Getting started with Arduino

Arduino board definition

To program the NULA Ether W55RP20, use the RP2040 Arduino core by Earle Philhower:

RP2040 Arduino core

Arduino core for Raspberry Pi RP2040 chips, by Earle Philhower.

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New to Arduino? Follow our beginner's guide for installation and uploading your first sketch:

Getting started with Arduino

Step-by-step guide to installing Arduino and uploading your first program.

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Installing the board package

Install the Raspberry Pi RP2040 boards package directly from the Arduino Boards Manager:

1. Open Arduino IDE
2. Go to File → Preferences → Additional Boards Manager URLs and add:

https://github.com/earlephilhower/arduino-pico/releases/download/global/package_rp2040_index.json

3. Go to Tools → Board → Boards Manager
4. In the search bar, type rp2040
5. Find the entry Raspberry Pi Pico/RP2040/RP2350 by Earle Philhower and click Install

Once installed, select your board from the menu:

Tools → Board → Raspberry Pi RP2040 Boards → Soldered NULA Ethernet W55RP20

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Example sketch

This sketch connects to a "quote of the day" service over TCP and prints the response. Make sure an Ethernet cable is plugged into the RJ45 port before uploading.

#include <W55RP20lwIP.h>

const char* host = "djxmmx.net";
const uint16_t port = 17;

Wiznet55rp20lwIP eth(20 /* chip select */);

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  delay(5000);
  Serial.println("Starting Ethernet port");

  if (!eth.begin()) {
    Serial.println("No wired Ethernet hardware detected. Check pinouts, wiring.");
    while (1) {
      delay(1000);
    }
  }

  while (!eth.connected()) {
    Serial.print(".");
    delay(500);
  }

  Serial.println("");
  Serial.println("Ethernet connected");
  Serial.println("IP address: ");
  Serial.println(eth.localIP());
}

void loop() {
  static bool wait = false;

  Serial.print("connecting to ");
  Serial.print(host);
  Serial.print(':');
  Serial.println(port);

  WiFiClient client;
  if (!client.connect(host, port)) {
    Serial.println("connection failed");
    delay(5000);
    return;
  }

  Serial.println("sending data to server");
  if (client.connected()) {
    client.println("hello from RP2040");
  }

  unsigned long timeout = millis();
  while (client.available() == 0) {
    if (millis() - timeout > 5000) {
      Serial.println(">>> Client Timeout !");
      client.stop();
      delay(60000);
      return;
    }
  }

  Serial.println("receiving from remote server");
  while (client.available()) {
    char ch = static_cast<char>(client.read());
    Serial.print(ch);
  }

  Serial.println();
  Serial.println("closing connection");
  client.stop();

  if (wait) {
    delay(300000); // run once every 5 minutes
  }
  wait = true;
}

Open the Serial Monitor at 115200 baud. The board will print its IP address, connect to the server, and print the response.

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Function reference

Wiznet55rp20lwIP eth()

Creates the Ethernet object. The argument is the GPIO pin connected to the W5500 chip select.

Returns value: None.

Function parameters:

Type	Name	Description
int	cs	Chip select pin number. Use 20 for the NULA Ether W55RP20.

eth.begin()

Initializes the W55RP20 Ethernet hardware and waits for a DHCP lease. Must be called before any network operations.

Returns value: bool - true if initialization succeeded, false if the hardware was not detected.

eth.connected()

Checks whether the board has an active Ethernet link and a valid IP address.

Returns value: bool - true if the link is up and DHCP has assigned an IP.

eth.localIP()

Returns the IP address assigned to the board by DHCP.

Returns value: IPAddress - the board's current IP address.

client.connect()

Opens a TCP connection to the specified host and port.

Returns value: bool - true if the connection was established, false otherwise.

Function parameters:

Type	Name	Description
const char*	host	Hostname or IP address of the remote server.
uint16_t	port	TCP port number to connect to.

client.connected()

Checks whether the TCP connection to the remote server is still active.

Returns value: bool - true if the connection is open.

client.println()

Sends a string followed by a carriage return and newline over the TCP connection.

Returns value: None.

Function parameters:

Type	Name	Description
String	data	The string to send.

client.available()

Returns the number of bytes received from the server that are ready to be read.

Returns value: int - number of bytes available.

client.read()

Reads one byte from the receive buffer.

Returns value: int - the next byte, or -1 if no data is available.

client.stop()

Closes the TCP connection and releases the socket.

Returns value: None.