board and then a spring went over it to secure it. Wires and components were secured to these posts and you could make radios, intercoms, burglar alarms, morse code set and electronic organ.
Was waiting for this one!! Definitely going to copy your layout and build with with my son. Most excellent work Chris.
Good luck!
Greetings! Another Sunday with EC and a cuppa tea!
My grandmother always said _"Never trust a tea drinker."_
Greetings! :) And I like tea.
Best video you ever made!!! By the way you can use hydrochloric acid and a q-tip to remove black oxides before soldering. Also remember flux is your friend - my favorite is ruby fluid flux. It's good practice to remove rosin afterwords with acetone because sometimes metal salts will grow across the rosin and cause intermittent shorts. One day I will be making a CZcams video about an invention I have been working on for over 20 years. Tuning in all the way from the jungles of Belize.🌴🌴🌴🌄
Thanks for this. I enjoyed making this video. :) I always find it amazing how viewers watch from all over the world.
Are you ex-RAF?
@@liammhodonohue nope just a gringo who forgot to get on the plane home about 15 years ago. Got a cool friend who was a british soldier tho.
@@------country-boy------- 👍
Very interesting video. Takes us back to 80s and 90s Home Computer era. Thank you very much Chris.
You do a great job explaining and demonstrating all aspects. More kids need to learn this stuff. I wish I had someone like you explaining this kinda stuff when I was younger. Thanks.
I love the way he is able to explain the technical issues so well, feel like entering into the world of creativity and failure is just another opportunity to learn. I also would like to thank, all those who spend many hours creating documentation to give us an opportunity to go further. If you have the extra funds; just know it goes to advance our futures.
Fantastic project. Thank you so much Chris.
Have a nice week!
Thank you for this excellent breadboard project video. As usual, thorough information and great production values. Cheers from Wisconsin!
That's an awesome build Chris. Loved it. 🥰
I always enjoy your videos, Chris. Thank you.
Thanks. :)
Amazing video as usual! I love these electronics/circuit videos.
Hello, fellow Christopher! Back again....
How cool that you made a small little project! I like using the pico and arduino and various other microcontrollers with with extra components like resistors and potentiometers and transistors and diodes, and... the possibilities are nearly endless! I like the maker side a lot. Very cool you've got all those small programs running on it! 👍
I appreciate your simplicity. Consistent performance. Sharp explainaion.
Your first PicoMite video got me started! Now, I own a PicoMiteVGA board and enjoy programming and tinkering with it. The online user's forums have been invaluable in learning this system's wonderful capabilities. Thanks for your informative videos!
This is great to hear. The online forums do indeed seem very good.
This is amazing! 1980s style computing on a modern device. Imagine how good this would have seemed back then. It certainly beats my ZX81 ;-)
Thanks for this. We would indeed have marvelled at this back in the days of the ZX81. :)
your content just keeps getting better
So fun! Love these little Picos! Great video once again sir!
Thank you for another great video. I think I am adding this to my todo list, which has sadly about 15 other entries. Keep up the good work I am enjoying it!
I love MMBasic, so cool when a bunch of Aussies come together this is what we can pull off!
Well done Sir.
What a great piece of kit.
Love this video I can source many components from existing bits attached to previous projects . can't wait to get going once I've cleared a space on my project table!
Just wanted to say, Chris, that you’re not like a lot of CZcamsrs out there. You show no arrogance in your character in the content you produce.I get put off a lot by content creators because they produce content with the primary aim to promote themselves. You on the other hand, enjoy educating and to give inspiration; and it’s because of this, that I can enjoy your videos, taking confidence in what you are sharing with us. Thank you for all of the efforts that go into your plethora of content! Also, here’s to the upcoming 1 million subscribers!
Thanks for your kind feedback, most appreciated. :)
My PicoMiteVGA is now built on a solderless breadboard and is working just fine. All thanks to this video Chris, I wouldn’t have noticed this entertaining project without you highlighting it. Maybe I’ll order a PCB to make a proper job of it.
Great to hear! :)
The display output was rock solid and very nice. Great project
Well done, and a very clean breadboard build.
the most education channel for IT , and engineers that explain things clearly
Mind blowing .... a microcomputer with minimal external components. Brilliant job !!!!!
That takes me back to using my first computer, a Radio Shack Color Computer, and a single sided floppy. Very cool.
Very enjoyable project! Thanks for sharing.
Brilliant video again Chris - And what a fantastic showcase for the amazing Pi Pico - another inspiring project explained in your usual simple and enthusing way ! So many thanks :)
Great content - as always! Love the approach of using some of these incredibly inexpensive computers to build the things we want. Through serendipity, I've been using the Pico for some projects, building them out on the solderboard as well. Great fun, and glad to see see how you make these things approachable.
Wow, this is a great presentation. Thanks!
Your work produced a very professional-looking build, Professor! Thank you...🇺🇸 😎👍☕
The project came out stupendous! Excellent video. This really spurs my interests.
:)
3:15 Something I noticed about the schematic is that the color uses this weird "RGB-121" color space. I tapped it out in GIMP and it's pretty good. It has orange and pink and a light blue. It's just missing grey and purple.
Lovely proyect!! Thanks a lot!!
Chris, I just wanted to thank you again for this video. It inspired me to attempt a build. I decided on design 2, with the additional I/O, SD card and the real time clock. Ordered the PCBs from JLCPCB and the components from various sources. I got it finished at the weekend, and it works!!
Fantastic. Great to hear. This remains my favourite project of 2023.
Amazing project and video !
And congrats on the nearly 900k subs 🎉
Thanks. :)
Very Exciting video to watch Loved it. Really learned a lot and really enjoyed this THANKS
This is a very intriguing project Dr. Barnatt.
