A quick update on my Depot project: an RP2040-based host that provides Mac and Linux machines mediated access to external sensors, displays, actuators and other peripherals: version 1.2.2 extends board support to the Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect, and there’s better board selection too.

The board selection process leverages the Pico SDK’s own PICO_BOARD environment variable. Set this to the board you’re using before you configure your CMake environment and only firmware for that board will be compiled at build time. For example:

export PICO_BOARD=adafruit_trinkey_qt2040
cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build

will generate Depot firmware solely for the Adafruit Trinkey QT2040. You can find the names of boards in the SDK directory /src/boards/include/boards. Not all the boards listed are supported by Depot yet, of course, so it you choose one that Depot doesn’t yet support, or don’t set PICO_BOARD at all, the build system will default to outputting firmware for all Depot-supported boards.

Supporting the Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect arrived at the request of a user of that board. Porting was largely a matter of adapting to the board’s slightly more restricted pin layout, made to match the Arduino SDK’s expectations. But the Depot code itself is based, as with other RP2040 boards, on the Pico SDK.

For now, I don’t make use of the Nano’s RGB LED to signal Depot’s mode and heartbeat, just the built-in monochrome LED, but that’s on my to do list.

Depot 1.2.2 is out now, and can be grabbed from my GitHub repo. There’s full documentation on my docs site.