Raspberry Pi Pico W LESSON 1: Write Your First Program for Absolute Beginners

[@PascalLapalme]

I'm from Quebec and following your course for raspberry pi pico w. Thank you so much Paul. Clear, simple and fun to watch !

[@Melokat]

Same here. Quebec city.

[@LetsCalculateSomething]

Great video and course. I made the loop execute 100 times and added a print statement to tack it. I was able to see it at sleep = 0.015. from machine import Pin from time import sleep x=0 myLED=Pin('LED',Pin.OUT) while x

[@XtianApi]

Holy crap I'm so excited I found a series this big. This is exactly what I wanted a deep dive long-running series

[@paulmcwhorter]

We are almost to lesson 100. OK, now catch up!

[@tntragan]

Got my kit and super excited to get this series going. I'm about halfway through the raspberry pi lessons and I'll be caught up on that series. Done both arduino series and the beginner portion of python and several lessons into the visual python. This will be the first series of lessons I'll start as you release them. Let's get this thing rolling. Tom

[@justmc62]

On lesson 67 of the new Arduino series... almost done . Really looking forward to this next journey- Thank you Paul !

[@megsssman400]

Amazing Paul. I'm taking this lesson today, a year after you released it, and it is still giving me the thrill of using python to control electronics. So glad that you make all of these lessons. Thank you! (I hope these lessons stay on KZbin for the next 50 years or so. Never take them down!)

[@SteveH-TN]

Intitially I found it frustrating when you say “ something right here “ but it’s not always obvious where right here is.. Then I eventually became comfortable an my frustration was reduced. I’m really enjoying learning about micro Python and the Pico W. Additionally I’m learning about Adafruit CircuitPython, on the Circuit Playground Express & Bluefruit versions . Plus the BBC Micro Bit board. I’m a 75 year old Retired Software / Systems Engineer but independent Learner thank so manny Excellent KZbin videos and Makers. Really appreciate your various courses certainly you have challenged my mind.

[@manish78singhsap]

Hi Paul, This is exiting. I have learnt from your python series. The program which i used is: from machine import Pin import utime as tm led = Pin(20, Pin.OUT) delay = 1 def blink(nm,t): for i in range(nm): led.value(1) tm.sleep(t) led.value(0) tm.sleep(t) cont = 'Y' while cont == 'Y': numBlink = int(input("How many Blinks: ")) blink(numBlink, delay) cont = input('Do you want to continue: (Y for Yes) ').upper()

[@patrickcamp8076]

Thank you, Paul. This was my very first try with any microcontroller (apart from PLCs) and you steered me through all the way! I could see blinking with a sleep value of .000001 on a 1 second duty cycle. I didn't try any lower. I'll be sticking with you through your course as I have a fun project in mind at the end of it!

[@RobUttley]

Paul, you are excellent at going through this. Thank you for the time and effort you must put into these lessons.

[@paulmcwhorter]

Thanks! Hope you enjoy the rest of the lessons.

[@danielsaenz5570]

Hey Paul! I've got some good news! I got my older brother to do this series of lessons with me! So, now it's not just me doing this! :)

[@paulmcwhorter]

Excellent!

[@Gregory.Lukashin]

I'm from California and am pretty excited about this class! I know I'm a little bit late, but I'm doing this with my dad to learn how to code and maybe even do some engineering. Raspberry Pi's shock me with how much they can do! (Homework: I forgot to type this into my original comment and couldn't post a video, but I was able to see the LED blink at the sleep value being set at 0.012 (or 0.019 depending on whether or not what I saw counts haha) seconds! :)

[@ianhayden2839]

For anyone who encounters the error: “error, module named machine not found” you are in the wrong interpreter. You have to select “run” and then “configure interpreter“ and then change the interpreter to MicroPython(raspberry Pi pico) and the port the port your pi is plugged into

[@vDC2me]

what if it can't find the COM ports? Just posted a question to the comments

[@janvierkaliza6453]

thanks a lot, this works :)

[@cesarbarusheslava6757]

I use linux and o cant configure the interpreeter, it didn't recognize it so i cant install or update the firmware for the raspberry pi pico w. 😢

[@PPvanL]

I've been struggling with servo control and micropython syntax for a couple of days and I'm so happy I've found this series! I've followed the arduino series as well and it's awesome how you can make this understandable yet still feel like magic!

