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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : PicoMite V6.03.00 Release
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| ville56 Guru  Joined: 08/06/2022 Location: AustriaPosts: 550 |
Xian, lets sort it out step by step, starting with the absolute minimum without the Olimex board. Why: I also had some problems with cold solder joints on the Olimex board (but with the LiPo connector, so I only had a lightshow on the LED) and also had them once to the pins on the Pico board (but that was my own bad ...) As I don't know your background, I'll try to do it very low level, so please don't get me wrong ... - first, please check if the USB-serial adapter is set to 3.3V as the Pico may not like 5V on the pins without being powered up. This COULD destroy the pico. (I've done this 1000 times, never had any problem) But just for safety reasons, always make sure the pico is powered first and you are on the safe side. - remove the Pico from the Olimex board and connect the USB-serial adapter to the default Pico console pins gp8(TX)/gp9(RX) to the repsective RX/TX pins and Pico ground to ground on the adapter e.g. with some Dupont wires. - plug the Pico via a USB cable into an USB port on the PC - plug the adapter into another USB port on the PC and note which COM port it creates - press boot/reset on the Pico to invoke the bootloader - flash the firmware (PicoMiteHDMIUSBV6.03.00.uf2) - after flashing run and connect the terminal emulator to the virtual COM port noted before you should get a concole prompt. If not, you could try reversing RX/TX on either the Pico OR adapter side, just one side. If this does not give a prompt, you may try the plain version (PicoMiteRP2350V6.03.00.uf2). You may also flash any other (older) RP2350 version and try if it runs. Just take care not to use a Web version. If it does respond, the Pico is well and the fault is probably on the Olimex board. If it doesn't respond, the serial port pins may have died if the heartbeat is blinking. If you have a second Pico board, you can verify the setup with that ... Let me know how things work out. Gerald 73 de OE1HGA, Gerald |
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| JanVolk Guru Joined: 28/01/2023 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 386 |
For an Olimex RP2040 Pico PC adapter board: https://www.tinytronics.nl/nl/development-boards/accessoires/adapter-boards/olimex-rp2040-pico-pc-adapter-board-voor-raspberry-pi-pico. Mount a Raspberry Pi Pico RP2350 onto the baseboard. Load the version `PicoMiteRP2350HDMIUSB V6.03.00.uf2' via the standard RP2350 USB port. After flashing, connect an HDMI screen to the Olimex board, a USB dongle or hub to the RP2350 USB port, and a USB power supply to the Olimex PCB (also connect the HDMI 5V link on the underside of the base PCB, if applicable). Type the following blindly on the USB keyboard: `OPTION RESET OLIMEX USB` (Enter) `Y` (Enter). (The prompt `(Y/N)?` is not visible). Then reset the board; you should see the display output on HDMI and COM1 (RX=GP1, TX=GP0), and it should work. This process may fail occasionally, so you might need to repeat it. Afterward, configure the options to your preference. Have fun. Jan. Footnote added 2026-07-12 01:07 by JanVolk I’ve experienced an issue where the first character sometimes doesn't register when using the keyboard. This happened with TeraTerm, but could it possibly be related to the USB keyboard, causing the input to fail? |
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| ville56 Guru Joined: 08/06/2022 Location: AustriaPosts: 550 |
Before option reset please set your keyboard language if not english with OPTION KEYBOARD GR (e.g. for german) as the Y for the yes is otherwise located differently. 73 de OE1HGA, Gerald |
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| Xian Newbie  Joined: 19/03/2025 Location: GermanyPosts: 39 |
Thanks a lot to all the advisors! Fantastic team! to cut a long story short, i have a working 6.3.00 HDMI/USB environment running on the Olimex board. However, non of the "ways" worked while the pico2 was connected to the board. In the end i removed the pico2 from the Olimex board, nuked it again, installed the v6.03.00 HDMI/USB and powered down. Then i connected an ftdi pcb to gp8/gp9 and could connect to the PC (i used minicom on my Linux box). I then entered the command "option reset olimexusb" and immediately the reason why that did not work before became obvious. There is a security hint "all data will be lost, also on drive A: - continue?" (may not be literally correctly quoted). Entering a "Y" and the reset began. Powered off again, plugged the ftdi pcb to gp0/gp1, re-powered the board and connected the ftdi with my pc to see there is a reply now. Then i removed the ftdi from the pico2, plugged the pico2 into the Olimex board, re-powered again and immediately there was an HDMI signal. And the ftdi connected to gp0/1 (soldered to the Olimex board) worked like a charm. Also the USB-keyboard connected to the pico2 USB worked immediately. I have no clue why the gp8/9 ftdi connection did not work while the pico2 was inserted in the Olimex board directly after flashing the new firmware. Outside the Olimex board all worked fine. Maybe that is due to a usb hub, too low power, whatever. I have a working path now and my frustration has gone immediately. To point out clear, i have two FTDI boards connected to the Olimex board. One is on gp8/9 (UEXT), the other on gp0/1. They both worked while i had the old version installed (8/9 initially, 0/1 after option reset olimexusb). Thanks again for all your help and of course thanks to Peter for the wonderful Basic! And sorry for my frustration. Regards, Xian |
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| Xian Newbie Joined: 19/03/2025 Location: GermanyPosts: 39 |
Hey Jan, that was exactly my fault. i did not know that there was a prompt. As for the "old version" (6.0.02) i did not have to enter the "Y". And also that no USB connection gp0/1 and gp8/9 did work in the way that anything was echoed. But now i have it running. Thanks a lot, Xian |
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Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8964 |
The FTDI board they you have may be objecting to the pullup resistors (that you can't isolate) on GP8 and GP9 of the Olimex board. Also, some of the USB-TTL converters have 5V outputs that you can't change. That can trigger problems in the RPnnnn that prevent it from booting. It is rarely straightforward getting MMBasic to run satisfactorily on hardware that's designed to support only Python and C#. I, personally, never recommend it unless someone is doing it for the challenge. There are simply too many compromises to be made. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| Xian Newbie Joined: 19/03/2025 Location: GermanyPosts: 39 |
