Micromite Basic (MMB) on Raspberry Pico

[IanTParticipant @iant]

I know there are other readers here who also use Micromite Basic in some form, be that on the Maximite family of SBCs or in it's many Micromite forms.

I have a number of 'Mites' based on the PIC32MX170 chip that cost me about £3.50 each and give a fully self contained and very capable embedded 'compute' solution in a single 28pin DIL package. My PIC32 Mites have been fast enough for my needs but others use faster SBCs running ARM chips. All of them run Micromite Basic (MMB) which has been developed and improved over the past decade by the (very active) MMB community.

They are now in the process of developing MMB for the Raspberry Pico and it already has some of the more recent language features developed for the very fast Colour Maximite 2 over the past year or so.

I am well aware that there are already many other language/IDE choices available for Raspberry Pico and I'm not going to debate their relative merits because frankly they don't matter to me. I have found MMB to be a very friendly and productive environment for my needs and that's all that matters to most MMB users. It's supported by a relatively small but very active user community at the Back Shed and that seems to work well for me too.

The Pico will provide me with an inexpensive alternative to the PIC32-170 with more memory and therefore room for some of the recent CMM2 language extensions. Knowing what the MMB community has already achieved with other platforms, I'm also sure that more Pico specific features will also probably emerge over time but it's already very capable.

An initial description of the MMB based Pico can be found here and I think other MMB/Mite users will also find it interesting, as it builds on what we already have.

Initial description of MMB on Raspberry Pico – The BackShed

Regards,

IanT

Edited By IanT on 28/05/2021 10:23:29

[IanTParticipant @iant]

A modern, well supported Basic for inexpensive Raspberry Pico

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Thanks for that, Ian

MichaelG.

[IanTParticipant @iant]

The clever people at the Backshed have made very good progress on getting Micromite Basic (MMB) onto the Pico (the 'PicoMite' ) and are now working on being able to programming the PIO channels from within a MMB programme. Most of this is very much over my head but it's interesting to watch others work their way through the puzzle.

PIO Channels on PicoMite

Meanwhile Geoff Graham has announced the second generation of the Colour Maximite 2 for any 'Retro' computer fans out there.

Colour Maximite 2 – Gen2

I'm still just using my smaller '170' Mites at the moment but it's good to have alternatives if or when I need them.

Regards,

IanT

[Kiwi BlokeParticipant @kiwibloke62605]

Colour Maximite Generation 2? Oh no! I've only recently built my first generation version…

That's the trouble with progress – it just keeps going…

[IanTParticipant @iant]

Just a quick update for anyone interested in Micromite Basic.

There have been continued improvements to MMB on the Pico – with two versions now available. The original Picomite still provides a very simple but powerful way to control 'things' – displays, servos, lights, relays, sensors, motors, comms devices etc – directly – with a modern BASIC that many here may find easy to both understand and use. So free MMB software & £3 hardware (I solder my own pins on) gives you an amazing amount of capability – and you can still get them!

I use my Mites mainly for simple (model) controllers. My latest loco project has very little internal space available, so even a standard Picomite will not fit – so I'm in the process of building a 'mini-Pico' (Waveshare RP2040) set up which is stamp sized, the same size as the H-Bridge PCB it's going to be driving (as a DC motor + IR controller).

The Picomite already supports various display types – including touch screens but now PicomiteVGA can (with a small custom PCB) also drive a VGA monitor. These videos will give some idea of the performance available.

PicoMite VGA now with layers – YouTube

Pico VGA 3D wireframe at 60fps in interpreted Basic – YouTube

PicoMiteVGA running 3D engine in MMBasic – YouTube

Another recent MMB development has been an improvement to MMB running on Windows. Windows 'DOS' will run a 'plain' form of MMB on any Windows device (I run it on Win 11 now – previously on win10). There is now a new MMB version that supports full PC graphics that I'm pretty sure I'm going to find some uses for. This is a simple basic programme that demonstrates a simple control panel. You can control the buttons etc using a mouse.

Obviously, the only I/O available on the PC/Laptop is serial based but I have this daft idea where some Mites will be delivering (pre-processed) data & and getting commands back from the PC console. Well that's the plan anyway…

Regards,

IanT

[IanTParticipant @iant]

PS – It might be useful to mention that the 'demo' control panel programme I've shown running on my PC – was originally developed (by others) to run on a small touch screen connected to a (PIC32) Micromite – but that it will essentially also run on a Picomite with a similar hardware set-up.

I have a 2.8" Waveshare colour LCD touch-screen that plugs into a 'Quad' (Pico) backplane – all of which were very reasonably priced and that have largely removed the need for my original 'Vero-board' (well I still call them that) home brew PCBs. I also have a Kitronics dual DC motor controller which a Picomite just plugs into.

So a lot of affordable and usable hardware accessories that MMB users – via the Picomite can now use.

Regards,

IanT

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