Raspberry Pico Adventures

In this post we will see how to access a REST API with the Raspberry Pi Pico W, using the SDK C/C++ and MicroPython. An example of a call to a RESP API, using Postman Basically, a REST API is uses an HTTP method (like GET and POST) to access and manipulate "resources".

Banana Pi is known for its alternatives to Raspberry Pi SBCs (single board computers). Now they have launched a board with the same pinout and form factor as the Pi Pico, but with an ESP32-S3 microcontroller. Let's take a look at it.

 In an unexpected move, the Raspberry Foundation  announced the Raspberry Pi Debug Probe , an interesting accessory for the Pico boards (and other boards with ARM microcontrollers). The Debug Probe board A few days later, they announced the Raspbery Pi Pico Windows Installer for easier installation of the SDK and the complete toolchain needed for developing C/C++ for the Picos under Windows.

We will now take a look at TCP communication. There are client and server examples at pico-examples, let's see if we can understand what is done.

When the Raspberry Pi Pico W was launched (seven months ago), a somewhat surprise was that the hardware supported Bluetooth but the software did not. All that was said then was that it maybe added in the future. At the beginning of this year, BT support was included in the plans for version 1.5 of the C/C++ SDK , expected for the end of January . It took a few days more, but the new SDK version was released and yes, it includes support for Bluetooth in the Pico W, but it is labeled as BETA . It also includes other important fixes and enhancements.

As the next step in my studies, I implemented a SNTP client. I also connected an alphanumeric display, so there was something to see in the photo.

As I mentioned before, I decided to start my study of the Pi Picos's C/C++ SDK function for WiFi communication implementing an SNTP client . This just an exercise, as it is also available in both the lwIP library and the SDK examples. So we start by looking how it is done in the SDK example (code here ). The Pico example output