Simple Unix- and DOS-Like Shells for the Pi Pico
Give Your Pico a Shell
© Lead Image © lightwise, 123RF.com
Running a shell on your Raspberry Pi Pico lets you use it like a classic Unix or MS-DOS workstation. All you need are basic filesystem commands – no C/C++ or Python skills required.
MicroPython and CircuitPython are popular firmware that you can use to program the cheap, elegant Raspberry Pi Pico boards, but you have to know some Python to use them. The default alternative is to create C or C++ programs in an SDK, which is even more complex. If you're new to programming, these methods are a barrier. Instead, you can set up your Pico to boot into a simple shell, just like a basic Linux or MS-DOS machine, and start playing around with the Pico's features. In this article, we introduce you to shell projects for the Pi Pico.
We're going to explore various FOSS solutions for launching and playing around with simple shells that run on Pico boards using Docker containers to make the initial setup easier.
Getting Started
We'll use various FOSS firmware and/or shell layers to flash the Pico boards. To make the tasks easier, let's first prepare a few tools that help with serial terminal access and file transfer. If you don't already have a working container solution, either install Docker (Ubuntu package docker.io) or Podman (podman-docker). In the case of Docker, add yourself to the docker group. On an Ubuntu machine you can run
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