Olimex has recently released the PICO2-XL and PICO2-XXL open-source hardware RP2350B development boards with up to 16MB flash, 8MB PSRAM, 48 GPIOs, a microSD card slot, and more.
The main difference between the two boards is that the PICO2-XL includes 2MB of external QSPI Flash and a compact flat-bottom design, making it ideal for simpler, space-constrained projects. In contrast, the PICO2-XXL offers 16MB of QSPI Flash, 8MB of PSRAM, and a microSD card slot for expanded storage and performance, catering to more demanding applications like IoT and edge computing.
Olimex PICO2-XL and PICO2-XXL specifications
- SoC – Raspberry Pi RP2350B MCU
- CPU
- Dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 @150MHz with Arm Trustzone
- Dual-core 32-bit Hazard3 RISC-V @ 150MHz
- Up to two cores can be used at the same time
- Memory – 520KB SRAM
- 8kB OTP storage
- Security – Secure boot
- Package – QFN-80; 10×10 mm
- CPU
- Memory – 8MB PSRAM (PICO2-XXL only)
- Storage
- PICO2-XL – 2MB QSPI Flash
- PICO2-XXL – MicroSD card and 16MB QSPI flash for
- USB – Type-C connector for power, and programming
- Expansion
- 2x dual 20-pin 2.54mm pitch headers with 48x GPIOs
- 4-pin SMD Qwiic/STEMMA QT connector for I2C
- UEXT connector
- Misc
- Reset and Boot button
- Status LED
- Power – 1.8 to 5.5V DC via USB-C or VSYS
- Dimension – 50 x 28 x 8.3 mm
In terms of software, the PICO2-XL and PICO2-XXL can be programmed with Raspberry Pi C-SDK, MicroPython, and Arduino like other Raspberry Pi RP2350 boards. The boards make full use of all GPIOs from the RP2350B microcontrollers and are open-source hardware with the company providing hardware design files such as KiCAD and PDF schematics and PCB layout, Gerber files, etc.. and documentation on GitHub.
Previously we have written about many RP2350A-based development boards including the WeAct RP2350A world’s cheapest Raspberry Pi RP2350 board with 16MB flash, the Pico W5 – A RP2350 dev board with dual-band (2.4GHz/5GHz) WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, and Waveshares Raspberry Pi RP2350 dev boards. Raspberry Pi RP2350B boards are somewhat harder to come by, but we still covered the Pimoroni Pico Plus 2 W board and Solder Party RP2350 Stamp XL. Open hardware RP2350B boards are even harder to find and as far as we know the only others besides the Olimex PICO2-XL and PICO2-XXL are the JumperLess V5 and Bus Pirate 6, but they are not exactly general-purpose boards.
The PICO2-XL and PICO2-XXL are available for purchase on the Olimex store for respectively €5.00 (or $5.14) and €9.00 (or $9.26).
Debashis Das is a technical content writer and embedded engineer with over five years of experience in the industry. With expertise in Embedded C, PCB Design, and SEO optimization, he effectively blends difficult technical topics with clear communication
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