PicoMiteVGA: Raspberry Pi Pico Boot-to-BASIC Microcomputer

[@ExplainingComputers]

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: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5KlfIamrt6JatU

[@nicholasvinen]

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.

[@djsbriscoe]

@@nicholasvinen Yes, if you could, that would be very helpful. I have an annual subscription to your magazine, if that makes any difference.

[@Daveyk021]

Do you have any ports left for interface to the outside world and can the basic that comes with it do that?

[@nicholasvinen]

@@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.

[@nicholasvinen]

@@djsbriscoe I'll contact the editor of PE magazine shortly and see what we can organise, then let you know the result.

[@WildkatPhoto]

This is what we should be teaching kids in High School. This is an entire curriculum - basic electronics, soldering skills, breadboarding, and then programing.

[@ExplainingComputers]

I agree.

[@RyanGonTV]

I agree with this

[@Weegeeguy208]

@@FoxWolfWorld and where does tik tok come from again i can never seem to remember

[@DEtchells]

@@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 😠

[@wanyman]

Totally agree! I would have eaten it up.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

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.

[@ExplainingComputers]

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!

[@OhHeyTrevorFlowers]

True.

[@captainboing]

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

[@AdaptivePhenix]

The "team" needs to be named/recognised. It is Peter Mather and he churns out these new developments at an incredible rate 😎👍

[@paulmichaelfreedman8334]

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.

[@MINKIN2]

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.

[@tripwire76]

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.

[@richardpalmanteer9798]

If I remember correctly it was Heathkit that sold kits to make different projects.

[@danielch6662]

4:00

[@horusfalcon]

@@richardpalmanteer9798 Yup. Tindie is like an open-source Heathkit for the modern age.

[@petermather3049]

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.

[@ExplainingComputers]

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 . . .

[@another3997]

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. 🙂

[@ExplainingComputers]

Peter, I've added a link to your channel (and the PicoMiteVGA videos there) to the video description, and in a pinned comment. :)

[@SchoolforHackers]

Such a brilliant little hack-up! Thanks Peter, and thanks Chris.

[@trevorford8332]

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. 😊

[@okee9]

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” 😁

[@ahmad-murery]

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)

[@jan10n]

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.

[@juliusfucik4011]

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.

[@paulmichaelfreedman8334]

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.

[@petermather3049]

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

[@paulmichaelfreedman8334]

@@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: kzbin.info/www/bejne/npivmXqml6hpe5Y Although the code for generating VGA timing signals and data was not developed by him. He did make the first pico C64 :)

[@harrytsang1501]

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

[@martinb.770]

The Parallax Propeller chip did similar tricks, 15 years ago.

[@parrotraiser6541]

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.

[@paulmichaelfreedman8334]

It's always a balance between quality control and time, ain't it.

[@maxdeusphallus8974]

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.

[@Ollital]

I would like to change the prompt from "> " to "READY."

[@ExplainingComputers]

:)

[@ahmad-murery]

No, let's make it "OK" 😁 This is the first thing that came to my mind.

[@rutkowskir]

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!!

[@Gannett2011]

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!

[@ExplainingComputers]

A PicoMite VGA inside a keyboard is a great idea.

[@ceptimus]

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.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Very interesting, I had not come across the Argon Light. Link for others here: www.thebyteattic.com/p/agon.html

[@drivers99]

That sounds like exactly the kind of thing I’ve been dreaming of building, including the use of Forth

[@mrmimeisfunny]

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.

[@Praxibetel-Ix]

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.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for your support. I am now imagining you singing to Tetris! :)

[@Praxibetel-Ix]

@@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. 😅

[@lawrenceallwright7041]

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.

[@johnm2012]

Is that a "Brexit benefit" I see at 5:00 ?

[@cokeforever]

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!

[@ExplainingComputers]

I wish I had thought of that adapter hack! Great idea.

[@------country-boy-------]

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 KZbin video about an invention I have been working on for over 20 years. Tuning in all the way from the jungles of Belize.🌴🌴🌴🌄

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for this. I enjoyed making this video. :) I always find it amazing how viewers watch from all over the world.

