Setting up a project

Getting RPI Pico SDK

Start by downloading the actual SDK from github repository using this command. Make sure you have git installed and get inside that directory.

git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/pico-sdk
cd pico-sdk

Then you need to download submodules that are required by some parts of SDK otherwise they won't work. You can download by running this command inside SDK directory:

git submodule update --init

Setting up a project

Replace project_name with actual name of the project

cd ../
mkdir project_name
cd project_name
cp $HOME/pico_sdk/pico_sdk_init.cmake .

Make sure you have pico sdk in your root home directory or change path if differs. Now create files program.c and CMakeLists.txt. Set enviromental variable PICO_SDK_PATH to path to pico_sdk folder or you can edit rc of your shell to make work faster

export PICO_SDK_PATH=$HOME/pico_sdk/

Program.c

Example of code that turn on onboard LED

#include "pico/stdlib.h"

int main() {
    gpio_init(25); //Onboard LED is on GPIO with number 25
    gpio_set_dir(25, 1); //Set GPIO to output mode
    gpio_put(25, 1); //Turn on the led
    while(1); //infinite loop so program never ends 
    return 0;
}

CMakeLists.txt

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.13)
project(blink_led)
add_executable(program
    program.c
)

target_link_libraries(program pico_stdlib)

pico_add_extra_outputs(program)

Compilation

cmake CMakeLists.txt
make

After compilation you will see program.uf2 and that file copy to pico's flash.

Sources

• Documentation