Working with Raspberry Pi Pico

This chapter includes the following sections. Please read as needed:

• Hardware Connection
• MicroPython Environment Setup
• Downloading Example Programs
• Running the Example

Hardware Connection

Connect the LCD module to the Raspberry Pi Pico using an 11PIN ribbon cable. The pin correspondence is as follows:

LCD	Raspberry Pi Pico
VCC	3.3 V
GND	GND
DIN	GPIO11
CLK	GPIO10
CS1	GPIO9
CS2	GPIO13
DC	GPIO8
RST1	GPIO12
RST2	GPIO15
BL1	GPIO20
BL2	GPIO21

MicroPython Environment Setup

1. Download and install the Thonny 3.3.3 installer.
2. Press and hold the BOOTSEL button on the Raspberry Pi Pico, connect it to the computer via USB, and release the button after power-up.
3. The computer will recognize a new disk. Download and extract the Raspberry Pi Pico MicroPython firmware, and copy the file with the .uf2 extension to that disk. After copying is complete, the Pico will automatically restart, and the disk will disappear.
4. Open Thonny and click Python x.x.x in the lower-right corner, then select Configure interpreter.
5. In the pop-up window, select Interpreter, set the interpreter to MicroPython (Raspberry Pi Pico), and select Auto-detect port for the port.
6. Click the Stop button. When the MicroPython version information and the >>> prompt appear in the Shell window, the connection is successful. When using the firmware above, the version information is MicroPython v1.20.0-50-g786013d46 on 2023-05-04.

The interpreter configuration is as follows:

The Shell window after a successful connection is as follows:

Downloading Example Programs

Download and extract the package from the 0.71inch DualEye LCD Module Example.

Open the extracted 0.71inch-DualEye-LCD-Module-Demo folder, find the Raspberry Pi Pico folder, and the Eye.py inside it is the example program used in this section.

Running the Example

Before running, complete the Hardware Connection and MicroPython Environment Setup, and confirm that Thonny is connected to the Pico and the Shell window shows the >>> prompt.

1. In Thonny, click File > Open..., or press Ctrl+O, and open the Raspberry Pi Pico/Eye.py extracted on the computer. If a file location selection window appears, select the file on the computer.

   

2. Confirm that the editor has opened Eye.py, and click the green run button in the toolbar or press F5 to run the current script.

   

3. Observe the LCD module. After the program runs normally, the two screens display eye animations with a blinking effect, as shown below. To stop the program, click the stop button in the Thonny toolbar.