Oberon RTK

Your First Build

RTK-specific knowledge for your first build on RP2040 / RP2350

Overview

This page is a short companion to the build pages: it collects the RTK-specific knowledge you need before your first build, load, and run of an Oberon RTK program on RP2040 or RP2350.

Familiarity with Astrobe is assumed.

Read this page first, then follow the build pages for your target:

The running example throughout is BlinkPlus.

We use RP2040 and RP2350 as example here; the build pages for STM32 are:

Preparation

  • Install the Oberon RTK framework.
  • Connect the target development board.

Picking an Astrobe Configuration File

Configuration files live under <repo>/config/; see Astrobe Configuration Files for the directory layout, the per-lib-version sub-directories, and the meaning of the variant suffixes.

For BlinkPlus, the kernel-v1 configurations apply:

  • RP2040: <repo>/config/astrobe-rp2040/pico-rp2040-v31/v31-rp2040-pico-k1.ini
  • RP2350: <repo>/config/astrobe-rp2350/pico2-rp2350-v31/v31-rp2350-pico2-k1.ini

You may have copied, adapted or renamed these during installation.

IMAGE_DEF on RP2350

Bootable RP2350 binaries need an IMAGE_DEF metadata block. The framework default is Path A (block prepended at load time): build the program in Astrobe, then run

python -m make-uf2 rp2350 BlinkPlus.bin

before uploading.

For Path B (ImageDef module embedded in the binary): import ImageDef in Main, use the corresponding -imagedef.ini configuration (eg. v31-rp2350-pico2-k1-imagedef.ini), and skip the make-uf2 step.

See IMAGE_DEF for the full picture.

BOOTSEL Volume Names

When the board is put into BOOTSEL mode, the host mounts a virtual volume. Astrobe's USB Drive Folder parameter in the selected .ini must match the volume name:

  • RP2040: RPI-RP2
  • RP2350: RP2350

Where the Output Goes

After upload, the program emits via the serial connection set up by module Console. See Connecting the Boards for terminal hardware, GPIO pins, and serial parameters.

For BlinkPlus, the heartbeat thread blinks the on-board LED; the two periodic threads print to the serial terminal.

Last updated: 20 May 2026