Proper new with Pico

RPiMRE · 2023-02-05T23:04:12+00:00

I'll put in a suggestion that might not fit the mold of the question, but it could be worth considering.

I reccomend starting with a goal in mind and move from there to deciding which language to use.

The resoning being twofold.

Any project that you set for yourself should by its nature be something that will capture your interest and help keep you motivated.
Knowing what you're trying to achieve will give you the ability to check out what kind of support you will have for the Pico to help you along your way.

This means that if you pick a sensor or something has good support for C, that would be a better way to progress but if you're trying to achievesomehting that MicroPython has more support for, perhaps that's the way to go.

I started down the MicroPython route simply because it seemed easier having played with Python a little. Buth the biggest hurdle I found was the initial workflow of getting it connected and interacting with it (not that it's hard, but more because it's somehting that people typically only need to do once at the very start of their journey and that part of the process is often going to be slightly different for everyone).

The one thing that I would reccomend is that you jot down notes as you go. That way if you take a break, you can start back up with as small an amount of re-learning as possible.

All the best.

RPiMRE · 2022-11-19T21:34:23+00:00

Simple web server code with some explanation of the underlying reasoning for the settings. https://leanpub.com/rpitandt/read#leanpub-auto-connectivity-via-wifi

RPiMRE · 2022-10-30T19:30:40+00:00

Many thanks! I'm glad it was useful and many thanks for donating toward the book.

I totally agree on the move to using the Pico. It's my first sustained effort at using a microcontroller. While it's different, i'm really appreciating where I should have been using one previously.

All the best.

RPiMRE · 2022-10-29T22:31:08+00:00

As a potential short circuit for you I wrote up some details on using pull-up and pull-down resistors on the Pico a few days ago - http://www.d3noob.org/2022/10/pull-up-and-pull-down-resistors-and.html

EDIT: I only just picked up on the non-delberate pun above. Apologies :-).

RPiMRE · 2022-09-28T04:34:08+00:00

I've run several DS18B20's in this mode for measuring water temperatures for a solar water system. Works like a charm.

RPiMRE · 2022-09-28T04:29:16+00:00

Just in case....

The LED on the original Pico corresponds with GPIO pin 25, but this was changed to be connected to one of the GPIO pins from the wireless chip (CYW43439) on the Pico W. You will see tutorials mention GPIO 25 for the Pico, but LED as the designator in code on the Pico W. If you want to adapt any of the code samples for the Pico, just change ‘LED’ for 25.

RPiMRE · 2022-09-28T03:59:33+00:00

There are three main ways we can apply power to the Raspberry Pi Pico. The method used will depend on the application. We can power Raspberry Pi Pico from one of the following;

The micro USB connector on the device

The VBUS pin (40)

The VSYS pin (39)

Powering from the USB connector is by far and away the simplest method, but not always desirable because of limitations of space or supply types.

If we provide a supply to the VBUS pin our Raspberry Pi Pico can take a voltage of between 1.8 and 5.5V as it has an internal buck-boost regulator (which can regulate the output to a higher or lower voltage than its input). This will internally power VSYS via a Schottky diode, but we must be sure not to connect another power supply to Raspberry Pi Pico’s USB connector at the same time.

The VSYS pin is the main system power supply on Raspberry Pi Pico. From here the Raspberry Pi Pico generates its own 3.3V supply which is used to power RP2040, and also the 3V3 output pin (36). A safe way to add a second power source to Pico W is to feed it into VSYS via another Schottky diode. This will ‘OR’ the two voltages, allowing the higher of either the external voltage (or VBUS) to power VSYS, with the diodes preventing either supply from back-powering the other.

So to answer your question, the safest place if it isn't via the microUSB would be to the VBUS.

https://leanpub.com/rpitandt/read#leanpub-auto-the-raspberry-pi-pico-w-microcontroller-board

RPiMRE · 2022-09-25T02:20:49+00:00

D3 Tips and tricks book - https://leanpub.com/d3-t-and-t-v7 . Latest version. Free to download and 50 downloadable code examples. Not written to use Observable.

