Keyboard shortcuts

Press ← or → to navigate between chapters

Press S or / to search in the book

Press ? to show this help

Press Esc to hide this help

Running the program

Before we explore further examples, let's cover the general steps to build and run any program on the Raspberry Pi Pico 2. The Pico 2 contains both ARM Cortex-M33 and Hazard3 RISC-V processors, and we'll provide instructions for both architectures.

Note: These commands should be run from your project folder. This is included here as a general step to avoid repetition. If you haven't created a project yet, begin with the Quick Start or Blink LED section.

Build and Run for ARM

Use this command to build and run programs on the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 in ARM mode, utilizing the Cortex-M33 processors.

# build the program
cargo build --target=thumbv8m.main-none-eabihf

To Flash your application onto the Pico 2, press and hold the BOOTSEL button. While holding it, connect the Pico 2 to your computer using a micro USB cable. You can release the button once the USB is plugged in.

bootsel 
# Run the program
cargo run --target=thumbv8m.main-none-eabihf

Note: The example codes include a runner configuration in the .cargo/config.toml file, defined as:
runner = "picotool load -u -v -x -t elf". This means that when you execute cargo run, it actually invokes the picotool with the load subcommand to flash the program.

Build and Run for RISC-V

Use this command to build and run programs on the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 n RISC-V mode, utilizing the Hazard3 processors.

Note: This book focuses on ARM examples. Some examples may need changes before they work on RISC V mode. For simplicity, it is recommended to follow the ARM workflow while reading this book.

# build the program
cargo build --target=riscv32imac-unknown-none-elf

Follow the same BOOTSEL steps as described above.

# Run the program
cargo run --target=riscv32imac-unknown-none-elf

With Debug Probe

When using a Debug Probe, you can flash your program directly onto the Pico 2 with:

# cargo flash --chip RP2350
# cargo flash --chip RP2350 --release
cargo flash --release

If you want to flash your program and also view its output in real time, use:

# cargo embed --chip RP2350
# cargo embed --chip RP2350 --release
cargo embed --release

cargo-embed is a more advanced version of cargo-flash. It can flash your program, and it can also open an RTT terminal and a GDB server.