VS Code is not open source. It is “Built on open source” but released under a proprietary license (https://code.visualstudio.com/license).

No. Not all of the source code is available in the vscode GitHub repo. One cannot build the VSCode that is installed with the PiOS package from just those sources. Which in my book classifies it as “not open source”. Far better to install vscodium or build the thing yourself, which is not so hard.

Having said that I love VSCode and don’t much worry about the situation re: using the MS build.

The package is not available on raspbian stretch i believe.

Are there any advice on how much RAM you need to have to get a good experience? I’ve not tried it on my 4GB Pi 4 yet but on my laptop (running Ubuntu LTS) with a bunch of Python and GitHub-centric extensions installed I find it’s a race between my web browser and VSCode as to which can consume all my RAM first. Will it run well on the older Pi hardware?

It is good to see this as another excellent option.
Thanks.

Very useful and as soon as I get a moment I will install it and start configuring it. I’ve been using Qt creator for a while already, this will b a good addition and some real world IDE experience.

You if you could just add in in the Recommended Software program you have built in to the OS, that would be even easy as nothing to remember. In the same way we add Mu and Thonny.

And sorry, but the Cognitive load just to learn VSCode and figure out how to do things it quite high compared to the likes of Thonny and Mu. Yes it’s feature (and more) rich, but it’s interface it not inviting. You sort of need to know what you are doing to understand it.
As someone that has tired (and can just use it) and seen people give up.

I really don’t like the fact that a Microsoft repo was added automatically to my Pi, I would prefer that RPi foundation had used VSCodium through the regular repos, and those who wanted MS binaries could add that repo on their own Pi.

I know it’s probably not the case, but it strongly gives the impression that MS bought the leadership on RPi foundation.

One thing I like about a fresh install of Ubuntu 20.04, is that it puts the highly-user-friendly privacy controls right in front of the user’s face, **right upon first boot**. This makes for a very easy opt-out of any telemetry, etc. Privacy-lovers really dig a feature like this.

@Jim Bennet, since you work for Developer Relations for Microsoft, I wish to respectfully request, on behalf of the privacy-loving, and privacy-sensitive Linux community, that VS Code do the same sort of thing upon first launch of VS Code: **please similarly put those telemetry options right in front of the user’s face, facilitating a super-easy opt-out of any and all telemetry features, in a single click. Please don’t require the user go searching and hunting as to where to turn the telemetry off.**
Thank you, and good day.

Proprietary soft with tracking included, eat or get silenced.

I see a lot of misinformation in this article. You should know that vscode is not open-source nor free software. While the source code is distributed under MIT License the binaries here aren’t completely open-source because of the proprietary telemetry. This leads to the other problem of vscode: telemetry. I believe that it greatly compromises user privacy if Microsoft (who has a history in compromising our privacy, remember PRISM in 2013) knows every customization in my editor and even recording the keystrokes when you write code.
In addition having the microsoft gpg keys in rpi-os makes every ms repo trusted which greatly compromises user privacy.
Also I think that it is wrong for RP Foundation to put a nonfree text-editor in the main component (it should be in ‘nonfree’) and not even notify the users of this change (The repo was added before this post). All in all I believe that the Foundation should let users know of this change, because the community is what made RPi what it is today.
This made me lose trust to the foundation.
I am leaving RPi OS for an OS and a foundation that cares for the community’s privacy.

P.S: If you want a text-editor for Pico you can use VSCodium which lacks telemetry.

Any easy way to opt-out for this feature, and also avoiding having a Microsoft repo added ?

Sometimes I really don’t understand some comments.
Indeed, it’s a good thing to promote full open source softwares.
VSCode is really a great IDE. It may doesn’t promote full open source by itself, but should allow access for more developers, to make softwares.
Don’t forget it’s just a tool, feel free to use it or not, to make open source code with it or proprietary. Freedom is important here.

vscode is not free open source software (foss). there is probably no problem that children or newbies in programming can use convenient learning tools, but for everyone else, using proprietary software can be a negative factor when choosing an operating system. few people want to get used to a tool that in the future may be subjected to the EEE strategy from Microsoft. IE browser, silverscript platform, nokia are examples of this.

