This section describes how to set up R2P2 and provides general information for R2P2 newbies.

IMPORTANT: Laptop Security Settings

If your laptop is configured to prohibit writing to USB memory devices, likely due to your company’s security policy, it will not function😣

Mac Issues

  • From our experience, Mac laptops occasionally encounter issues during the workshop
  • We are unsure of the specific models that may have problems. Both Intel Macs and M1/M2/M3 Macs have had issues in the past
  • Please be aware that we will not be able to know if your Mac will work until the day of the workshop

Install R2P2 into Raspi Pico

There are two ways to download the R2P2 binary:

First, navigate to the directory where you want to download the binary:

cd path/to/your/directory

Then run the following command in your terminal:

curl -fsSL https://picoruby.org/r2p2-latest.sh | sh

This script will:

  • Display available binaries for Raspberry Pi Pico series
  • Download the selected binary from GitHub and decompress it in the current directory automatically

For downloadable options, see the image in the section below.

Method 2: Manual Download

Install the UF2 File

Regardless of which download method you used, you need to manually install the UF2 file to your Pi Pico:

  • Connect Pi Pico and PC while\npressing the BOOTSEL button. Then you’ll find RPI-RP2 (for Raspi Pico) or RP2350 (for Pico2) drive in file manager (File Explorer or Finder)

  • Drag & drop R2P2-*.uf2 into RPI-RP2 drive

  • You’ll find “R2P2” drive (sometimes naming the drive fails and it shows “USB Drive” or something like that. But it would be working anyway)

  • Open a proper serial port on the terminal emulator. Information about terminal emulators can be found in /terminal-emulator

  • If you could see a screen like this, congrats, now you are at the gate🎉

    • R2P2 shell is a Unix-like shell, so you can use commands like ls, cd, cat, rm, etc.
    • irb command starts an interactive Ruby shell

Congratulations! Now you at the gate!

Before starting to dig into R2P2, we would like you to stargaze at the picoruby/picoruby repo🌟

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