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PicoProbe PCB kit

by Fabien Chouteau

Turn your Raspberry Pi Pico into a debug probe

This PCB is designed to turn a Pico into a nice debug probe using the PicoProbe software.

The kit provides everything you need to turn a Raspberry Pi Pico into a debug probe (Raspberry Pi Pico not included):

  • The Picoprobe-PCB
  • 1x cortex-M SWD 10pin header
  • 1x cortex-M SWD 10pin ribon cable
  • 1x 6 pin male header
  • 1x 6 pin female header

Mounting options

There are two ways to mount a Raspberry Pi Pico on the Picoprobe-PCB. You can either solder it directly for a slim/compact result (right), or use header to be able to re-use the Pico on other projects (left).

Install the Picoprobe software

  1. Either get the picoprobe .uf2 binary from the release here or compile it yourself from sources here.
  2. Hold the BOOTSEL button on the Pico, then connect to your computer using a micro USB cable.
  3. Drag and drop the UF2 file on to the RPI-RP2 drive.
  4. You should be good to go.

Plug the picoprobe SWD pin to the Pico that you want to debug

Build Raspberry Pi's openocd

$ sudo apt install automake autoconf build-essential texinfo libtool libftdi-dev libusb-1.0-0-dev
$ git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/openocd.git --branch picoprobe --depth=1 --no-single-branch
$ cd openocd
$ ./bootstrap
$ ./configure --enable-picoprobe
$ make -j4

Run openocd

$ ./src/openocd -s tcl -f interface/picoprobe.cfg -f target/rp2040.cfg

Debug!

Now that openocd is connected, you can start debugging with GDB for instance.

$ arm-eabi-none-gdb
(gdb) target extended-remote :3333

Case

Kyle (@AandKP) designed a case for the PicoProbe PCB. You can find it on Thingiverse.

Documentation