It doesn’t matter to me if it is really “open” source or not. I don’t have any expertise to peek in the source code and understand if the source code is real or not.
I admit that I want free (as in beer) software, not “free as in freedom” software. If it comes compiled, better. And it comes from a somewhat reliable source.
Ah, but someone can say that Microsoft isn’t a reliable source? Maybe. But I’m a part-time Windows user, too, so, it will not be the first time that I’m using software from this vendor.
People like to complain.
It’s nice that this software is available to RPi and I praise the Foundation for adding the repository to my sources.list.

This is a poor move on the foundations part, it undermines all the good they have done making IT in schools about learning to writing code rather than using MS products. There is no need for such an IDE to teach coding, all it will do is make the MS way, the only way children expect to code. This is just like the years of forced use of other MS tools, now means most children and young adults equate writing documements to exclusive use of MS tools. MS want this to be the same for software. Exclusive use of one suppliers tools is not preparing people for the workplace, its conditioning. I wont even mention the awful way this has been introduced, breaking the trust I gave to the foundation to provide software on my PI devices.

Ah, paranoia!
Having lived through the days when Microsoft behaved as an ethically challenged organization (I am being politically correct here, many of my older wizard friends would have called MS a criminal conspiracy, at times with considerable justice) I fully sympathize with those who express discomfort, if not outright nausea, at the inclusion of VS Code in the previously (relatively) ‘pure’ Raspberry Pi project. However, I observe that the current leadership of MS has changed course radically, embracing open source projects and making major contributions to the ecosystem. Admittedly this is business realpolitick–MS management realized it could not beat FOSSH and thus decided to join it–but I believe us wizards must accept, as we have with the involvement of IBM (also once unethical in its behavior), that cooperation, collaboration, and mutual support are much better than promoting (as IBM and MS used to) fear, uncertainty and doubt. As for the telemetry–if MS wants to know who is using this clearly valuable new tool, why not let them.
In passing, I note the very real possibility that future versions of Windows (an OS that mostly works, but occasionally irritates the heck out of us wizards) may well be based on the Linux kernel. Having said that, I also note that, with current hardware technology now bouncing off the upper limit of what may be achieved with Silicon based technology, that it may be time to revisit the whole topic of operating system design and implementation, particularly in view of what might be achieved through use of (older) concepts of I/O channeling and synchronous but coordinated execution. Yes, at times what was old becomes new again….

Does it now run on Raspberry PI Zero?
I found it useful when first debugging prototypes on the Zero on the bench to be able to have the GUI loaded and have all the windows on the same screen without needing a whole other machine to SSH in but found lack of support for the same VS Code I was using on the Mac and Windows to be a pain. So I ended up with a Pi 4 to do the prototyping and debugging and then verifying on a (headless) Zero to finalize.

Such a shame! You injected a repo in your uses computers without telling them, and denied anyone commented on how this is privacy-invasion and now announcing it like you conquered Mars. This blog post should’ve been an apology to your users for not informing them in advance about your action as well as giving them the option to turn it on for the current users, even if you decide to default it to on for new users.

Since Raspberrypi is explicitly targetting kids, I think it’s a big moral fault to expose them to the Microsoft’s telemetry and spying. Every time a Raspbian device is updated it will ping a Microsoft server. Microsoft is gonna empower its footprint database quality to track people on the net.
Using https://vscodium.com/ would have been a better choice.

This is awesome news! Now all I need is a version of Cura that works with the pi, and I’ll never have to open a laptop again for all my 3d printing needs!

A very welcome addition: great opportunity for kids to get a head start.
VS Code is widely utilized in the tech industry from full-on DEVs to IT teams and everybody in between.

There’s been an ARM version of VS Code since at least April 2020 last year when I compiled my Asteroids game on a Pi and blogged about it (see https://learncgames.com/building-asteroids-on-a-raspberry-pi/). I got that VS Code from the site code.headmelted.com but when I just checked it no longer exists. I suspect after the official Microsoft ARM version appeared there was no further need for it. Thanks to Jay Rodgers who built it. I found it from a post by Scott Hanselman in February 2020. https://www.hanselman.com/blog/how-to-install-visual-studio-code-on-a-raspberry-pi-4-in-minutes

Do you have python code along with the kits ?

Please revert this change. Please allow the VSCode repository package and GPG key to be *optionally* installed by those who want it, rather than force-installing it to everyone without consent. I do not wish to send any third-party any additional information about myself or my systems than what they already collect.

