Doom has been ported to all sorts of platforms, including ESP32 platforms with 4MB PSRAM but “RP2040 doom” port of Doom to the Raspberry Pi RP2040 is more challenging, since RAM is limited to the measly 264KB built-in into the microcontroller, and for boards with only 2MB flash like the Raspberry Pi Pico, storage capacity becomes an issue. But Graham Sanderson solved all those issues by compressing the data, changing the code to use less RAM, making full use of the two Arm Cortex-M0+ cores, both overclocked at 270 MHz, in order to run Doom (DOOM1.WAD) on Raspberry Pi Pico at 320×240 resolution @ 60 fps, and the full Ultimate Doom and DOOM II WADs expected to fit into Raspberry Pi RP2040 boards with 8MB SPI flash. The port was based on Chocolate Doom, OPL2 emulation for audio support was derived from the emu8950 project, and sound effects were compressed […]
SparkFun Raspberry Pi RP2040 & MicroMod boards take mikroBUS Click expansion boards
We’ve previously written articles about boards featuring the mikroBUS interface supporting thousands of Click expansion boards from Mikroelectronika, and now the company has collaborated with Sparkfun who launched MicroMod and Raspberry Pi RP2040-based boards with a mikroBUS socket, plus Qwicc connectors. Raspberry Pi RP2040 is the well-known dual-core Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller found in Raspberry Pi Pico and a range of third-party boards, while Sparkfun MicroMod‘s are M.2 MCU modules with chips from Microchip, Nordic Semi, Ambiq, Espressif Systems, and NXP. Sparkfun RP2040 mikroBUS development board specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex M0+ microcontroller up to 133 MHz with 264 KB SRAM Storage – 16MB QSPI flash, MicroSD card socket (on the bottom side) USB – USB Type-C port Expansion mikroBUS Socket 2x Qwiic connectors Thing Plus (or Feather) pin form factor with 18 GPIO pins including up to 4x 12-bit ADC, up to 8x 2-channel PWM, up to […]
Challenger RP2040 LoRa board combines Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU with RFM95W LoRa module
Invector Labs is now offering a variant of the WiFi-based Challenger RP2040 board with a LoRa radio. The Challenger RP2040 LoRa board features the Hope RF RFM95W LoRa radio transceiver module instead of the ESP8285 WiFi chip found in the original board. Raspberry Pi RP2040 has already been used in combination with a LoRa module, notably in Rakwireless RAK11300 WisDuo LPWAN module and the “LoRa Expansion for Pico“, a baseboard for Raspberry Pi Pico equipped with a LoRa module, but it’s the first time I see the combination in a development board form factor, which as a potential bonus following Adafruit Feather form factor. Challenger RP2040 LoRa board preliminary specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ MCU @ 133MHz with 264KB SRAM Storage – 8MB flash Wireless module – Hope RF RFM95W connected via SPI channel and some GPIOs 168 dB maximum link budget. +20 dBm – 100 mW […]
Raspberry Pi RP2040 gains an extra USB port through PIO’s (programmable I/Os)
The Raspberry Pi RP2040 specifications only list one USB 1.1 Host/Device hardware interface, but developer’s Sekigon Gonnoc decided to leverage the microcontroller’s programmable I/Os (PIO) to add an extra USB port that also works in host or device mode. While the C library is still supposed to be a work in progress Sekigon implemented full-speed (12 Mbps) and slow-speed (1.5Mbps) host, full-speed device, USB hub, and multi-port support. There’s even a demo with three “Pico Pico USB” keyboards acting as USB hubs and HID plus a wireless mouse to show the results. The implementation uses one PIO for the USB transmitter using 22 instructions and one state machine and another PIO for the USB receiver using 31 instructions and two state machines, as well as one 1ms loop timer for the host, and one PIO interrupt for the receiver. You’ll find the code to implement the extra USB port on […]
Round color LCD board comes in Raspberry Pi RP2040 or ESP8266 flavor (Crowdfunding)
Roundy is a board with a 1.28-inch round color LCD with 240 x 240 resolution that is offered with either a Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU or an ESP-12E WiFi module, with the variants respectively called RoundyPi and RoundyFi. Both boards come with a micro USB port for power and programming, a button for flashing the firmware, and six pins with power signals and four GPIOs. One difference is that the Raspberry Pi RP2040 board includes a MicroSD card for data storage. Roundy specifications: MCU / module RoundyPi – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ up to 133 MHz with 256KB SRAM RoundyFi – ESP-12E module with ESP8266 microcontroller @ up to 160 MHz with 160KB SRAM, 4MB SPI flash External storage (RoundyPi only) – MicroSD card socket Display – 1.28-inch round LCD with 240 x 240 resolution, 65k colors; GC9A01 SPI display driver. (It appears to be that model) […]
Maker Nano RP2040 offers Arduino Nano, Grove and Qwiic modules compatibility
Cytron Maker Nano RP2040 is board similar to Raspberry Pi Pico but with Arduino Nano form factor, a proper reset button, two RGB LEDs, single color LEDs for some GPIOs, a buzzer, as well as two Qwicc/STEMMA QT connectors that can also be used to connect Seeed Studio Grove modules using provided conversion cables. While the board mostly aims to be an Arduino Nano/Maker Nano upgrade, there are some notable differences with the I/O voltage being limited to 3.3V without 5V tolerance, and there are only four ADC inputs (A0 – A3) instead of eight on the Arduino Nano. Maker Nano RP2040 specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ 125 MHz with 264KB internal RAM Storage – 2MB flash Audio – Piezo buzzer with mute switch Expansion 2x 15-pin headers with 22x GPIOs, 14x of which with LEDs,2x I2C, 2x UART, 2x SPI, 14x PWM, 4x […]
BTT SKR Pico – A Raspberry Pi RP2040 based 3D printer control board
BigTreeTech BTT SKR Pico V1.0 is a 3D printer controller board based on Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU, compatible with Raspberry Pi Linux SBC’s, and specially designed for the compact Voron 0 3D printer, but also working with other models. The board comes with four TMC2209 motor drivers covered by a heatsink for cooling, as well as interfaces for temperature sensors, and a USB Type-C port to connect to the host computer, usually a Raspberry Pi board running Linux. BTT SKR Pico V1.0 3D printer board specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex M0+ microcontroller at up to 133 MHz with 264 kB of embedded SRAM Storage – TBD Motor drivers – Up to 4x TMC2209 drivers for X, Y, Z1, Z2, and E interfaces Temperature sensor interfaces – TH0, THB 2-way 100K NTC RTD sensors Host interface – USB Type-C port Misc – Built-in heatsink (Note: fan cooling is […]
StackyPi – A Raspberry Pi RP2040 board with Raspberry Pi Zero form factor (Crowdfunding)
SB Components’ StackyPi is a development board based on Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU that happens to follow the Raspberry Pi Zero form factor. The board is equipped with 8MB SPI flash for the firmware, a MicroSD card socket, a micro SB port, two buttons, and a 40-pin GPIO header that makes it compatible with some Raspberry Pi uHAT and HAT expansion boards. StackyPi specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ up to 133 MHz with 264KB SRAM Storage – 8MB (64Mbit) SPI flash, MicroSD card socket USB – 1x Micro USB port Expansion – 40-pin GPIO header with GPIO, I2C, UART, SPI, etc… mostly compatible with Raspberry Pi header (3.3V I/Os) Misc – Reset and Boot buttons Power Supply- 5V via Micro USB port Dimensions – 65 x 30 mm (Raspberry Pi Zero form factor) The main advantage of such as board is that it can support […]