[@paulmcwhorter]

Great to hear!

[@danielsaenz5570]

Finally!! It’s here! 🎉🎉🎉

[@paulmcwhorter]

EXCELLENT!

[@chrisb7250]

I just ordered my Sunfounder Pico W kit!! oh yea!!! Let the fun begin!!!!

[@paulmcwhorter]

Welcome!

[@ErlankBru]

I'm going to master at least two sets of tutorials, the Arduino and Raspberry Pi Pico (or the Raspberry Pi original). Looking forward to advance further, but I do so steadily and thoroughly. Thanks for these wonderful tutorials of yours. When I'm financially ready I will definitely help you out at Patreon.

[@sjparks7096]

Did your Arduino course, plan to do your Arduino WIFI, but started playing with Raspberry Pi Pico W from another source and was so disappointed in it compared to how your Arduino went and how this course is already proceeding. Thank you for the great content. The day I post something on KZbin, I'll be sure to "alert the media" and let you know, also. BTW, I go with a nice mug of decaf mixed with hot chocolate (need some source of the doctor forbidden caffeine). For my tired old eyes, "sleep(.025)" symmetrical was the fastest blink I could discern.

[@RajeevSahasrabudhe-xc5it]

I took your first lesson today and I am very happy to learn from you. I made the LED lightup for only .001 seconds and to be off for .025 seconds. In these settings I could barely see it blinking. My observations: 1. If we stare at it continuously we see continuous dim light. 2. If we blink our eyes, we can recognise the blinking for fraction of a second. Then it again seems to not to blink. 3. If we move our head and blink and try to see the LED, Blinking is more evendent. (Probably the image on Retina forms at slightly new place)

[@mivison]

Thanks!

[@temetnosce2951]

Oh boy, oh boy now that's a great news! My Pico W Kit is also so exited :) Thank you Paul for your help so people like me who have less money can have a chance. Watching your Raspberry Pi 4 series gives me so much fun and now I can also participate. Bless you good man for doing this!

[@paulmcwhorter]

Fantastic!

[@rd-tk6js]

Looks like my go to channel to know about Pico, thanks !

[@drzwithcrow6075]

I previously bought a book on micropython for beginners by Dr. Somebody. Perhaps he should have waited for this series then wrote his book. By George, it's hard to follow, contains so many important typos on pin numbering etc. And then there is the use of commands that are several layers deep, i.e. the result of one command is buried in another command that uses it, and that in turn is buried another 1,2,3 layers deep. Nothing like like the Paul show! So pleased to see this this series - so much better value than $50+ for a book that leaves the user dead in the water.

[@DrDave327]

Great first lesson, Paul!! In my judgement, sleep delay of the toggle() at .017 is about as low a delay as which can be perceived.

[@USSBARBEL]

That is what I came up with as well. didn't bother taking it out to the thousandth place though.

[@EarthEngineMelbourne]

This is the reverse of the frame rate, which typically is 60 in monitors. But I think I need about 70 (so the delay is 1/70 ~= 0.014)

[@vDC2me]

having issue connecting the Pico to Win & Home addition. The step in the video at 13:20 is not working. It only shows Local, and not the com ports. Did a rebot and open closed the program connect pico but not finding it. I am setting up an older laptop for my son because we are doing it in parallel. My Win 10 laptop worked just fine.

[@bartletscott]

Great video my 10 year old son enjoyed watching this step by step tutorial! Also fantastic job with explaining the content! The lowest sleep delay my son perceives is 0.013, for me it was 0.017.

[@paulmcwhorter]

Glad to hear it!

[@banihas22]

Stumbled on your channel yesterday, got my kit today and finished the first lesson - Thank you for the awesome work! Any chance we can get a Discord going for your community Paul?

[@abolajiolorunkoya3910]

I'm very excited to start using Rasberry Pi's also the lowest speed you can use to sit it blink is 0.02

[@waynewelshans1172]

With a toggle sleep value of 0.016 I could barley see it flashing and at 0.013 it appeared solid but dim. For the values between 0.016 and 0.013 I felt like I could see it flashing but if I wasn't looking for it to be flashing I wouldn't have noticed it.