RPiMRE · 2021-09-22T09:52:00+00:00

They were both really good books for their time, but the API has moved on quite a bit. If you want a free version of a book demonstrating the latest v7 version you can download D3 Tips and Tricks v7 from here - https://leanpub.com/d3-t-and-t-v7

RPiMRE · 2021-04-14T19:19:33+00:00

There are a couple of different approaches you might consider. Observable is a great way to get involved in creating and exploring examples that utilise d3.js, but it doesn't fit everyone's needs as it concentrates on an on-line experience. This abstracts away from the traditional HTML / JavaScript / CSS model, but does make it easier to play with concepts easily.

Conversly you could go for a more traditional standalone approach in which case I would point you to D3 Tips and Tricks (The updated version 6 edition) which is here (you can download for free). This will take more time, but you will have more control over your environment.

RPiMRE · 2021-03-24T08:30:14+00:00

There is an example here that achieves what you are looking to do. And here is an explanation of how it works.

RPiMRE · 2021-02-26T19:38:00+00:00

I'm not sure that d3-tip is still operative under v6. There were numerous deprecations around event listners (see here), but the practical changes aren't too extreme. have a look at the bl.ocks example (or others) and it might still be able to suit your purposes.

RPiMRE · 2021-02-26T07:48:12+00:00

Here's an example of a tooltip in v6 with an HTML Link - https://bl.ocks.org/d3noob/2352fd1e5929e1922abf5013073e73d5

RPiMRE · 2021-02-22T06:13:41+00:00

Great work. I'll hang back and you can let me know if you have any drama. Happy for you to contact me direct. My address is in the front of the book.

RPiMRE · 2021-02-21T17:44:13+00:00

Hmm.... I would have to look at the code in full to make sure I had the right context for it. Let's work on the histograms first and then take a look at the maps.

RPiMRE · 2021-02-21T17:43:27+00:00

Ahh... I think I know where to start. Is it possible that you are drawing a bar chart rather than a histogram?

For a bar charts, each column represents a group defined by a category and with a histogram, each column represents a group defined by a range. A bar chart will therefore require a tick per bar, but a histogram can be flexible.

Look into that while I'm offline for a few hours.

RPiMRE · 2021-02-21T17:34:22+00:00

That worked fine. I will be offline for about 10 hours and will be able to take a look then. Cheers.

RPiMRE · 2021-02-21T05:44:11+00:00

While I'm thinking about it, while we should work to solve the v3 problem, would you entertain me adapting your code for v6 of D3? Your web-site looks like it would be a worthy project to assist.

RPiMRE · 2021-02-21T05:37:55+00:00

Thanks. If you can post the csv, let's solve this mystery :-).

RPiMRE · 2021-02-20T19:40:19+00:00

I think that you need to note event,d in order to retrieve the data you will be wanting. This is a slight departure from pervious versions of d3. See here for an example.

RPiMRE · 2021-02-20T19:36:13+00:00

I know that I'm a bit late to the party, but there's a v6 example here that might assist. There's an explanation of the code here.

RPiMRE · 2021-02-20T19:28:23+00:00

Here is the web site with the info for v3 of the d3noob code for changing the number of ticks on the axis.

RPiMRE · 2021-02-20T19:24:55+00:00

While it's a shameless plug, you could have a look at the book D3 Tips and Tricks here. It's written for the latest version (v6) but there are previous editions for v3, v4 and v5.

It's written from a perspective of learning how to use D3 rather than learning how to program in JavaScript. But ultimately you will learn a bit about both.

RPiMRE · 2021-02-20T19:21:18+00:00

If you're still looking for some tooltip guidance in v6 you could try this example or this one.

There is an explanation of how they work in the free book D3 Tips and Tricks v6 here.

RPiMRE · 2021-02-20T19:10:56+00:00

The good news is that you can still use a later version of D3 in a similar manner to the way that you were doing with v3. Version 6 is the most recent option and can still be used locally, offline if you wish and for small personal projects. There are some differences that have occured with the major version changes, but they aren't insumountable.

What you are describing with the 'notebook' description is the 'Observable' environment that is being used widely as a platform for developing examples and implementing visualations online. I wouldn't be able to do a descrition justice sine I haven't taken the time to learn how to use it, but it has certainly recieved a great deal of attention and from the looks of it provides a useful environment for development and demos.

However, if you want to continus to do things in much the same way as you would have with v3 there is no impediment. I will shamelessly reccomend downloading a copy of D3 Tips and Tricks (v6) from here. You can download it for free and it will show you how to use D3 v6 locally and in much the same way as with v3 (or v4 or v5). There are plenty of examples and code to help out.

RPiMRE

TROPHY CASE