Bus Pirate 5XL and 6 hardware debugging tools utilize Raspberry Pi RP2350A and RP2350B microcontrollers

The Bus Pirate 5XL and 6 are open-source hardware debugging tools respectively based on Raspberry Pi RP2350A and RP2350B and designed to simplify interaction with various bus protocols like 1-Wire, I2C, SPI, UART, several LEDs, and more. The idea is to send commands to a chip or sensor and get the response, without writing a single line of code making it ideal for hardware hacking and tinkering.

The devices feature buffered I/O pins with voltage and current measurement, a programmable power supply with current limiting, an RGB LCD  for pin status and info, and an auxiliary header for connecting logic analyzers. All these features make this device useful for applications like debugging circuits, prototyping projects, and reverse engineering devices.

The new devices are updates to the Bus Pirate 5 based on Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU. You’ll find Bus Pirate specifications for the three models in the table below.

Feature	Bus Pirate 6	Bus Pirate 5XL	Bus Pirate 5
Cores	RP2350B ARM M33 x 2	RP2350A ARM M33 x 2	RP2040 ARM M0 x 2
Speed	133MHz	133MHz	125MHz
RAM	512Kbytes	512Kbytes	264Kbytes
Flash	128Mbits	128Mbits	128Mbits
PIO state machines	12	12	8
Flash storage	1Gbit NAND (100MB usable)	1Gbit NAND (100MB usable)	1Gbit NAND (100MB usable)
Look behind buffer	8 pins	-	-
Display	320x240 IPS all-angle	320x240 IPS all-angle	320x240 IPS all-angle
IO pins	8 @ 1.2-5.0volts	8 @ 1.2-5.0volts	8 @ 1.2-5.0volts
LEDs	18 RGB LEDs	18 RGB LEDs	18 RGB LEDs
Pull-up resistors	All pins	All pins	All pins
Voltage measurement	All pins	All pins	All pins
Power supply	1-5 volts	1-5 volts	1-5 volts
Current sense	0-500mA	0-500mA	0-500mA
Programmable fuse	0-500mA	0-500mA	0-500mA

The original Bus Pirate was launched in 2008 and became a versatile tool for various bus types like 1-Wire, I2C, SPI, and UART. It offered features like traffic sniffing, frequency measurement, pulse generation, and automatic device identification, and could also be used as a low-speed logic analyzer. So, after this new release, the features are even more advanced and comprehensive.

The Bus Pirate 5, 5XL, and 6 models feature major updates including full-color LCD, and a Raspberry Pi RP2040/RP2350 MCU replacing the older 16MHz PIC24F. It also features PIO blocks used as a “magic peripheral” in place of the PIC’s Peripheral Pin Select capabilities. The terminal interface now emulates a VT100 color terminal with a live status bar. Additionally, it includes 18 RGB LEDs, eight I/O pins with 1.2V to 5V signal levels, analog voltage measurement, and 100MB of flash storage, surpassing the capabilities of the previous V3 model.

Commands are entered into a serial terminal. A new VT100 mode supports color text and a status toolbar that displays the function and voltage of each pin.

More information about the Dangerous Prototypes Bus Pirate 5, 5XL, and 6 can be found on the company hardware wiki page, additional hardware design files and firmware source code are available on the company’s GitHub page.

The previous generation Bus Pirate 5 REV10 with enclosure can be purchased from DirtyPCBs for $42.50, and the new models are a bit more expensive at $63.50 for the RP2350A-based Bus Pirate 5XL and $82.50 for the Bus Pirate 6 using the larger RP2350B microcontroller.

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