[@elvinauresius3303]

I Love the energy, He's very passionate, respectfully i like his teaching style

[@kristoferkoessel4354]

Thank you for teaching how to get started im totally onboard, for me the lowest sleep I could visually see was sleep(0.02)

[@carloscraig8156]

Coming from javascript to get into this and this is a great explanation and helps with my anxiety, thank you very much for the great breakdown.

[@paulkrueger3332]

I love the way he makes this so simple to learn.

[@familyplans3788]

personally my time was 0.017 but then im an old bugger so eyesight isnt too great and loving the series so far

[@chases9870]

i did the homework and could see the blinking down to 0.013 so thank you for the lessons Mr McWhorter

[@paulmcwhorter]

LEGEND!

[@vaughntaylor2855]

Good job there Grandson!! 👍

[@chases9870]

Yay!

[@gonepostal63]

Thank you for the first lesson, Paul! I was able to get down to 0.02 seconds on the sleep and still see the blinking directly. I also discovered that even if I went significantly below that I could still see a waviness to everything in my peripheral vision even down to less than 0.01 seconds, which would go away when the LED was steadily lit. That was interesting.

[@paulmcwhorter]

Excellent!

[@dieselboats7886]

HELP! Everything seemed to go fine up until 14:00 in the video when he executed 'print('hello world'). On mine, the line of code disappears and I have two prompts - The first prompt says: %Run -c $EDITOR_CONTENT. - The second prompt is blank. The installation went fine, Thonny Connected (via COM 4).... I get the same gray text in the Shell 'MicroPython V1.19.1.....' before typing any code at the prompt. Thoughts?

[@stephenlightkep1621]

I ordered your kit even though I have must of the parts from previous arduino kits. I am struggling with another python class and you did a great job with the arduino kit. So I am back with you on this adventure. I only drink tea hot or cold with nothing else. This you should be fun.

[@alanbod47]

I haven't managed to make a video that show my screen and the pico, so I must check Paul's videos to see if he demonstrates how to do that. I am running the Pico from a Raspberry Pi 5 and it all works very well except a value of 1 in myLED.value(1) produces a flash of about a fifth of a second not one second. Otherwise it is all working. I am also doing the Arduino course and really enjoying it.

[@teobenedict1733]

great videos, very clear instructions & informative for absolute micropython beginners like me! 👍

[@arguedas02]

Thank You Paul, we been waiting on this lesson anxious, Blessings...

[@freddyveza]

Hi Paul! I'm Currently trying to finish your New Arduino Tutorials lesson 59, Raspberry Pi lesson 9 and now starting Pico W lessons with a no wifi Pico model, interfacing it with an ESP01-S... Let's see how it works... Regarding homework, was able to detect blinking at 0.13 seconds. Thanks for making these tutorial series!

[@paulmcwhorter]

You are a busy guy!

[@ziyashirinov6283]

I have been waiting for Pico lessons. Thanks Paul .

[@paulmcwhorter]

My pleasure!

[@zbigniewloboda3393]

3:30 You didn't mention the type computer you use and kind and version of operating system.

[@SimpleHumanInNY]

At .02 secs I could still see it blink, but at .01 sec it was a steady green

[@ctlancearrowlarson8237]

I got to lesson 25, the OLED1306. Somehow I couldn't get it to work, something with the library I think. Bought another Pico 2, had trouble getting it to work. I forgot how RPI-RP2, goes away after micropython is installed. Did this to my first pico 1 while looking at thisPC. I saw RPI-RP2 127MB free on my Pico 2. But I didn't see RPI-RP2 on the Pico 1. At that point I pressed the little white button on my Pico 1. I don't think I lost my saved work, but it's still not right. Still working on that problem. But on my new Pico 2, had problem connecting to com ? I reviewed this lesson again, and Paul explains it so well between 13:00 to 13:40. Even though I make a lot of mistakes, His lessons are always a joy!

[@legomonkey7780]

with that kit can you show how to use the PIR sensor connected to the dc motor with the power supply being a 5v solar panel or the raspberry pi.

[@VandDangle]

damn you are on lesson 28 already I just got my kit! Thanks Paul. I switched from arduino to this one as python might come in handy at work and this is a fun way to learn.