[@liammhodonohue]

Are you ex-RAF?

[@------country-boy-------]

@@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.

[@liammhodonohue]

@@------country-boy------- 👍

[@cgraham6]

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.

[@andrewpalm2103]

Thank you for this excellent breadboard project video. As usual, thorough information and great production values. Cheers from Wisconsin!

[@dougr.8653]

Good morning, gentlemen. Have a blessed Sunday to all of you! ✌️

[@ExplainingComputers]

Greetings!

[@wouldbang6928]

What about the women?

[@8bvg300]

@@wouldbang6928 thank God She/He/They didn't write that on 🐦. He/She/They'd have been cancelled

[@christopherleadholm6677]

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! 👍

[@janPolijan]

Haaa, BASIC... like in the good old days. I wonder... Could you please make a video review of the AgonLight? It's a new and very inexpensive 8-bit single-board microcomputer using an eZ80 as its CPU (and an ESP32 as its graphic/sound chip). It opens in a BBC Basic interpreter, can run CP/M, and seems very fun for hobbyist/retro/8-bits enthusiasts.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for this -- the ArgonLite 2 looks very good. Now certainly on my list! Thanks for the tip. :)

[@trance_trousers]

This is amazing! 1980s style computing on a modern device. Imagine how good this would have seemed back then. It certainly beats my ZX81 ;-)

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for this. We would indeed have marvelled at this back in the days of the ZX81. :)

[@michalmi944]

> option list PicoMite MMBasic Version 5.07.07b15 OPTION CPUSPEED (KHz) 252000 > list Print "START" Dim INTEGER i T1=Timer For i=1 To 10000: Next T2=Timer Print "Time PicoMite MMBASIC=";T2-T1;" msec" > run START Time PicoMite MMBASIC= 25.097 msec >

[@williammanganaro2022]

Very informative video. I want to build one now. I built a varient PCB's for rhe first Color Maximite using rhe PIC32. This is even cheaper and sports two ARM CPU cores. Excellent 👌

[@rayerdinc2441]

Just came across this video, going to have ago, pity about Silicon Chip though. Or try the VGA Dev Board. Great video as always, so informative and easy to follow! 👍👍👍

[@brick6347]

SD card is cheating, needs cassettes!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Now that sounds like an exciting challenge!

[@pweddy1]

320x200 with color syntax highlighting is actually more readable when you are viewing this on a cellphone? (And 40 column text is fine for a system pretending to be a 1980s basic computer?)

[@MathijsWijers]

PLAN A @1:15 ... ... ... doesn't sound ominously foreboding at all! :P Love your work, keep it up! :)

[@Robert08010]

I am curious ... why use a PS2 style keyboard? I didn't think anyone made those since 2000.

[@ExplainingComputers]

I do not know the answer, but I suspect it is about going back to the old days. Or because the connectors are easier to source?

[@briankleinschmidt3664]

Basic? I could dust off my old TI Basic skills.

[@PaulSpades]

Doesn't the pico have native usb host? I'd rather supply power separately and a usb keyboard, rather than powering from usb and level shifting a ps2 signal.

[@__Dude_]

Picking up one of your phrases: 'Right': This is one of the effects of Brexit. Nobody wants to ship to UK for reasonable shipping cost. Not from down under, and not from China. I really pity you for this situation. I do.

[@prehistoricBanana]

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.

[@olavl8827]

All right, this is inspiring. And I believe I have most components already. But of course now the weekend is up and I won't have time for tinkering until the next one... Oh well.

[@PeterRichardsandYoureNot]

Good stuff but let’s usb that picomite and be able to actually find a keyboard that works….ps2 keyboards died in late 80s… ;-)

[@bingcheng8419]

A console and editor written using micropython can use this hardware to write Python code other than BASIC.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Indeed.

[@RoboNuggie]

Fantastic Chris, I cut my teeth on 1980's computers, the BBC and Dragon 32 in particular, and this looks every bit as fun....the BASIC looks very nice, is MMBASIC structured like BBC Basic?

