pico-console

A self-made game console built on the RP2040 microcontroller.
Runs on bare metal with custom drivers for audio, input, and more.
Designed for learning and experimenting with embedded systems.

• Graphics: 240x320 16-bit LCD (SPI)
• Audio: 4-channel soft mixing (DAC)
• Input: 24 buttons (uses I2C GPIO expander)
• Storage: micro SD card (SPI interface, SDSC, SDHC, SDXC support)
• Other: Battery monitoring, IR (NEC only)

All hardware control and software stack are implemented from scratch without any OS or external frameworks.

How to build & upload firmware

1. Install CMake (at least version 3.13), Python 3, a native compiler, and a GCC cross compiler

sudo apt install cmake python3 build-essential gcc-arm-none-eabi libnewlib-arm-none-eabi libstdc++-arm-none-eabi-newlib

2. Clone this repository and submodules:

$ git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/Crem2y/pico-console.git

3. Launch the build script:

./pico_build.sh

4. Press the reset button twice to enter bootloader mode.

5. Upload the generated .uf2 file to your board.

6. (Optional) Launch the clean script to remove build artifacts:

./pico_clean.sh

Photos

Back of the console

Schematics

---

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.
See LICENSE for details.

---

Third-party components

This project is licensed primarily under the MIT License.
It also includes third-party components with the following licenses:

• Adafruit_ILI9340 (by Limor Fried / Adafruit), licensed under the MIT License.
  See third_party_licenses/Adafruit-ILI9340-MIT.txt.

• Adafruit GFX Library, licensed under the BSD 3-Clause License.
  See third_party_licenses/Adafruit-GFX-BSD.txt.

• Neo 둥근모, licensed under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 (OFL).
  See third_party_licenses/Neo둥근모-OFL.txt.

• Parts of the LCD driver were originally influenced by a now-deleted Pico + ILI9341 reference by shawnhyam.
  Sadly the original repository has been deleted.

• The Raspberry Pi logo and the name "Raspberry Pi" are trademarks of Raspberry Pi Ltd.
  This project is an independent, non-commercial work and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Raspberry Pi Ltd.

---

• This project uses the Raspberry Pi Pico SDK, licensed under the BSD 3-Clause License.
  See third_party_licenses/pico-sdk-BSD-3-Clause.txt.

• It includes TinyUSB, licensed under the MIT License.
  See third_party_licenses/tinyusb-MIT.txt.

• It includes Mbed TLS, used under the Apache License 2.0.
  See third_party_licenses/mbedtls-Apache-2.0.txt.

• It includes lwIP, licensed under the BSD 3-Clause License.
  See third_party_licenses/lwip-BSD-3-Clause.txt.

• It includes cyw43-driver, licensed under the BSD 3-Clause License.
  See third_party_licenses/cyw43-driver-BSD-3-Clause.txt.

• It includes BTstack, licensed under the BSD 3-Clause License with non-commercial restriction.
  See third_party_licenses/btstack-BSD-3-Clause-NonCommercial.txt.