Astrobe Forum

I am using a Lenovo X1 Carbon running Windows 11. I can successfully run the Blinker example on the Pico. However, if I try the HCTest example when I select Run a terminal window appears for me to enter the COM port but it is empty and Device Manager shows no PORTS. If I run micropython from a Pico the Device Manager PORTS get populated with COM3 and putty successfully connects to it. I attempted creating Legacy COM port in Device Manager but that doesn't help. Is anyone successfully using Windows 11?

Astrobe is developed and tested on Windows 11.

We don't have any Python experience or the use of MicroPython. My limited research indicates that MicroPython executes on the Pi Pico and applications run under the control of an 'interpreter' on the Pi Pico. There are exceptions but, in general, Interpreted code runs slower than compiled code. The USB / UART interface to the PC is possibly implemented as part of that interpreter?

Astrobe works very differently. The Astrobe compiler on Windows generates an application consisting of native Arm Cortex-M33 instructions. These are then uploaded to the flash memory of the Pi Pico which then executes as a standalone application at the full speed of the RP2040 microcontroller.

By default, serial output from Oberon applications (e.g. using Out.String) drives the UART0 RX and TX pins directly on the Pi Pico. These are shown as Pin 1 and Pin 2 on the Pi Pico pinout diagram

We used a SparkFun FTDI UART / USB adapter breakout board to connect these pins on the Pi Pico to a USB port on our PC. The connections are:
The DTR connection is optional but it is very useful if you are using the Astrobe Terminal as it allows you to reset the Pi Pico using the Reset button on the Astrobe terminal.

Unfortunately the SparkFun board has been retired. We haven't tried it but a promising-looking alternative is the WaveShare FT232 USB UART Board.

I purchased the Waveshare adapter you suggested and it worked fine once I downloaded and installed their driver.