PICO Toolchain Install Advice please
Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2026 1:40 pm
I've been reading through the PICO Toolchain install documentation https://flowcode.co.uk/wiki/index.php?t ... _Toolchain
and I see the section that indicates if you have Python 3 already installed, as I have for my ESP32 development, then skip the installation of Python 3.9.6
However, my Python installation according to the ESP32 compilation output is a later Python 3.11.2
It works perfectly and I don't want to do anything to break my ESP32 setup.
The question is, on reading further through the PICO toolchain docs there is a huge boat load of stuff that has to be installed and work with the Python installation. Does anyone know for sure if the later Python 3.11.2 is happy and compatible with all the rest of the stuff that has to be installed?
I also notice there's something that has to be installed relating to the Windows 11 environment but my PC is using Windows 10 Pro and is very much locked down from receiving Microsoft updates. This is the Windows 11 SDK part of the Build Tools for Visual Studio 2022.
I'm also confused why the document suggests installing the ARM compiler and CMAKE? Aren't these already installed as part of the Flowcode11 installation? That PICO Toolchain document is a few years old since last edit so actually wondering if its still relevant to using PICO with Flowcode???
I welcome feedback from anyone who has been through the PICO toolchain installation relative to a Windows 10 system. Thanks in advance.
Charles
and I see the section that indicates if you have Python 3 already installed, as I have for my ESP32 development, then skip the installation of Python 3.9.6
However, my Python installation according to the ESP32 compilation output is a later Python 3.11.2
It works perfectly and I don't want to do anything to break my ESP32 setup.
The question is, on reading further through the PICO toolchain docs there is a huge boat load of stuff that has to be installed and work with the Python installation. Does anyone know for sure if the later Python 3.11.2 is happy and compatible with all the rest of the stuff that has to be installed?
I also notice there's something that has to be installed relating to the Windows 11 environment but my PC is using Windows 10 Pro and is very much locked down from receiving Microsoft updates. This is the Windows 11 SDK part of the Build Tools for Visual Studio 2022.
I'm also confused why the document suggests installing the ARM compiler and CMAKE? Aren't these already installed as part of the Flowcode11 installation? That PICO Toolchain document is a few years old since last edit so actually wondering if its still relevant to using PICO with Flowcode???
I welcome feedback from anyone who has been through the PICO toolchain installation relative to a Windows 10 system. Thanks in advance.
Charles