August 10, 2022

Raspberry Pi Pico - SWD and Black Magic Probe

This is now a $75 product that actually runs OpenOCD on the dongle itself. Too expensive for my taste, but you may think it is a great idea.

Note that BMP is used often as an abbreviation for "black magic probe".

People also report that you can build and then flash the BMP firmware onto the cheap ST-Link V2 dongles (that are based on the STM32F103 chip. It is likewise possible to do the same with an STM32F103 based "blue pill".

I have not tried either of these things. I decided to put the Pico probe firmware onto one of my Picos. This has an added plus of offering me a USB to serial capability along with SWD via a single board.

Black Magic probe

This is alternate firmware and can be flashed onto an ST-Link V2.
This was once (and maybe still is) firmware for any number of devices -- including the ST-Link V2. It also has evolved into a fancy (and expensive) standalone product.

Have any comments? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's electronics pages / tom@mmto.org