[@NamasenITN]

Your keyboard is remarkably dirty. That is certainly a sign of mastery of the topic 😊 Thank you for your tutorials.

[@OneofAjaysRaspberryPis]

The lowest perceptible blinking of the on board LED of the Raspberry Pi Pico WH happens at 0.02 value in the sleep line.

[@TheUnofficialMaker]

Very good starting video. Glad to hear you don't have to do 4 times due to power failures, that would drive me crazy!

[@andrewrobb3592]

Excellent work Paul. On your video I found it difficult to see the top line when you were entering code. The window needed to be pulled down a bit. Everything worked first time so you must be doing something right. Thanks for all your work - Subscribe button has been pushed

[@Rf-zb1px]

Thank you so much Mr.Paul your tutorials have helped so many people accomplish so many great things. Stay awesome and cool with your iced coffee 😊

[@darrylhewitt4251]

Hi Paul Have every thing up and running. I was able to see the led blinking at I could see the led at 16 ms but could not see the blink at 15.9 ms. It funny that the import Pin has uppercase first letter but sleep is all lowercase. Have been following your courses for the last couple of years. Thanks for all your effort on these courses.

[@keithlohmeyer]

"It funny that the import Pin has uppercase first letter but sleep is all lowercase." Yes whoever creates the classes and methods get to choose the name and case. There are conventions on how this should be done but they are not always followed. time sleep is brought in from regular python and machine Pin is a Micropython method so they are developed by different organizations.

[@practical_precision_shooters]

Keith I believe when we call Pin we are calling the class constructor, which are conventionally in CapitalCase.

[@patrickfox-roberts7528]

wow, I was NOT expecting RFID nor a pump. What fun - usual issue of course .... it's all delivered in it's little box and THAT is the very last time the lid can close properly :D

[@ScottSummerill]

And Paul has added a new color to his wardrobe!

[@paulmcwhorter]

. . . The only man brave enough to attempt a green shirt in front of a green screen.

[@justmc62]

@@paulmcwhorter

[@RealSnail3D]

Just got my kit! Lets go! Thanks for doing all this, sir.

[@shadow2306]

Would this series of lessons work for a Raspberry Pi 2-Model B with it corresponding parts. The code would be the same right?

[@jananathbandara8396]

Thank you very much your code help us a lot in starting with pico w. Love from Sri Lanka

[@paulmcwhorter]

Happy to hear that!

[@jeraldgooch6438]

Hi Paul, By any chance, will this series cover moving data from the pico to something like a Raspberry Pi? If it does, any chance that you might, in your thoughtful way, cover the use of something like NodeRed, a realtime database like InfluxDB and a visualization piece like Grafana? As always, thanks for these thoughtful and informative tutorials!

[@dureljuniormomoitembe7905]

Woah Mr. PAUL you are a living legend✌️😅💪💪💪🎉🎉. You are so much strong. Stay healthy 🙏❤️. Love from Cameroon🇨🇲 and the UK🇬🇧

[@petergoss2154]

Worked my way through this, I can just about make out a flicker at 0.018 with symmetrical timing. One minor problem when I first tried a program, Thonny insisted I save the program either to the pico or my computer. I guessed my computer and it worked OK. Looking forward to lesson 2

[@paulmcwhorter]

Really best to save it to the Pico, in my mind.

[@petergoss2154]

@@paulmcwhorter Thanks for the reply. When I plugged in the Pico this morning I expected it to flash at me, it didn't. After some research I now know why and on reflection I suppose it is blindingly obvious that for a device to operate in stand alone mode it has to have the program loaded on it.

[@drinkmoremead]

I copied this example with the following code, from machine import Pin from time import sleep myLED=Pin('LED',Pin.OUT) while True: myLED.value(1) sleep(1) myLED.value(0) sleep(1) The code works and the light flashes, but upon execution, I get an error message flashing in the lower screen saying "Traceback most recent call last: File"", line 6, in KeyboardInterrupt. This seems like an ambiguous error, and I never noticed it until after I'd written many other successful routines to control stepper and DC motors. Any ideas?

[@peterkarlsson7801]

With delays longer than 1/55 seconds, I can clearly see the LED blinking. In my peripheral vision, when moving my head, I can notice some flickering for delays as short as 1/90 s.