[@ExplainingComputers]

MMBASIC is very similar to the BASICs of old -- BBC, Sinclair, etc. Brand new, but embracing the old -- and providing full access to the GP pins. The manual is also exceptional.

[@IngieKerr]

MMBasic is specifically a descendent of Microsoft MBasic (originally for CP/M), so is a sibling to MS GW Basic and MSX Basic

[@RoboNuggie]

@@IngieKerr Oh, cool... thank you!

[@billyd1045]

For me to access the SD card I had to change drive to b: otherwise it boots up on the a: drive.

[@glucosefructose]

I had a donut today. Now I will watch the British gentleman talking about Basic & microcontrollers.

[@J13299]

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.

[@ArniesTech]

Computing in 2023: "Oh look, we got colour!" 😲 Gotta love Chris 💪😁

[@d.barnette2687]

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! 😀

[@SchoolforHackers]

Hail fellow Burqueno -

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for this, and I agree -- we should be very thankful for the hardware we have today.

[@aytviewer2421]

I love the way you create bookmarks of the video chapters and take advantage of KZbin features. Sort of like how the proper creation of a DVD would have been done back in the day. Awesome and thanks!

[@ExplainingComputers]

I'm glad that you appreciate the chapters.

[@Jdbye]

Shame MMBASIC is so different from the Microsoft Basic so many retro computers used, it doesn't really bring back nostalgia for those times. Obviously, this is way more functional, but it's a double edged sword. I imagine trying to run programs made for C64 or any other retro computer on this would essentially require a full rewrite. There are other modern devices that can run a BASIC interpreter closer to the ones on retro computers, be nice to see that running on the Pico as well.

[@MrLurchsThings]

If you’d like one of Silicon Chips kits, lemme know.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Many thanks, but I think the moment as now passed. :)

[@loganki5zyw]

this is ibm basic not applesoft. for the time being im content with booting basic from my apple iigs. cool project though

[@Pippo.Langstrumpf]

Thats something for me. I like red PCB's. The red color stands for high performance.

[@NovaspiritTech]

Amazing video!! I so want to build one now

[@ExplainingComputers]

Greetings Sir. :) I hope that you are feeling better and that she shed project is progressing.

[@sbc_tinkerer]

Greetings! Another Sunday with EC and a cuppa tea!

[@bsvenss2]

My grandmother always said _"Never trust a tea drinker."_

[@ExplainingComputers]

Greetings! :) And I like tea.

[@m8hackr60]

I'm constantly amazed at how much the little rp2040 is capable of. I'd love to see Conway's game of life running like this. And now I have to wonder if 4 could be used in parallel to double the resolution and/or color output. 🤔

[@DaisyHollowBooks]

I really wish I’d studied engineering instead of social ‘science.’

[@arnolduk123]

I spent hours checking wiring and using different SD-Cards to figure out why I could not see any files on the SD card. Turns out the default drive is A: for the flash drive in older versions shown in your video. PicoMite V5.07.06 Changes from V5.07.04 now use drive B: for the SD-Card and default boot mode is set to drive A:. So you will have to run the command DRIVE "B:" every time you boot the PicoMite then FILES to see the SD-Card file listing. Quite a huge setback not being able to set the default drive to B: and why this breaking change was even added to the firmware update.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Sorry to hear of your problems, but thanks for sharing the information on this strange change.

[@anurasenarathna1703]

Very interesting video. Takes us back to 80s and 90s Home Computer era. Thank you very much Chris.

[@vintagekyoshodotcom]

I have a color Maximite II which is basically the same. Also done by Geoff.

[@joegee2815]

That takes me back to using my first computer, a Radio Shack Color Computer, and a single sided floppy. Very cool.

