PicoTerm, Serial Terminal for Raspberry Pi Pico

with VGA output and USB keyboard input.

Screenshots

Textmode, 80 column mono, UK keyboard layout.
Textmode, 80 column mono, US keyboard layout.
Textmode, 80 column mono, DE (QWERTZ) keyboard layout.
Colourmode, 40 column, 32,000 colours. UK keyboard layout
Colourmode, 40 column, 32,000 colours. US keyboard layout
Colourmode, 40 column, 32,000 colours. DE (QWERTZ) keyboard layout

Textmode version displays 80 columns of text x 30 rows in monochrome.
Textmode version (from v1.1) allows choice of green, amber or white on black, by holding button A, B or C on power-up. (choice is remembered).
Colourmode version displays 40 columns of text / 320 x 240px
Colourmode version now allows user-defined characters for characters 128-255 inclusive. 'Reverse on' and 'reverse off' work for fixed and user-defined characters.
Both versions allow cursor positioning using standard ansi escape codes.

This software turns the Pi Pico into a serial terminal with VGA output and USB keyboard input.

More details about the supported escape codes and user-definable characters are here on the blog.

This is version 1.1. Owners of the RC2014 Pico VGA module running version 0.x or 1.0 of the firmware can easily upgrade. Power off the RC2014 or unplug the module, Connect the pico to a computer using a USB lead, with the Pico's bootsel button pressed. The Pico will appear on the computer as a disk, drag and drop the uf2 file onto it. That's it.

The version which is freely available here is configured for the RC2014 (and supplied with the RC2014 Pico VGA module). It displays the RC2014 logo on startup. Its baud rate is fixed at 115,200. Rx and Tx connect to GPIO 20 & 21. If you'd like to discuss a custom version, then please get in touch.

Outside of the RC2014, you will need a circuit to convert the digital output from the pico to RGB VGA. The Pimoroni VGA demo board will work. The reference circuit is available if you want to make your own board.