Sense tutorial#

Welcome to the Sense tutorial! If you want a hands-on, guided tour of the Sense repo, you’re in the right place.

Note

If you’d like to start a Bazel-based project from scratch from a minimal starter repo, check out our Bazel quickstart.

What to expect#

Here’s a very high-level overview of what your tutorial experience will include:

  1. You set up your computer (the “development host” or “host” for short) so that it’s ready to build the repo, flash binaries, and so on.

  2. You run a simulated version of unit tests and a basic bringup program on your host.

  3. You run gradually more and more complex programs on physical hardware.

Prerequisites#

Please read over these prerequisites and make sure the tutorial is a good fit for you:

  • macOS or Linux development host: Windows isn’t supported with this particular tutorial yet.

  • Hardware setups (all of the following setups are supported):

    • (Recommended) Raspberry Pi Pico and Pimoroni Enviro+ Pack: You’ll be able to complete the full tutorial.

    • Raspberry Pi Pico only: You’ll be able to complete most of the tutorial except the last parts that require an Enviro+ Pack.

    • No hardware (development host only): You can actually still try out some of the tutorial! Pigweed provides a way to emulate the app on your host. You’ll need to stop at 7. Flash your Pico.

  • Embedded development experience: We assume that you’re comfortable with C++ and common tasks such as flashing a Pico over USB. You may still be able to complete the tutorial without this background knowledge but should expect the tutorial to be more challenging.

You can use either the Pico 1 or Pico 2; we support both.

Caution

The Pico W is untested. We are still in the process of verifying that all parts of the tutorial work with the Pico W. You are welcome to try the tutorial with a Pico W, but please remember that some things may not work yet.

Summary#

In this tutorial you’ll see many Pigweed features working together that can help your team develop embedded systems more sustainably, robustly, and rapidly.

Next, head over to 1. Setup to get your development host ready to run Sense.

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