Tiny WeAct RP2350B Core Board exposes all 48 I/Os from the Raspberry Pi RP2350B microcontroller

WeAct RP2350B Core Board is a small (41.4×41.1mm) USB-C board exposing all 48 I/Os from the Raspberry Pi RP2350B Cortex-M33/RISC-V microcontroller through two 30-pin headers.

It offers an alternative to the smaller Solder Party’s RP2350 Stamp XL (44.5 x 25.4 mm) with through and castellated holes and no USB-C port that’s better suited for soldering on a baseboard and to Olimex PICO2-XL and PICO2-XXL open-source hardware boards (50 x 28 mm).

WeAct RP2350B Core Board specifications:

Microcontroller – Raspberry Pi RP2350B MCU
- CPU – Dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 processor @ 150MHz
- Memory – 520KB internal RAM
- 8KB OTP Storage
- Package – QFN-80; 10×10 mm
Storage
- 16MB QSPI flash
- Footprint for a second QSPI FLASH/PSRAM on the bottom side
I/Os – All 48x GPIOs broken out via 2x 30-pin headers
- - 2x UART, 2x SPI, 2x I2C
  - 24x PWM
  - 8x ADC
  - 12x PIO state machines
  - HSTX peripheral
  - 5V, 3.3V, VREF, and GND
Debugging – 4-pin SWD connector
Security – Secure Boot, Arm TrustZone
Misc
- Reset, Boot, and User (GP23) buttons
- User LED (GP25)
- 12 MHz crystal
Power Supply – 3.6 to 6.5V via USB-C port
Dimensions – 41.4 x 41.1 mm

One thing missing from the WeAct RP2350 Core Board compared to the RP2350 Stamp XL is battery support, and the USB signals are routed to the USB-C port instead of the headers. WeAct has yet to release the schematics on GitHub as they did for the RP2350A V20 board. It’s probably a matter of a few days. Firmware support will be the same as any other Raspberry Pi RP2350/RP2040 meaning Raspberry Pi Pico C/C++ and MicroPython, plus any other firmware supported by the Raspberry Pi MCUs (e.g. Arduino).

Being made in China, the WeAct RP2350B core board is a little cheaper at $4.21 plus shipping. This includes the board itself, two 30-pin headers for the GPIOs, and a 4-pin SWD header.

Raspberry Pi RP2350B PSRAM footprint — The footprint for additional SPI PSRAM/Flash chip can be seen on the bottom side

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.