Standalone Arduino Nano RP2040 Join-controlled pc runs BASIC for IoT growth

In case you’re greater than 30 years outdated, then there’s a good probability that BASIC (Newcomers’ All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) was the primary programming language you used. Many early computer systems shipped with a BASIC interpreter in firmware, so it was the very first thing customers noticed after they booted up their pc. Whereas different languages are extra helpful for many duties at the moment, BASIC nonetheless has advantages. To make the most of it, Stefan Lenz used a Nano RP2040 Join to construct a standalone pc that runs BASIC for Web of Issues purposes.

The Raspberry Pi RP2040 is a strong microcontroller that instantly grew to become well-liked after it hit the market in January 2021. The Arduino Nano RP2040 Join is without doubt one of the latest boards within the Arduino lineup and provides customers entry to the RP2040 throughout the pleasant Arduino ecosystem. As well as the MCU, this board additionally comprises a u-blox WiFi and Bluetooth® adapter, a six-axis IMU, a microphone, 16MB of flash reminiscence, and even a CryptoAuthentication chip. The u-blox adapter was notably helpful for this undertaking, because it allows IoT management over a wi-fi community.

To show the Arduino into a whole pc, Lenz related an ILI9488-based 480×320 TFT LCD display screen with built-in SD card slot, a real-time clock, and a PS2 keyboard. The usage of the PS2 keyboard eradicated the necessity for the Arduino to behave as a USB host, however the PS2 connection does require a voltage degree converter to go from 5V to three.3V. Lenz additionally related a small thermal printer to output logs of sensor information. 

Lenz developed his personal BASIC interpreter from scratch particularly for Arduinos and different microcontroller growth boards. The cool factor about BASIC is that, like Python, the interpreter permits for interactive programming with out compilation. This lets customers create IoT applications one piece at a time whereas seeing the outcomes instantly, as an alternative of compiling and flashing every revision.