As Raspberry Pi is mostly targeting children, it is disgusting at best to let microsoft track them. Vscodium would have been much better choice!

“With a great power comes great responsibility”

Looks like some one @ raspberry Pi foundation forget about it and start making decision for their users. Even on headless machine they pushed this telemetry machine which CAN NOT run there.

History is repeated: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish

Very disappointed, going to remove Raspberry Pi OS in our tech school.

For some reason I get this error today.
E: Unable to locate package code

I do not mind proprietary software. What I DO have problems with are any software and companies tracking me, especially without stating up front or providing any easy way to disable all tracking. I will not install, use or promote such software. Windows 10 was the last straw. Having to answer a 100 different questions about what private information to deny BEFORE even getting to the desktop is very annoying. But on top of that, after answering NO to all the questions, there are still many services like Windows Defender for which there is no easy way to disable it or prevent it from sending “suspicous” files to Microsoft.

Therefore on a Linux operating system I expect more control over such settings. For non-free software that I decide myself to install I am used to instructions specifying how to download a deb file or being provided steps along the lines of:
sudo add-apt-repository repository_url
sudo apt update
sudo apt instal package_name

So finding out that Rasberry OS will now automatically add a repo for a vendor known to step on the privary rights of users, for software I will not be installing, is very alarming! This may have been unintential on the part of the Pi Foundation with their trusting nature, but many users do not give Microsoft that benefit (look no further than Windows or Office or IE for why). I do not know if this will mean it will be soon necessary to migrate over to Debian proper on the Pi if this continues.

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/supporting/faq#_how-to-disable-telemetry-reporting

VS Code is great, I use it on all my development machines. What is NOT great is silently adding the repo and the gpg key *even on RasPiOS Lite*. Lite has no desktop! I have about 10 Zeros with RasPiOS Lite doing various stuff and now, whenever I update, they all have to ping Microsoft for absolutely no reason. Well, no reason to me…

Please inform us how to best reverse this in a way that is both permanent and will not break future updates.

I am happy with this choice.
you worry about telemetry but maybe you use Alexa, Google, vacuum cleaner robots and many other devices that use telemetry and do not expect it.
Let the users choose, if you don’t want vs code don’t install it.
I want it to work with rpi instead.
good life

Easy step to follow. I don’t face any problem. Thank’s for the information.

To all those who don’t want to use vscode just remove the link.
sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list

So my Raspberry Pi 400 doesn’t have the Microsoft repositories included. I can’t just ‘sudo apt-get install code -y” and have it actually install. You might need to update the article to included either grabbing it from git, or to edit the config to include the microsoft repositories.

Tried to install VS on my Raspberry Pi4 4GB but when I typed “sudo apt install code -y” in terminal it just says “E: Unable to locate package code”.

I’m sure this will get ignored but could Jim Bennett kindly tell us what extensions they use? When I try to follow C coding in VS Code guides, there are half a dozen extensions that people install. By some random person and no source. So it would be nice to hear from a Microsoft official, thanks.

It is time to use another Linux distribution.

Children, teachers and hobbyists alike will follow the foundations documentation to get the Pico up and running.

Many of them have no real choice because they do not have the time nor the skills to deviate from this path.

Their trust in the foundation’s integrity is part of the “installation requirements”.

I am very disappointed to see Microsoft running telemetry in schools and homes supported by the foundation.

I for myself fight tracking whereever I can using VPN, Tor and letsencrypt.
I encrypt my email whenever the receiver provides me with a public key.
I use ad blockers. I use duck duck go instead of google.
I delete my browsers history and cookies on every shutdown of the browser.
I prefer firefox over chrome.
I use Signal instead of WhatsApp whenever my contact is reachable via Signal.
And so on and on and on…

Very often my struggle to prevent data from beeing gathered in hazardous amounts may be far from perfect,
but this is no excuse for the foundation to give in.