Hi Mick, that may well be, however, they work when the system is once correctly setup. But one question regarding the 5V, should the ftdi be set to using 3.3V when connected to the Pico2 or the Olimex board? The ones i use do have a jumper to move from 5V to 3.3V, and i have them on 5V. So should i better switch to 3.3V? Thanks and regards, Xian |
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| ville56 Guru Joined: 08/06/2022 Location: AustriaPosts: 550 |
3.3 V is the value to use Gerald 73 de OE1HGA, Gerald |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8964 |
Hehe.... In theory you can use 5V for the Pico 2 and anything else based on the RP2350 *provided that the IOVDD supply to the chip is at least 3V3*. The RP2040 shouldn't really get 5V on its pins. However, provided the current is limited by, for example, a weak pullup, you will usually be ok. The Datasheet for the chips indicates which pins will officially withstand 5V. The ADC pins and some others won't. Some will but only under specific circumstances. Just be safe and *always* use 3V3 around the Pico family. :) Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| Xian Newbie Joined: 19/03/2025 Location: GermanyPosts: 39 |
Thanks Mick, i've set it to 3.3V now and so far no difference after installation. As i'm just done with the upgrade, i'll keep that in mind and see, if there is a difference in the upgrade cycle (new firmware). Best regards, Christian |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8964 |
It shouldn't make any difference really. The voltage levels for 1 and 0 with a 3V3 supply are within the tolerance of those for a 5V supply. I think what you are doing by changing the switch to 3V3 is preventing the ESD protection diode on the RPnnnn from going forward-biased and pulling up the voltage on the RPnnnn VDD line to an unknown and saggy level via the pullup resistors. The RPnnnn tries to get a stable supply for its clock and fails. I've had RP2040's boot perfectly well with pullups to 5V on the USB-TTL converter so I don't think it's an exact science, though I'm pretty sure it must stress the chip just a bit. :) Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| toml_12953 Guru Joined: 13/02/2015 Location: United StatesPosts: 685 |
In the following, color won't work as a substitute for colour. TURTLE pen colour |
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| matherp Guru Joined: 11/12/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 11636 |
trivia for any subsequent maintenance release Edited 2026-07-16 19:42 by matherp |
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| matherp Guru Joined: 11/12/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 11636 |
The release is now available on Geoff's site https://geoffg.net/picomite.html Thanks Geoff  |
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| Johnfd Newbie Joined: 04/08/2023 Location: AustraliaPosts: 12 |
Hi Matherp, Have you ever considered having a Ping command in Webmite? I've found that testing for an address LAN assignment in the PICO can be problematic as my router assigns an address well before it establishes an Internet connection. The next step is the WEB NTP but in my experiments I have found that using it as a regular "Is Internet available?" test a bit unreliable. The advantage of a ping is that I think it should always give me a clear success or failure? I could well be wrong. I have been successful in opening a TCP CLIENT on a DNS address with port 53 but not sure if that's a no no. John |
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| poeli111 Newbie Joined: 09/01/2026 Location: GermanyPosts: 2 |
A big thank you to Peter for this release! The new logging option seems to save the error message, but no timestamp or error line no., so I'll go on using my own error log within the MM.PROMPT subroutine. Anyway I struggle to log the error line no. as well. Is there something like a MM.ERRLINE variable or a workaround? It would be extremely helpful to log it as well, as the Pico runs remote using a web server and still needs debugging. Cheers, Christian |
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| JanVolk Guru Joined: 28/01/2023 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 386 |
Peter, I’ve observed some strange behavior with EDIT in conjunction with the mouse cursor. > option list PicoMite MMBasic RP2350A V6.03.00 OPTION FLASH SIZE 4194304 OPTION COLOURCODE ON OPTION CPUSPEED (KHz) 200000 OPTION DISPLAY 40, 80 If you type `print "***************************` up to character position 77, everything works fine, but beyond that point, the banner effect kicks in. If you then click a position somewhere on that same line, the mouse cursor position no longer aligns correctly, although the character position itself remains accurate. It is possible that the banner stops tracking the mouse cursor position correctly once you are within 3 characters of the maximum line length. This issue resolves itself if you use the arrow key to move back to the start of the line. Jan. |
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Martin H. Guru Joined: 04/06/2022 Location: GermanyPosts: 1485 |
Hi Peter, For some reason, framebuffer 2 requires more memory than layer L. If I use “2” instead of “L,” I get a heap memory error later in the program. So far, I've only noticed this in Mode 2. Picomite HDMIUSB V6.03.00 Release version, no RC. Could you maybe take another look at the source code if you have time? Thank you Martin Edited 2026-07-21 05:13 by Martin H. 'no comment |
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| matherp Guru Joined: 11/12/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 11636 |
Johnfd: I'll put it on the list for a maintenance release Jan: Sounds like a bug for the maintenance release Martin: A 2nd Framebuffer uses heap whereas a layer uses pre-allocated memory from the main ram so doesn't pinch heap. Allocation of resources to framebuffers/layerbuffers is already hugely complex across the multiple video modes and resolutions so I don't intend to change this any further |
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| Johnfd Newbie Joined: 04/08/2023 Location: AustraliaPosts: 12 |
Thanks Peter, a Ping command would be great when you find the time amongst all the requests. I really appreciate the work you and Geoff have done. Cheers from Oz, John |
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