[@TAP7a]

Both Dave and Christopher uploading computing electronics projects in the same week is wonderful

[@TheOleHermit]

What an amazing coincidence, Chris! I'm using a Teensy 4.1 synth to generate complex Lissajous waveforms, with 5 outputs; XYRGB. Just designed my 1st SMD PCB in Kicad, progressing from the previous bread board prototypes... Same process of sourcing parts from schematics, arranging them onto a board, then soldering them into a functional device. But, here's the kicker. I also need to feed my XYRGB into a secondary monitor, located at the control desk, to preview and set up imagery, prior to projecting them from the laser projectors. Been looking for an HDMI solution for ages, but have only found monochrome USB oscilloscope apps. The PICOmite VGA looks like a simple, but potential alternative, IF Basic on the PICOmite can keep up with 40K points per sec. 🤔

[@williammanganaro2022]

Excellent video demonstration. I built up some Color Maximites using the PIC32 and really thought MMBasic is a very powerful language. I always love Geoff's projects. I would suppose this also supports sound as well by using one of the PWM generators ... This also supports 16 colors which the Maximites only supported 8. Great work !

[@maxpolaris99]

Same goes for recapping vintage electronics, do it in stages and test as you go! Or else 😭

[@metazoan10]

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!

[@mechaform]

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.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Enjoy your kit. :)

[@danielskevington8940]

Apologies if you've answered this before, but what are you using for VGA capture? I have an oscilloscope with VGA out that it would occasionally be useful to take video of but I've tried a few VGA-HDMI converters with fairly poor results, this looks very clean... thanks!

[@ExplainingComputers]

I'm using one of these -- www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00X74X7O2/ -- highly configurable via its own menu, and fed to an ATEM Mini, then to my HDMI recorder. Not a low-cost option though.

[@danielskevington8940]

@@ExplainingComputers Thanks!

[@omarcedric9193]

"It isn't!" 🤣 Great video as always.

[@tttuberc]

So neat. Looks lơik is a very fun project

[@lorisrobots]

Very enjoyable project! Thanks for sharing.

[@DailyCorvid]

Five mins ago me : "Tsk not more Pi stuff..." Me in five mins : "How much is soldering iron off Amazon" :) Great video, much appreciated!

[@ExplainingComputers]

It's Pi . . . but not really Pi! :)

[@dcc1165]

KZbin needs an auto-like feature. I have yet to see an EC video I don't like :). This is a fantastic project! Definitely on my ever-so-growing ToDo list :).

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks Don, much appreciated. :)

[@piratesephiroth]

1:08 Christopher: "So let's go and get..." Me: "A closer look!"" Christopher: "...started."

[@ExplainingComputers]

Sorry about that . . .

[@scottwilliams895]

How is this not called *VGAmite* !?!

[@michalmi944]

Because originally there was Micromite. Currently, there are three hardware and system solutions for the Raspberry Pi Pico: PicoMiteVGA, PicoMite and PicoMiteWeb (for Raspbery Pi Pico W)

[@steveashdown4360]

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!

[@drewnewt6015]

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 :)

[@andymouse]

Fascinating, if you had wanted to wait for the PCB it would be under a tenner and only a week...cheers. (edit) plus you get 5 boards so a bunch of mates could save a few quid.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Fair point.

[@crnlbwlawson]

You did an awesome job on this build! Excellent work and video! I am however very frustrated that you did not print "Hello" all over the screen with a GOTO statement back to the print command and have to break out of the endless loop. 😉

[@dh2032]

me to, that's mandatory, even if English is not your first language "fora=0to10000:?"hello ";:next

[@gregholloway2656]

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. 👍

[@HenryCavillage]

Good Morning My Friend... How are you doing? I hope you are doing good... and my others friends, Thanks for explaining

[@ExplainingComputers]

Greetings! I hope that you are doing well.

[@AndrewHelgeCox]

Can micropython work on this hardware config, bitbanging the vga and reading the keyboard to give a similar experience?

[@ExplainingComputers]

Potentially, yes -- as there were Micropython drivers around for Pico VGA output. But it's not something I've tried.

[@fram1111]

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.

[@macoustra1]

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.

[@jinchoung]

got the picomite vga from australia because of your vid. can't wait to solder everything together. oh but can you do a tutorial on how to get sound out of the picomite vga? i know it involves using the pwm pins and setting a command in basic but not sure what or how to wire something to those pwm pins. thanks!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Good luck with you build.

[@Bob-1802]

I just peeked at the project website. Well organized, clear and high quality documentation. it's downright impressive.