Gosh, what a heated comments section. Personally I’m very glad to be able to use the same code editor on Pi that I use everywhere else so I’m very glad of the addition.
For those who worry about it not being entirely open source, well, it’s an interesting point, but then as I understand it the VideoCore stuff that underlies the Pi itslef isn’t open source either so it kinda comes with the teritory.
With regard to Microsoft’s attempt to track everything I do, for me, with my Android phone and Windows PCs, that’s a world I’m already in, though I do take some precautions to reduce nuisance adevertising etc. If you don’t like having the repository on your machine just remove the .list file in /etc/apt/sources.list.d. I kind of agree that maybe it should have been more optional. So, Raspberry Pi Foundation, why not remove the repository .list file from the standard images then add a ‘code’ stub programme in the usual raspbian repository that puts up a warning and, if accepted, adds the Microsoft repository and installs ‘code’ proper from that, then people can make an informed choice about it up front and your installation instructions remain the same. It would seem like a lot more sensible option and save folks throwing out their teddies in disgust.

Excellent news. Up till now been building my own version with various levels of failure. :D
As for all the moaners, I prefer to get on with my work than to worry if the lift (elevator) is open source or not. ;)

“There are already some great editors, but nothing of the calibre of VS Code.”
I don’t think this is true. Vim and Emacs have been available on the Pi for a good while.

Definitely will give it a try. I am an Atom user at work and on my laptops at home, but have messed around with VScode. I think I need a tutorial or two on how to use an IDE over a fancy text editor.

Quite a few comments here saying to “just use vscodium”.
Well, I used it for ages for the stuff I do with PlatformIO. After an update to vscodium, I had to reinstall some extensions, one of which was PlatformIO. It could not be found!

I’m not 100% sure why, but I believe it was some terms and conditions of using Marketplace. Maybe on the side of vscodium, maybe on the PlatformIO side, regardless, vscodium was no longer an option for me.

I installed vscode and disabled the telemetry in the settings. Thete are two options to disable, just search for “telemetry”. Regardless, because I’m running PiHole, it blocks the telemetry destination anyway.

Vscodium, while great, might not be suitable for everyone given the “Marketplace” changes.

Cheers,
Norm.

With so many other good text editors out there (Geany, Kate for example in the GUI world), I really see why we have to bring M$ VS baggage into the mix on the Linux side. Especially ‘pushing its use’ (which is how it comes across to me)…. Even on Windows we have Notepad++ in lew of using VS. I’ve used/use VS in the Windows world because I have too at work now and then, but I find it overly ‘complicated’ and slow to use compared to Notepad++. Especially, when in the Linux world, you can simply edit a source file with your favorite text editor, kick off ‘make’ from the command line, and (in this case) copy/paste the executable to the Pico. It just doesn’t get any easier for writing ‘C’ code (or Python). Nor does a text editor need much memory run.
Sometimes I think we over complicate what we are attempting to accomplish. But that’s just me :) .
BTW, I am kicking the wheels of a Pico from my Ubuntu 20.04 workstation . I haven’t used any of my RPIs for development as they run headless here and accessed via SSH. The process would be the same on the RPI, if you used a local monitor or setup a remote desktop with VNC of course.
I did test uploading a Pico from an RPI the other day using the command-line by using just ‘mount, cp, and umount’ for kicks. It works too. I was just a bit more involved, as I had to first sftp the Pico executable to the RPI first, and then ssh into the RPI. Using fdisk find the /dev/sd[x]1 device to mount before doing the copy.

FWIW, the best IDE I ever used was Borland’s Delphi/C++ IDE back when. That was a fast, intuitive, and productive environment.

I fully understand why some people are excited about this. I really don’t care much one way or another except I was horrified to find my Pi pinging an M$ server. It would have been nice to have the option to opt in. That said, it’s silly easy to opt out.

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list
sudo rm /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/microsoft.gpg
sudo apt update
Just like that, problem solved.

Great news! Thanks! It saves a lot of my time by developing on Rasp in java ;)

this article would have been a good platform for the RPF to divuldge the microsoft repo. no i do not think it’s evil, but I think it’s existence and the good reasoning behind it’s existince should have been elaborated upon. it’s just a missed opportunity to demonstrate a bit of transparency. again, i don’t feel at all slighted by the inclusion of the ms repo for the benefit of vscode in rpios… but some do, so imo it’s just prudent to dedicate a few lines in the article to the subject.

I could not believe it having just read this news here. But there it was vscode.list sitting on my Pi with Microsoft within. If I did not check here I never would know. Was anyone else aware of the ties between Raspberry Pi and Microsoft? Shocking to find this sudden new change. How is it possible Microsoft have forced to give preferential treatment and have to link them in the OS like this now for all Pis.