[@RoyMORRIS-q5y]

I could not get the myLED to turn on the LED. It kept saying module machine not found. I ran the following and it worked, import machine led = machine.Pin("LED", machine.Pin.OUT) led.off() led.on() Any reason for this issue?

[@RoyMORRIS-q5y]

I think my interpeter was not on PICO Works now!

[@TomatoSauseJr]

I really like the way you teach

[@warrenscorner]

Hi Paul. Since I’ve gone back to work after 3 years in retirement I haven’t had time to keep up with your videos. I need to make time! I’ll squeeze them in somehow. I have a Raspberry Pi Pico kicking around somewhere. I’ll be at work for the premiere but I’ll watch it later.

[@tico-k9y]

This guy is an absolute legend

[@Moe.firouzabadi]

Liked & Subscribed! Thank you! I am so interested into knowing how in the world, does the software code translates into 0 and 1 and move electrons :)

[@patrickfox-roberts7528]

Def go with the Fusion and the 3D printing thought eventually, I am currently learning both

[@gyulabihari4398]

We are in lesson 28 on Arduino, after we join to this series! Thanks!

[@rayhill8691]

On the Raspberry pl documention page there is now 3 choices to download Raspberry pi Pico , Raspberry pi Pico W, and now Raspberry Pi Pico w with wi fi and bluetooth LE support , do i download the 3rd choice or still the second choice as note tells me to download 3rd choice thank you Paul im a beginner

[@No1Horsham]

I failed at the first hurdle trying to set the Pico W up. My computer sees the drive but when I drag and drop the setup file it expands and then the Pico W ejects itself. Tried this both on my MacOS and on Windows 11 operating on a virtual machine. Same problem with both. Help?

[@KIMUELDUANEADRADAADRADA]

Hi sir Paul . Just want to ask .can I use Pico W configurations for pico board ? Thanks . By the way this is a very comprehensive tutorial . I'm a beginner in this microcontroler and this makes me excited 😊

[@seanmcconachie6774]

0.11 not going to go any further. Thanks Paul!

[@WDCallahan]

I have purchased the "Ultimate Kit for the Raspberry Pi Pico W"! I love the idea of it, but now I require "The Ultimate Place to put all these Tiny Components", because "loose, back in the box" ain't doing it for me. Please advise.

[@augustinecalvin7722]

I am stoked to see this! Can’t wait until next week!

[@paulmcwhorter]

Me too!

[@khushboosharma6844]

Hi Paul, I'm currently working on a project involving the Raspberry Pi Pico. I'm have a query if we can pragram a pico by connecting it to program in MakeCode or any block based program. Could you assist with this issue?

[@kristerlemon1246]

looking forward to the next one.

[@peterwadham7965]

Great lesson, 0.013s the led looked stable

[@peterhartshauser5176]

I didn't know about the toggle and love it.

[@floridian080]

I had some difficulty installing Pico W on windows 10 and 11. Then I installed it on my Pi400, which made it easier to figure out the kinks. After that, I went back to Windows and was able to do the installation. One issue in Windows is that the device manager shows the driver for the port is defective. That is misleading because it turns out the board doesn't rely on the driver. Another issue is that there are multiple versions of PicoW that are offered by Thonny in the installation and not all of them work. I ultimately chose the one with the Pimeroni libraries, and that works well. Lastly, it was a matter of deciding if P in pin should be upper or lower case. I am probably your only student who encountered these stumbling blocks but mention them just in case...

[@paulmcwhorter]

If you press the white button, plug it into the USB, it should show up as a drive on your windows machine. That is not working?

[@pedrocabrera9041]

Hi, Is there any change you could write or make a video tutorial using a video camera using raspberry pi pico and micropython?

[@davidh1187]

I always seem to come into your tutorials late - Just finished the Arduino series and now starting on the Pico. Don't have the Pico W yet, just the plain pico, so starting with that. To make it interesting I am doing to try your exercises with both Thonny (python) and the Arduino IDE 2. (IDE 1 needs the Pico to be physically reconnected before every upload - what a pain). For this lesson - 0.025 was low enough for my old eyes.

