Part 1: Installing Thonny IDE

tags: `TA Stuff RP2` `Raspberry Pi Pico`

Although VS Code is the preferred IDE of software developers, Thonny is a beginner-friendly alternative which you can use to complete this course. In this tutorial, we walk you through the basic installation of the Thonny development environment.

If you prefer VS Code for development, follow this tutorial.

We'll continuously update this walkthrough. Is there anything that needs to be clarified, or have you experienced some issues? Please add a comment. You do this by highlighting the text and then you can write a comment on the highlighted part. You need to log in/create an account on HackMD first.

0. Prerequisites

To finish this tutorial you need:

Your computer (Windows, Linux, or Mac)
Internet connection

Depending on your operating system follow one of the following sections.

Windows

Mac

Linux

Windows OS

Follow these steps:

Step 1: Download and install Thonny (here).

You should follow the next tutorial (here) to update your device firmware before continue with the next step.

Step 2: Open Thonny (first time you open Thonny you should see somthing similar to the following figure).

Step 3: Click on View >> Files to open the file manager panel.

Step 4: Open interpreter selection from Run >> Configure interpreter...

Step 5: Choose your Raspberry Pi Pico similar to the numbered steps in the following figure.

Step 6: You should see you board REPL (Read-Eval-Print Loop). You can enter print('LNU Tutorial') and you see your board prints it to the serial port like the following image.

You are now ready to move to the next tutorial (here) to get familiar with terms and project structure.

Mac OS

Follow these steps:

Step 1: Download and install Thonny (here).

You should follow the next tutorial (here) to update your device firmware before continuing with the next step.

Step 2: Open Thonny (first time you open Thonny you should see somthing similar to the following figure).

Step 3: Click on View >> Files to open the file manager panel.

Step 4: Open interpreter selection from Run >> Configure interpreter...

Step 5: Choose your Raspberry Pi Pico similar to the numbered steps in the following figure.

Step 6: You should see you board REPL (Read-Eval-Print Loop). You can enter print('LNU Tutorial') and you see your board prints it to the serial port like the following image.

You are now ready to move to the next tutorial (here) to get familiar with terms and project structure.

Linux OS (Ubuntu / Fedora)

Follow these steps:

Step 1: Download and run the Thonny installation script:
```
bash <(curl -s https://thonny.org/installer-for-linux)
```
This command downloads the installations script for your platform and then runs it.
Step 2: Open Thonny

You should follow the next tutorial (here) to update your device firmware before continuing with the next step.

Before opening Thonny, you must change the access permissions for the Pico. You can do this by connecting the Pico to the computer and open up a Terminal and execute this command: sudo chown <USERNAME> /dev/ttyACM0, where <USERNAME> should be your own user name. This must be done every time you connect the Pico to the computer.

Give access permissions to the Pico with the following command:
```
sudo chown <USERNAME> /dev/ttyACM0
```
Open Thonny:
Step 3: Click on View >> Files to open the file manager panel.
Step 4: Go to Run >>> Configure interpreter to select your Pico.
Step 5: Select your Pico by following the numbered steps:

The Pico port is usually /dev/ttyACM0 on Linux, but it can vary.
Step 6: Now you should see the REPL (Read-Eval-Print Loop) in Thonny. Try to print something to make sure it works.