IoT-Focused Real-Time Operating System RT-Thread Announces Raspberry Pi RP2040 and Pico Support

RT-Thread, an open source real-time operating system (RTOS) designed for the Internet of Things (IoT), has become the latest platform to boast support for Raspberry Pi's freshly-launched RP2040 microcontroller — and the increasing number of third-party development boards on which it appears.

Launched late last month, the RP2040 is the first microcontroller to come from Raspberry Pi — and the first product of its in-house application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) team. Designed for high performance at a low cost, the part arrived with an official C/C++ software development kit (SDK) and MicroPython port — and since then a number of other platforms, including CircuitPython and Arduino IDE, have been confirmed, not to mention a wealth of RP2040-powered third-party boards to go alongside the official Raspberry Pi Pico.

Now, RT-Thread has confirmed that its open source real-time operating system (RTOS), which began development in 2006 and has been ported to architectures ranging from x86 and Arm to RISC-V and Xtensa, is supported on the RP2040 — and, by extension, on RP2040-based development boards including the Raspberry Pi Pico.

"Pico is now available in RT-Thread Studio IDE," the organization announced today. "[We're] looking to make Raspberry Pico development simple and all in one-stop."

The latest release of the RT-Thread Studio integrated development environment (IDE) allows the Raspberry Pi Pico to be selected as a target device for a project, bringing in the latest RT-Thread RTOS build and support for serial-wire debug (SWD) on the Pico's SWD header. Once third-party RP2040 boards hit the open market, they're likely to appear alongside the Pico in short order.

The latest version of RT-Thread Studio IDE, with RP2040 support, is now available on the official website.