µctrl Raspberryπ pico & arduino

[Liam Hays]

Quote:It's just anonther (somewhat hyped) programming language, not better than the ones before and maybe not worse either.

Good point---I hadn't thought about a "bigger picture" view. Like a trend, most programming languages seem to come and go, except for maybe C.

Quote:Unusable for me (see above), diiferent to all the others that came before it which I could have used if I had so wanted but this one I can't, so I can't really tell.

I understand that, and I don't want to turn this into a debate over subjective viewpoints on what is "the best language," more than I already have. (Didn't this thread start with the Pi Pico? ). Like I said before, each one has its own use, upsides, and downsides---you wouldn't use RPL to, for example, control a cash register, and you wouldn't use Python to run a smart TV. When we need to solve a problem, we find a way.

Anyway, back to the Pico. I'm excited to see what people do with it, and I was thinking a bit about an RPN machine with one. I think these things would be achievable:

• An E-ink or Sharp Memory Display (which is what I understand the DM42 and its friends use) for minimal power consumption with maximum contrast and resolution.
• Somebody mentioned mass storage, which would be awesome---I'm imagining a cross between a 48 and a 35s as I type this. I think it would probably be better to use the maximum flash supported by the RP2040, 16 MB, rather than the 2 MB the Pico comes with.
• I wonder if a PIO state machine would make something like infrared serial easier than it would otherwise be.
  

Quote:...could be made by combining a Zero W with a Pico...

Judging by its specs, the Pico already provides the raw processing capability. While a Zero or Zero W is much more powerful, I think it would pose some issues: a) it runs Linux, so every time you want to go use your calculator, you have to wait for it to boot, and b) it draws much more power than a Pico or equivalent microcontroller.

Quote:It's also dual core so double the speed if the parallelism can be effectively utilised.

It is, but this says that multi-thread support is poor at best right now. Hopefully that changes in the near future.

I think the ESP32-S2, an alternative to the original ESP32, is a better choice for a calculator until the Pico matures. The ESP32 series already has full thread support (using, IIRC, the same underlying real-time OS the Prime uses), WiFi and/or Bluetooth (though I don't know how a calculator would use that), and the -S2 model supports USB as a mass storage device. Most boards also have more flash and RAM than the Pico, and are clocked faster as well, as Craig Bladow said.

Anyway, that's my take on this. The Pico is great, but in its infantile state right now, it's hard to see any advantage over other microcontrollers. For a calc of the type discussed in this thread, it may not actually be the best choice, given its limitations and the features available from other boards and chips.