[@steveb8462]

This is a very intriguing project Dr. Barnatt.

[@rkadowns]

Right. Thanks for the videooooo. 👍

[@jan10n]

Budgetronics in the Netherlands has a nice kit for 30 euros. I am building one with my son.

[@ExplainingComputers]

That looks an excellent kit. For others, see: www.budgetronics.eu/nl/bouwpakketten/pico-computer-with-vga-sd-drive-and-keyboard-interface/a-25928-20 Good luck with your build. :)

[@HermannKerr]

For all the horse power (I knew about its' ability to drive VGA) in the Pico, I wondered why someone hadn't it turned it into a micro computer. I like your approach. I am a real old fart who was messing around with micro computers (MC6800 Z80 8088 TMS9900) in the '70s, so your video gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. What we would have done to get a Pico back then.

[@aliceosako792]

I know it is a bit outside of your usual content, but do you think you will make a video about David Murray's Commander X16 project? The system is supposed to go on sale some time this spring, and while he does a good job of promoting it on his own channel, it is something which some of your viewers might find interesting, too.

[@judsonleach5248]

"6 Pin DIN", Sir?? - (I noticed it on the schematics!) I don't mean to sound like "Fred Flintstone!" BUT?!?! - "Show of hands?" - Am I the only old nerd who sometimes confuses that with "5 Pin DIN"? - Or as us "Gen x" electronic musicians used to call it?!? MIDI ! (Musical Instrument Digital Interface!) "Oh, to be YOUNG, Again!" LOL 🙂

[@ExplainingComputers]

Fair point! :)

[@judsonleach5248]

@@ExplainingComputers The GOOD news, Sir! - I have MANY of BOTH types of cable here in my home shop! - Thankfully? - I'm ALSO a "Hoarder"! - Probably why I have a DOG instead of a WIFE! LOL 🙂 - This looks like a REALLY fun project! - Thanks!

[@JW-uC]

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).

[@kazriko]

Nice setup, certainly requires fewer custom parts than my personal Pico computer design. I use a Gameduino Dazzler board with my Pico to get the HDMI video output. That board includes everything except the keyboard socket, but has two extra chips that are larger than the RP2040 to accomplish the task. (A bridgetek LCD GPU and a FPGA to convert its output to HDMI.) Maybe I can use the PS/2 keyboard driver from PicoMiteVGA for that.

[@dru6809]

I was wondering, "how is he going to get the D-SUB on the breadboard?". The 3d printed solution is just brilliant. Well done!

[@dipanjanmandal1771]

Most interesting

[@rickh6963]

As soon as I get some free time ..... very high on my list of fun projects!

[@ExplainingComputers]

:)

[@xaGe__]

This was a great video, lots of info. I like your simple bread board solution, thought it rather genius in its simplicity and very available from many sources for fairly cheap. Thanks!

[@andic6676]

Great video Chris! If the BASIC provides access to the Pi's ports and other functions like hardware clocks/timekeeping etc. I can see this finding applications beyond hobbyist interest.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Yes, MM BASIC on a Pico provides full access to the GP ports, clock, etc. It is really is both very comprensive, and extremely well documented.

[@kevinshumaker3753]

Shhhhhh!!!! That is/was one of the downfalls of the RPi series. RPi Foundation saw the usage spread to non-educational and non-hobbyist, the 'greed' factor kicked in, and they lost sight. Now, their priority is 'commercial', and they feel making a few thousand available every once in a while to the 'masses' sufficient...

[@andic6676]

@@ExplainingComputers I may delay learning Python then for a while!

[@DJDocsVideos]

@@kevinshumaker3753 that's how business works. If you build critical infrastructure (wallboxes come to mind) on Pi's you are not going to do that without contracts in place that regulate availability. Got nothing to do with greed and all to do with having a great product.

[@AdaptivePhenix]

Indeed. I use these for some _serious_ industrial control applications. 😎

[@marksterling8286]

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

[@lesliedeana5142]

Wow - this brings me back to the Altair days ... Good Days, Indeed!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Greetings Leslie. I thought you would relate to this. :)

[@camerond169]

Amazing!