Development setup
This guide assists you with the initial setup for Microcontroller UE. It covers the installation of the necessary tools and the configuration of your development environment.
For programming a Raspberry PI Pico with C/C++, you need to have some tools installed:
CMake as build generator
ninja as build system
arm-none-eabi-gcc toolchain for cross-compiling
openocd for flashing the firmware and debugging
python3 for building tools inside the
pico-sdk
We provide you with two different ways to set up your environment:
Use the provided zip-file with all necessary tools (recommended for beginners, Windows only)
Install the tools manually following this guide (recommended for advanced users)
Zip-file setup (Windows only)
The easy way to set up your development environment is to download the provided zip-file containing all necessary tools. This is the recommended way for students who are new to embedded development. The zip-file includes a pre-configured Visual Studio Code setup with all necessary extensions and settings.
Download the zip-file and continue with the next step.
Manual installation (for advanced users)
Choosing an IDE
This setup supports Visual Studio Code and CLion as IDEs. You can choose the one you prefer:
CLion is a professional C/C++ IDE, but it is a proprietary software which is free for educational purposes. You will need to apply for a student license here to use it.
Download CLion and continue with the next step.
Visual Studio Code is a free and open-source software that can be used for educational purposes without any restrictions.
Download Visual Studio Code and continue with the next step.