The RP2040, which is the Raspberry Pi Foundation's first microcontroller, has powerful features that are useful for a wide range of applications. Want to start experiment? You're in luck. Elektor has bundled a book, accessories and aRP2040-based Raspberry Pi Pico Board in the ​All-in-One Raspberry Pi Pico Experimental Bundle.

The Pico Experimental Bundle

I don't have to write much about the RP2040 and the Pico board. Watch Clemens Valens's excellent introduction video on Elektor TV for all the details.
 
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All-in-One Raspberry Pi Pico Experimental Bundle
 
Let’s have a look at the All-in-One Raspberry Pi Pico Experimental Bundle. It includes:
 
  • 1x The book: Raspberry Pi Pico Experimenting Kit - Programming & Projects
  • 1x Raspberry Pi Pico (with pre-soldered header)
  • 1x Pico Expansion board including:
    • TFT LCD with ST7735 driver
    • 3x Pushbuttons
    • 3x LEDs
    • Active buzzer
    • 6x (UART/GPIO/I²C/ADC) Grove-compatible connectors
  • 1x MPU6050 6-axis IMU
  • 1x DHT11 humidity & temperature sensor
  • 1x 10 A relay
  • 1x SG90 servo
  • 1x Slide potentiometer
  • 1x Serial-to-WiFi (ESP8266) module
  • 1x HC-SR04 Ultrasonic range sensor
  • 1x WS2818 addressable RGB LED module with eight LEDs

The Raspberry Pi Pico

The Pico board offers a well-priced entry into the world of embedded software development and microcontrollers. The Raspberry Pi Foundation's excellent documentation will help give you a smooth start to the world of embedded development.
 
Raspberry Pi Pico
Raspberry Pi Pico

Want to learn more about the Raspberry Pi Pico? Take a look at Elektor's recent article, “Pico Power: Get to Know the Raspberry Pi Pico Board and RP2040”.
 

A Book Covering the first Steps

The book "Raspberry Pi Pico Experimenting Kit - Programming & Projects" provides an introduction to the Raspberry Pi Pico Experimenting Kit. Here not only the components of the kit are explained, but also with practical examples the first steps in programming and using the kit. With more than 170 pages, the book to this kit is more than just a blunt manual. The projects start with controlling an LED and end with setting up your own small web server.

The projects build on each other and guide you through the available peripherals of the kit. Besides the pure illustrations, schematics and source codes complement the projects and invite you to do your own creations and projects with the kit. By using MicroPython, the skills learned can not only be used with the Raspberry Pi Pico Experiment Kit, but also transferred to other platforms on which MicorPython runs.

 
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Raspberry Pi Pico Experimenting Kit - Programming & Projects
If you have already bought an Elektor Raspberry Pi Pico Experimenting Kit in the Elektor Shop, but at a time when the book was not yet available, there is reason to rejoice. As a buyer of the Elektor Raspberry Pi Pico Experimenting Kit you can get access to the digital version of the "Raspberry Pi Pico Experimenting Kit - Programming & Projects" book.


Elektor Raspberry Pi Pico Experimenting Kit

The Raspberry Pi Pico comes nearly without any included peripherals on its board; just one green user LED is integrated. This is why the All-in-One Raspberry Pi Pico Experimental Bundle includes the Elektor Raspberry Pi Pico Experimenting Kit. The kit includes a TFT, buzzer, user buttons and LEDs. It also includes attachable modules like WS2812 LEDs, a six-axis gyro, a DHT11 humidity and temperature sensor, a servo, a relay, potentiometer, ultrasonic range sensor and an ESP8266 serial-to-WiFi bridge. You get a good balance of accessories to get you started in the world of embedded software design.
 
Elektor Raspberry Pi Pico Experimenting Kit
Elektor Raspberry Pi Pico Experimenting Kit

Can I Use the Arduino IDE?

As the Raspberry Pi Pico has Arduino support, this opens it up to the well know Arduino framework and a huge set of libraries. For all peripherals included in the Elektor Raspberry Pi Pico Experimenting Kit, there are ready-made libraries, so getting started is even simpler than ever before. Development can be done with the Arduino IDE or Visual Studio Code on Windows, Mac or Linux. Also the Raspberry Pi Pico makes a great companion to the Raspberry Pi 400.

If you would like to get started today, have a look at the Elektor Store and the All-in-One Raspberry Pi Pico Experimental Bundle. If you already own a Raspberry Pi Pico, the Elektor Raspberry Pi Pico Experimenting Kit may be a good addition to it.