So exciting to see another Picomite video! I will certainly follow the video to recreate this!
Good luck!
boy did that bring back some memorys. thank you
Perfect project! Already wrote a couple of short programs via puTTY in the MMBasic console. Thanks for bringing this to my attention! Short form kit + an RTC has been ordered from SiliconChip.
Enjoy your kit. :)
Wow! I have been inspired, motivated and energised into building this project. I learned basic more than 40 years ago when I got my first real computer, a ZX81. Thanks for the clear instructions. Everything I need to get busy.
Good luck. :)
This is a fantastic video, thank you for sharing the process. I have really enjoyed it, particularly the Tetris like game play, where I think you did much better than I would. Thank you for sharing
No Tech-Enthusiast's sunday is truly complete without a new video from Chris 💪🙏
:)
Great as usual! Happy sunday
Great weekly video Chris. I remember fondly my Commadore 64 from the early 80's. Thanks for sharing.
Greetings Brian! :)
Interesting, but don't know if I will ever build one of these!! Always growing, always learning from you Sir!! Keep up the good work!!
Great fun Chris. Reminds me of the first few times I tinkered with the old Color Computer. As someone has already said, this would be an excellent exercise in a beginners electronics course. My experience is that they tend to throw beginners in the deep end when it comes to electronics and programming. Thanks for another great video.
Great video and an amazing project. I hope someone takes this to produce teaching notes taking students from components to programming. Exactly what ICT and DT lessons in schools need to transform the minds of children from solely consumers of technology to understanding what's behind it!
Great video! BTW, you can skip the sd-card slot breakout board and simply solder wires to SD-to-MicroSD adapter leads - that looks less sophisticated but this is such a good use for otherwise useless larger-older SD-adapters that till this day are shipped with majority of Micro-SD cards. When you started with 3D-printed parts, I thought you would go for printing the entire case for this build - since you've chosen the solderable breadboard, I suppose it is a permanent build ;) Thank you for the video! Top-quality content that is!
I wish I had thought of that adapter hack! Great idea.
All that performance from a £4 board. Pretty amazing really.
I like your "output" overlayed on the monitor in post production. Can hardly see the join.
Cool project. Great video. Thanks
Been waiting for this video. ;)
Excellent as always. Thanks for taking the time to build and play with this, Chris.
Really cool. Thanks for your efforts most entertaining video.
Amazing. I am definitely going to try this! Thanks for the great video. This computer reminded me of my time using an IBM in middle school.
Loved this video. Well done.
This was really informational, thank you!
Great project! Thanks for sharing the 3D files.
That was VERY cool Chris - it looked like you had a lot of fun building that!
I did indeed! :)
Have a good rest of your weekend Christopher. As Always, Be Smart and Stay Safe.
Well soldered, sir.
This is really interesting - it is nice to have a dedicated device to run BASIC on.
I had a donut today.
Now I will watch the British gentleman talking about Basic & microcontrollers.
Great project Chris! I have a Colour Maximite 2, and Geoff’s basic interpreter is great. On the Pico, in colour mode 2, it almost looks VIC-20 like on your monitor. Fabulous that this can be done on a Pico. Now it just needs some sound output capability for maximum fun. 👍
Very Interesting! And a lot of work, I am sure. Thank You
brilliant video. thanks now got another project to do :) these picos are such fun to tinker with
Awesome! I love the picomite but was pumped to see a stand-alone version that didn't need another computer to run
Wow. Just looked at the specs for a BBC and it only had 64-128K ram and 32-128K roms and ran at 2Mhz. When you think of the amount of basic programs we shoved into those constraints back then (never mind brought games that were coded directly in 6502 assembler and the odd "poked assembler" game entered laboriously from a magazine) and this is multiple times more powerful. Its 2M "rom" and 264K ram are massive in comparison. It was only Friday that I ordered a pico-w; a temp sensor break out; and a motion detector breakout to have a play around so quite a coincidence that you did this video now. I love that the second core bit streams out the display, but I guess similar to how the display was multiplexed directly from the ram on the BBC (changing the displays ram "location" to running code was always fun to watch).
This is just great! Thx for your nice video :)
Thanks Chris for a very interesting video. This takes me back to the 80's, following circuit diagrams, soldering components (neatly) to a pcb the correct way round. The components were really cheap & more easily accessible back then.
Are you sure they were really cheaper back then? The prices and availability in the modern, global electronics market are generally better (at least pre Covid). The low cost microcontroller and SBC markets are incredible. The fact you can pick up a Pi Pico for around £5 is amazing.
Thanks for your support Alan, most appreciated. :)
@@another3997 I totally agree with you a Pi Pico for £5 is amazing. The components were cheap in the early 1980's, that's how we built a lot of projects back then! The things that were expensive were micro-computers i.e The Sinclair ZX81 an introductory kit in 1981 was £49.95 which would equate to £204 ($279) in 2023. The BBC micro model A was £235 & the Micro model B £335 in 1981 & equates to £1152 (A) & £1642 (B) today, how things have changed.
Great video. More content like this please.
Noted!
Nice work Chris!
I just sit here thinking it's cool AF!
Christopher, you're the man!
Edit: That handling of VGA signal is a game changer. As a person who toys with Arduino/ESP32/Raspberry, i know that making of clear interference can often defeat the sole purpose of the prototype's existence. This bypasses the issue entirely and allows newbies to get sucked in seeing the potential of their projects without going through (often) painful design and implementation of the interface.
It's not a manky 3D print, it's an artistic wood grain finish!
Fantastic! I will remember that.
Very nice video, I’ve got inspired to start a First electronic project this year. Thanks! 🎉
I love that kind of video theses are my favorite have a nice week
Thanks. I hope that the next seven days are good for you too. :)