Microfirmware Store

Hardware

• A SidecarTridge Multi-device board The cartridge that plugs into the Atari. This is the thing your code runs on. See the product page or buy one from the SidecarTridge store .
• A Raspberry Pi Pico W The microcontroller module that sits on the board. It has to be the Pico W exactly. Not the plain Pico, and not the Pico 2 W. See the warning below before you buy anything. Raspberry Pi document the family on the Pico series page .
• A microSD card Booster keeps installed apps and their files here. Format it as FAT32 or exFAT, as described in the getting started guide .
• An Atari ST, STE, MegaST or MegaSTE With a working cartridge port. This is what you test on. Check the compatibility notes if you have an unusual machine.
• A Raspberry Pi Debug Probe, optional but get one Not needed to build or run anything, so you can start without it. Since Booster v2.3.0 you can also deploy over Wi-Fi, so the probe is no longer the way to get code onto the board. What it still gives you is the log: it turns "the screen is black" into an actual error message, and step 9 is a much shorter step if you have one. See the product page and its documentation .

Software

Step 3 walks through installing and configuring all of this. Here it is as a list so you know what is coming and can start any slow downloads now.

• git You will clone a template repository and initialise its submodules.
• Docker The 68000 cross-compiler runs inside a container, so you do not have to build a 1980s toolchain yourself.
• CMake and GNU Make Standard C build tooling, used by the microcontroller half. The C/C++ SDK guide covers the setup.
• An ARM toolchain, plus OpenOCD if you have the debug probe Produces the binaries that run on the Pico W, and lets the debugger talk to it. Both come from the C/C++ SDK setup .
• picotool Copies your built firmware onto the board. You will use this constantly. It lives at raspberrypi/picotool .
• Visual Studio Code With the C/C++ Extension Pack, CMake, CMake Tools and Cortex-Debug. The templates ship VS Code configuration that expects these.

You do not need to install a 68000 assembler, and you do not need to download the Pico SDKs separately. The templates carry them as git submodules. Step 3 explains both. The upstream programming guide covers the same ground in reference form, and its "Prerequisites for Developers and Makers" section in the getting started guide is worth a look before you begin.

What you should already be comfortable with

This guide assumes you can write C, use git, and read a compiler error. It does not assume you have written assembly, used the Pico SDK, or worked with embedded hardware before. Where those come up, they are explained.

It also assumes you will lean on an AI assistant for the parts you have not done before. That is a reasonable way to work here. Step 8 is about doing it well rather than badly, because the failure mode is an assistant that writes plausible code which cannot possibly fit in six kilobytes.