“Getting started with the Pimoroni Pico Display Pack 2.0 was relatively easy. Just stick the Pico gently to the display without applying too much force on the display itself.
Thanks to the examples provided by Pimoroni and using Thonny and MicroPython it did not take long to see bouncing balls jumping all over the screen.
Even though microcontrollers like the Pico are not as fast as a Raspberry Zero I had hoped to create some stunning animations. With MicroPython that hope was quickly gone. In my opinion a Pico is underpowered when using MicroPython to handle animations with multiple frames per second. For static content it is fine though.
My search continued and I finally found that with Arduino IDE and programming with Arduino C (which is also C++ compatible) really cool things can be done using the 320x240 pixel display. The pixels are so tiny that using pixel doubling (which effectively reduces the resolution to 160x120) is very acceptable.
So with that I finally was able to animate a star field with (about) 30FPS.
In the end I am very pleased with this product. The LED and 4 buttons allow for some interactivity. And just plug the thing in the USB-port and the program starts running straight away. That is why a Pico still has an advantage over a Rasperry Pi Zero.
The only drawback I have is that the pins of the Pico can't be used to control other hardware. But since that was never my goal it is not a big deal. A great little device to tinker with.”
“It is a really good display. The buttons are not easy to use in practice but this is a very compact unit when all said and done. The RGB LED is bright and versatile.
The product listing does say that "Your Pico will need to have male headers soldered to it (with the pins pointing downwards)". If you want to access I/O pins easily then use the very long pins so you have pins both sides.
I got it to work with no issues under MicroPython. I plan to try it on CiruitPython also.”
