Adafruit Feather RP2040 with USB Type A Host

published April 25, 2023, last updated October 08, 2024

posted in Hacks Adafruit Products Arduino Compatibles Feather/ Feather Boards

Updated

Beginner

Product guide

Arduino IDE Setup

The Arduino Philhower core provides support for RP2040 microcontroller boards. This page covers getting your Arduino IDE set up to include your board.

Arduino IDE Download

The first thing you will need to do is to download the latest release of the Arduino IDE. The Philhower core requires version 1.8 or higher.

Arduino IDE Download

Download and install it to your computer.

Once installed, open the Arduino IDE.

Adding the Philhower Board Manager URL

In the Arduino IDE, and navigate to the Preferences window. You can access it through File > Preferences on Windows or Linux, or Arduino > Preferences on OS X.

The Preferences window will open.

In the Additional Boards Manager URLs field, you'll want to add a new URL. The list of URLs is comma separated, and you will only have to add each URL once. The URLs point to index files that the Board Manager uses to build the list of available & installed boards.

Copy the following URL.

https://github.com/earlephilhower/arduino-pico/releases/download/global/package_rp2040_index.json

Add the URL to the the Additional Boards Manager URLs field (highlighted in red below).

rp2040_arduino_ide_setup_Arduino_Template_preferences_window.png

Click OK to save and close Preferences.

Add Board Support Package

In the Arduino IDE, click on Tools > Board > Boards Manager. If you have previously selected a board, the Board menu item may have a board name after it.

rp2040_arduino_ide_setup_Arduino_Template_RP2040_Boards_Manager_Menu.png

In the Boards Manager, search for RP2040. Scroll down to the Raspberry Pi Pico/RP2040 by Earle F Philhower, III entry. Click Install to install it.

rp2040_arduino_ide_setup_Arduino_Template_RP2040_Boards_Manager.png

Installing a new board package can take a few minutes. Don't click Cancel!

Once installation is complete, click Close to close the Boards Manager.

Choose Your Board

In the Tools > Boards menu, you should now see Raspberry Pi RP2040 Boards (possibly followed by a version number).

rp2040_arduino_ide_setup_Arduino_Template_RP2040_RPi_Boards_Menu.png

Navigate to the Raspberry Pi RP2040 Boards menu. You will see the available boards listed.

Navigate to the Raspberry Pi RP2040 Boards menu and choose Adafruit Feather RP2040 USB Host.

If there is no serial Port available in the dropdown, or an invalid one appears - don't worry about it! The RP2040 does not actually use a serial port to upload, so its OK if it does not appear if in manual bootload mode. You will see a serial port appear after uploading your first sketch.

Now you're ready to begin using Arduino with your RP2040 board!

Troubleshooting

If you have any strange errors after updating the Raspberry Pi Pico/RP2040 by Earle F Philhower, III board support package (BSP) from the boards manager you may need to start with a fresh install of the BSP. Close out of the Arduino IDE and navigate to your Arduino packages folder: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages and delete the /rp2040 folder. After that, open the Arduino IDE and follow the steps above for installing the BSP. The errors should not occur.

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