[@Японскийшагзашагом]

Thank you very much for the great lesson! 0.17 is as much as I could see 🎉

[@Bob-pz3dc]

Just starting this series and have the pico W working. When I run the sample hello world I get it showing down below but there is a message saying, MPY: soft reboot. Any idea what is going on with that? Thanks.

[@LetsCalculateSomething]

I can run the "a+b=c" part on the pico w with no problem: However I am getting an error: Traceback (most recent call last): File "", line 1, in ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'machine' My code is as follows: from machine import Pin myLED=Pin('LED',Pin.OUT) myLED.value(1) Help! 🙂

[@LetsCalculateSomething]

Sorry - false alarm - figured it out

[@452steve452]

Just trying my kit for the first time. I had to change the led code some from an example on the web. Any idea why it didn't work on my Pico W the way you wrote the code? What I used and is working is below. Thanks. Very nice kit! import machine from time import sleep LED = machine.Pin("LED", machine.Pin.OUT) while True: LED.value(1) sleep(1) LED.value(0) sleep(1)

[@452steve452]

FYI I am using a MAC Studio M2 Thonny says MicroPython (Raspberry Pi Pico)

[@rupadarshisamanta3288]

When I try to turn on the led using that same code it shows - TypeError: can't convert str to int And the led did not turn on. Please help

[@WilliamBurlingame]

With an on sleep value of .008 and an off of .028, it barely flickered. If I reduced the value of either, it didn't flicker, but was on dimly.. Using the toggle(), I was able see a little flicker at .019

[@EarthEngineMelbourne]

Right. the smaller on time (aka the darker over all), the longer off time will need to make the flick! if on time is 0.001 then off time will need to be 0.035 for me. But the total remains the same - 0.036 ~= 1/28 which means we can observe the frequency at 28 cycle/second.

[@nejatpolat]

Great start-up! Thanks Paul.

[@paulmcwhorter]

Glad you liked it!

[@justmc62]

Boom--- Congratulations Paul on your new Pico-W course.. Finished your Arduino course , really excited for this new one. Got my Pico up and running 👍... Also taking your introductory Python course 😁. Can I assume that the Thonny Micro Python language is similar enough to the Python I'm using with VS code that they should compliment each other? .. WIll try to be more active with the "Community Support "... Grateful 🙏

[@paulmcwhorter]

Enjoy!

[@USSBARBEL]

OK, I am starting - took notes tonight - Amazon is delivering the kit tomorrow AM. Not quite understanding the request, though. Post a short video on my KZbin channel of the assignment? Then link? I guess the location threw me.

[@neilausten9404]

Great starter lesson. One question, next time I connect my Pico W , do I have to go through the same set up process?

[@paulmcwhorter]

No, not unless you want to change to a different program language.

[@davidh1187]

Not sure why you have to copy the UF2 file onto the Pi Pico - mine seems to work just fine without it in Thonny. Maybe I am missing something or things have changed in the last 12 mths...

[@doverivermedia3937]

Paul, Just adding to my comment below, if I may. Having completed your fabulous Arduino lessons, and just about keeping my head above the water with IDE C++ programming so far, I'm a little worried about biting off too much, learning a different language (if in fact, this course is 'python'). I realise the Pico is a much more powerful & modern micro-controller, but it seems it can also work with the Arduino IDE. I'd appreciate your opinion on the cross-roads i'm in. Is Python the 'way to go' ? I guess they all push n pull sensors/output in a similar fashion. Your response is always appreciated. Many thanks, Phil (UK)

[@paulmcwhorter]

I prefer python as it is simpler and more intuitive

[@keithlohmeyer]

Go with adding Python to your coding toolbox. A second coding language is usually easy to pick up, just different syntax. I still love and use Arduino but I find Python to be well supported on PCs and MicroPython looks like it is getting a lot of traction on the newer microcontrollers. So it's good to have choices.

[@simonemagri8256]

The link to the amazon kit is not called the Kepler Kit, is it the same as the Kepler Kit

[@ncKen-h1o]

At 16:23 you said you were setting the pin to 5 volts. Isn't the Pico a 3.3 volt device (unlike the 5 volt Arduino) and the pin is really pulled up to 3.3 volts.

[@paulmcwhorter]

I mispoke . . . 3.3 volts

[@edv2411]

just got the pico. video was great.

[@paulmcwhorter]

Welcome Abord!