Raspberry Pi Pico 2

Jargon buster

Plain-language definitions for the technical terms used above.

ADC

An analogue-to-digital converter reads a changing voltage and turns it into a number the microcontroller can use. It matters when connecting analogue sensors such as light, sound, or variable-resistor sensors.

Arm Cortex-M33

A 32-bit, low-power Arm microcontroller core designed for real-time, timing-sensitive control tasks such as reading sensors or driving motors. It can act as a chip's main controller, or in some systems-on-chip run alongside larger application cores that handle an operating system like Linux.

CircuitPython

A beginner-friendly version of Python designed to run directly on microcontroller boards. If a product supports CircuitPython, you can often program it by copying code files onto the board rather than setting up a more complex toolchain.

GPIO

General-purpose input/output pins are microcontroller pins you can set in software to read signals, switch devices on and off, or connect to peripherals. The number of GPIO pins matters because it limits how many buttons, LEDs, sensors, and other parts you can wire directly to the board.

HSTX

HSTX is a high-speed transmit interface on RP2350-based boards for sending fast digital signals such as video-style data. It matters because it uses carefully routed high-speed signal pairs rather than ordinary low-speed wiring.

I2C

I2C is a two-wire communication bus used by many sensors and small modules. It matters because several I2C devices can share the same two wires, but each device needs a compatible address and your controller must support I2C.

microcontroller

A microcontroller is a small computer on a single chip that runs a stored program and controls connected inputs and outputs such as buttons, sensors, displays and communication interfaces. In a device built around one, it is the part that executes the code and coordinates the device's behaviour.

MicroPython

A version of the Python programming language made to run on microcontrollers. It matters because it lets beginners write readable code to control LEDs, sensors, motors and displays without needing to start with lower-level languages.

PWM

Pulse Width Modulation is a way for a digital pin to simulate variable output power by switching on and off very quickly. It matters for controlling things like LED brightness, motor speed, or servo-style signals from a microcontroller pin.

RISC-V

RISC-V is an open, royalty-free processor instruction-set architecture used in chips ranging from tiny microcontrollers to Linux-capable application processors. The choice of RISC-V determines which compilers, software tools, and performance or low-power features are available, separate from the more common Arm or x86 architectures.

RP2040

The RP2040 is a dual-core Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller chip from Raspberry Pi, used on many maker boards and offering programmable I/O, multiple GPIO pins and reasonable processing speed. Code and accessories built for that chip should work where RP2040 compatibility is listed, though demanding tasks such as reading a camera can require careful pin allocation and timing.

RP2350

A microcontroller chip from Raspberry Pi used as the main processor on some development boards. Knowing the board is built around an RP2350 helps you check software support, pin capabilities and whether it suits MicroPython projects.

SPI

A fast serial communication bus often used for displays, memory cards, and sensors. It matters because SPI devices need specific pins for clock and data, plus a separate chip-select line for each device.

SRAM

Fast temporary memory used by a processor while a program is running. More SRAM helps with projects that handle larger data buffers, networking, displays, or more complex code.

UART

UART is a simple asynchronous serial interface that sends data over separate transmit and receive wires, usually labelled TX and RX, with both ends set to the same baud rate. It is a common way for microcontrollers and other serial devices to exchange data.