Hopefully over time it will be possible to install PyCharm, IntelliJ IDEA and other JetBrains products.

I installed Raspberry Pi Desktop (from https://www.raspberrypi.org/software/raspberry-pi-desktop/) into a Hyper-V VM.
I made all updates I read about: update during installation, apt full-upgrade, apt update.
But the installation of VS code (apt install code -y) always ends with:
“E: Package ‘code:amd64’ has not installation candidate”
Thanks for help in advance :)

I guess maybe having a really nice obvious GUI option to give the end-user complete control and visibility to what repos are trusted and available on their system might be something to think about for future Pi OS versions. (Perhaps as part of the setup process)

so why is it that when i follow your instructions i get “unable to locate package code” ??

Ohh thank god I came across this. Now I can finally use my favourite text editor on my raspberry. In my opinion, it’s the most productive code editor that i’ve ever used. Cheers to the addition.

Thanks. It is good to see this as another excellent option

today I updated my raspis, and on each one I got this:
…
Setting up raspberrypi-sys-mods (20210310) …
Blocking vscode repo…
Removing obsolete conffile /etc/apt/preferences.d/3rd_parties.pref …
…
what does that mean exactly? Has the Foundation made a change to the vscode situation?

This is a good thing! I intend to use VS Code with platformio extension running on Raspberry Pi to flash ESP-based sensors for smart home and training materials. However, I was using a Pi3 and VS Code seemed just fine, but I was unable to load the Anaconda environment (no binary available there), and I was using VNC to access the Pi from my normal Win10 laptop and external monitor… I know, layers upon layers, but a real use case. I couldn’t get it to work well enough to use. ditched it on the Pi3 and intend to swap back the Pi3 for my Home Assistant Server and allocate that Pi4 to the Pi-based VS Code & PlatformIO development / flashing / training environment. Hopefully the Pi4 HW is beefy enough to run this sufficiently well! Thank you for the blog on this topic.

Microsoft doesn’t have preferential treatment more than any other non installed applications that have a repo link. I don’t think you’ve thought too hard about this subject:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/02/raspberry-pi-os-added-a-microsoft-repo-no-its-not-an-evil-secret/

Open Source or not Open Source , who cares
VS Code on the Pi , this is all that matters .
Thanks for the article :-)

I can finally use my favourite text editor on my raspberry. In my opinion, it’s the most productive code editor that i’ve ever used. Cheers to the addition.

Visual Studio Code is officially distributed via the Raspberry Pi OS (previously called Raspbian) APT repository, in both 32-bit and 64-bit variants.

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but if I open VS Code from a Remote Desktop Connection, VS Code opens on the main display, but not in the RDC window. Any way to change this ? BTW – using Raspian buster with Raspberry Pi 4. Thanks.

Jim! Thank you! I’ve used Visual Studio for C, C++ for over 30 years. I then got into hardware again with Arduino’s. Simple apps. Suffered and tolerated Arduino “IDE”. Got into IP. Now, two weeks ago, I decided the best microcontroller for a new project is the Pi. Big surprise – just discovered the amazing recent Pi 4. I hoped to use a good IDE again, especially if done interactively on the product. Therefore –> beautiful, oh so elegant, Python. Now, I find that you facilitated using all three together just last week with this very article! I can tell my team members we have state-of-the-art hardware, software, and software development system. Now all I need to do is unlearn my Source-Safe and use whatever is integrated into VStudio. Experience really counts. Thank you, again! – Mitch (MIT ’73 EE Comp.Sci)

I really excited to use it, I am using it since February and it’s awesome and user-friendly code editor i have used ever.

I’ve been using Thonny (Editor) for Raspberry Pi for 1 year, I’ve installed Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code, let’s see how it change the overall experience. Thanks for the information.

Visual Studio Code is officially distributed via the Raspberry Pi OS (previously called Raspbian) APT repository, in both 32-bit and 64-bit variants.

I’ve used Visual Studio for C, C++ for over 30 years. I then got into hardware again with Arduino’s. Simple apps. Suffered and tolerated Arduino “IDE”. Got into IP. Now, two weeks ago, I decided the best microcontroller for a new project is the Pi.