RP2040 mikroBUS™ Development Board Hookup Guide

This Tutorial is Retired!

This tutorial covers concepts or technologies that are no longer current. It's still here for you to read and enjoy, but may not be as useful as our newest tutorials.

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Contributors: santaimpersonator, MAKIN-STUFF
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Introduction

The RP2040 mikroBUS™ Development Board is our latest RP2040 microcontroller (MCU) development board. This new board takes advantage of the Qwiic and the mikroBUS™ ecosystems and allows users to take advantage of the growing number of 94 Qwiic boards and 1079 Click boards™ (as of September 2021) to develop with the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller.

SparkFun RP2040 mikroBUS Development Board

DEV-18721
Retired

The Raspberry Pi RP2040 (the first MCU from the Raspberry Pi Foundation) is a low cost, dual-core Arm® Cortex® M0+ microcontroller with 264kB of SRAM, running at 133MHz. It includes USB host functionality, a timer with 4 alarms, a real time counter (RTC), six dedicated IO pins for Quad-SPI flash (supporting execute in place), and thirty multifunction GPIO

(*18 of which are broken out on the board), with the following capabilities:

  • Four 12-bit Analogue to Digital Converter (ADC) channels
  • Two UART buses
  • Two I2C buses
  • Two SPI buses
  • Up to 16 PWM channels
  • Can emulate interfaces such as SD Card and VGA

The mikroBUS™ standard was developed by MikroElektronika and provides a standardized connection to interface with Click boards™.

Image source: https://www.mikroe.com/1000-click-boards

For more details, check out their blog post on the 1000th Click board™ and the origins of the mikroBUS™ standard and mikroBUS™ standard specifications.

Required Materials

To get started, users will need a few of items listed below. (You may already have a some of these items; read through the guide and modify your cart accordingly.)

Required Hardware

A USB-C cable is needed to connect the RP2040 mikroBUS™ Development Board to a computer.

USB 3.1 Cable A to C - 3 Foot

USB 3.1 Cable A to C - 3 Foot

CAB-14743
$5.50
4

SparkFun RP2040 mikroBUS Development Board

DEV-18721
Retired
Click Board™

We recommend purchasing a Click board™ to utilize the mikroBUS™ socket. We also suggest novice users select a Click board™ that is supported with an Arduino library. Otherwise, users will have difficulties programming their board to utilize the associated Click board™. Below, is a sample of the options available in our catalog:

MIKROE Spectrometer Click

SEN-18785
Retired

MIKROE LightRanger 8 Click

SEN-18803
Retired

MIKROE Thunder Click

SEN-18821
Retired

MIKROE Weather Click

SEN-18823
Retired

MIKROE Load Cell Click

SEN-18824
Retired

MIKROE Servo Click

ROB-18867
Retired

MIKROE Accel Click

SEN-18925
Retired

MIKROE Air Quality 4 Click

SEN-18928
Retired

Optional Hardware

To connect Qwiic breakout boards for your MicroMod project, Qwiic cables are required.

Qwiic Cable - Breadboard Jumper (4-pin)

Qwiic Cable - Breadboard Jumper (4-pin)

PRT-14425
$1.50
Flexible Qwiic Cable - 500mm

Flexible Qwiic Cable - 500mm

PRT-17257
$2.10
Flexible Qwiic Cable - 100mm

Flexible Qwiic Cable - 100mm

PRT-17259
$1.60
Flexible Qwiic Cable - 50mm

Flexible Qwiic Cable - 50mm

PRT-17260
$1.05
SparkFun GPS-RTK-SMA Breakout - ZED-F9P (Qwiic)

SparkFun GPS-RTK-SMA Breakout - ZED-F9P (Qwiic)

GPS-16481
$249.95
18
SparkFun RTK Facet

SparkFun RTK Facet

GPS-19984
$699.95
16
SparkFun RTK Facet L-Band

SparkFun RTK Facet L-Band

GPS-20000
$1,599.95
10
Experiential Robotics Platform (XRP) Kit - Beta

Experiential Robotics Platform (XRP) Kit - Beta

KIT-22230
$114.95

A single-cell Lithium-ion battery can be connected to the Qwiic Carrier Board for portability.

Lithium Ion Battery - 400mAh

Lithium Ion Battery - 400mAh

PRT-13851
$5.50
11
Lithium Ion Battery - 2Ah

Lithium Ion Battery - 2Ah

PRT-13855
$13.95
9
Lithium Ion Battery - 110mAh

Lithium Ion Battery - 110mAh

PRT-13853
$5.50
4

Lithium Ion Battery - 1Ah

PRT-13813
8 Retired

To modify the jumpers, users will need soldering equipment and/or a knife.

Solder Lead Free - 100-gram Spool

Solder Lead Free - 100-gram Spool

TOL-09325
$9.95
8
Chip Quik No-Clean Flux Pen  - 10mL

Chip Quik No-Clean Flux Pen - 10mL

TOL-14579
$7.95
4
Hobby Knife

Hobby Knife

TOL-09200
$3.50
2

Weller WLC100 Soldering Station

TOL-14228
2 Retired

Suggested Reading

The MicroMod ecosystem is a unique way to allow users to customize their project to their needs. The Qwiic connect system is a simple method for interfacing with I2C devices. Click on the banners below for more information on each system.

Qwiic Logo

mikroBUS Logo

For users who aren't familiar with the following concepts, we also recommend reading the following tutorials before continuing.

Serial Communication

Asynchronous serial communication concepts: packets, signal levels, baud rates, UARTs and more!

Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI)

SPI is commonly used to connect microcontrollers to peripherals such as sensors, shift registers, and SD cards.

Pulse Width Modulation

An introduction to the concept of Pulse Width Modulation.

Logic Levels

Learn the difference between 3.3V and 5V devices and logic levels.

I2C

An introduction to I2C, one of the main embedded communications protocols in use today.

Analog vs. Digital

This tutorial covers the concept of analog and digital signals, as they relate to electronics.

Processor Interrupts with Arduino

What is an interrupt? In a nutshell, there is a method by which a processor can execute its normal program while continuously monitoring for some kind of event, or interrupt. There are two types of interrupts: hardware and software interrupts. For the purposes of this tutorial, we will focus on hardware interrupts.

Installing an Arduino Library

How do I install a custom Arduino library? It's easy! This tutorial will go over how to install an Arduino library using the Arduino Library Manager. For libraries not linked with the Arduino IDE, we will also go over manually installing an Arduino library.

Installing Arduino IDE

A step-by-step guide to installing and testing the Arduino software on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Installing Board Definitions in the Arduino IDE

How do I install a custom Arduino board/core? It's easy! This tutorial will go over how to install an Arduino board definition using the Arduino Board Manager. We will also go over manually installing third-party cores, such as the board definitions required for many of the SparkFun development boards.

RP2040 Thing Plus Hookup Guide

Want to take a stab at advancing your programming skills? Check out the Thing Plus - RP2040, with the first microcontroller from the Raspberry Pi Foundation. This guide will get you started working with the RP2040 and programming in MicroPython and C/C++.