The Raspberry Pi 5 SBC is now available with 2GB RAM for just $50

The Raspberry Pi 5 has now a cheaper variant with 2GB of RAM going for just $50 following the launch of the Broadcom BCM2712 SBC in October 2023 with either 4GB or 8GB LPDDR4X-4267 SDRAM for respectively $60 and $80. At the time of the release, we also noted that cheaper variants with 1GB and 2GB RAM should become available later on simply because of the options on the silkscreen. When Eben Upton contacted CNX Software about the release of the Raspberry Pi 5 2GB RAM he explained that Raspberry Pi was “bringing the power of our most modern platform, and all of the optimisations we’ve developed since the launch of the larger memory SKUs last autumn, to a new lower price point”. Raspberry Pi 5 2GB RAM specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM2712 (cost-optimised D0 stepping) CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A76 processor @ 2.4 GHz with crypto extensions, 512KB per-core […]

Pimoroni Explorer board is a Raspberry Pi RP2350-based learning platform with 2.8-inch LCD, breadboard sensors and more

The Pimoroni Explorer board is an electronic prototyping board built around the Raspberry Pi RP2350 chip with a 2.8-inch LCD screen, a speaker connector, and various I/Os, which makes it easy to build circuits, prototype projects, and even make small robots. It also features a mini breadboard, tactile buttons, and crocodile clip terminals, making it suitable for both beginners and experienced makers. The RP2350 MCU was recently released by Raspberry Pi Limited along with the $5 Raspberry Pi Pico 2 board. Since that initial release, we have seen many RP2350-based development boards like the Cytron MOTION 2350 Pro, the Bus Pirate 5XL and 6, and many other development boards released, feel free to check those out if you are looking for development boards built around the RP2350 MCU.   Pimoroni Explorer board specifications Microcontroller  – Raspberry Pi RP2350B MCU CPU Dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 @150MHz with Arm Trustzone for secure boot Dual-core 32-bit […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC

CrowView Note Review – A 14-inch laptop shell designed for Raspberry Pi 5 and Jetson Nano Developer kit

Elecrow CrowView Note is a laptop shell with a 14-inch Full HD display, an 84-key QWERTY keyboard with a touchpad, built-in speakers and microphone, and a 5,000 mAh battery that’s specially designed for the Raspberry Pi 5 and the Jetson Nano Developer Kit thanks to adapters. However, it can be used with any machine with either a full-featured USB-C port or spare USB and HDMI ports. So it works with any Raspberry Pi model, Windows, Mac OS, or Linux computers, Android smartphones, PS4/PS5 game consoles, and more. This type of laptop shell has been around for years with the first one being the Laptop shell for the Motorola Atrix 4G smartphone introduced in 2011, and more recently Nexdock launched a range of laptop shells such as the Neckdock XL 15.6-inch touchscreen display and wireless charging. The CrowView Note differentiates itself with its low price and direct compatibility with the Raspberry […]

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. The original […]

A closer look at Raspberry Pi RP2350’s HSTX high-speed serial transmit interface

The Raspberry Pi RP2350 microcontroller adds an HSTX (High-Speed Serial Transmit) interface adding the PIOs (Programmable IOs) introduced on the Raspberry Pi RP2040 three years ago. The RP2350 MCU now has three PIOs and one HSTX interface going over 8x GPIOs. So let’s try to better understand what HSTX is exactly, what it is used for, and how it differs from PIOs. We’ll also check out some programming examples in C and MicroPython. The high-speed serial transmit (HSTX) interface is detailed in the RP2350 datasheet starting on page 1118 where it reads “The high-speed serial transmit (HSTX) interface streams data from the system clock domain to up to 8 GPIOs at a rate independent of the system clock”. Reading further, we also learn that it runs at 150 MHz enabling up to 300 Mbps per pin with DDR output operation, or a combined 2,400 Mbps over 8 pins if I […]

Google Pigweed SDK now supports Raspberry Pi RP2350 microcontroller

Google Pigweed, a collection of open-source libraries for embedded software development, now supports the Raspberry Pi RP2350 MCU and comes as a software development kit (Google Pigweed SDK). These libraries, also called modules, are building blocks that make embedded software development faster and more reliable. It targets tiny 32-bit microcontrollers such as STMicro STM32L452, Nordic Semi nRF52832, and the Raspberry Pi Pico line of microcontrollers. The library components have shipped in Google Pixels, Nest thermostats, robots, satellites, and drones. On August 8, the Pigweed project was released as a software development kit (SDK) in developer preview with official support for Raspberry Pi RP2350 and the associated Pico 2 development board. The new release uses the Bazel build system – a feature upstreamed into the Pico SDK by the Google Pigweed team – and a complete, open-source Clang/LLVM toolchain. The Google Pigweed SDK includes sample code, modules, and a comprehensive tutorial […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs

Challenger+ RP2350 WiFi6/BLE5 board combines Raspberry Pi RP2350 MCU with ESP32-C6 WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4 LE module

You don’t need to wait for the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W to get a Raspberry Pi RP2350 board with WiFi and Bluetooth thanks to the Challenger+ RP2350 WiFi6/BLE5 board that combines an RP2350A microcontroller with an ESP32-C6 module offering 2.4 GHz WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4 LE connectivity. The board follows the Adafruit Feather form factor with 28-pin through holes for I/Os making it compatible with FeatherWings add-on boards. It comes with a USB-C port for power and programming, and a JST connector plus a charging circuit for people wanting to connect a LiPo battery. Challenger+ RP2350 WiFi6/BLE5 specifications: Microcontroller – Raspberry Pi RP2350A MCU CPU Dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 processor @ 150MHz Dual-core 32-bit RISC-V processor @ 150MHz Only two cores can be used at a given time Memory – 520KB internal RAM 8KB OTP Storage Package – QFN-60; 7×7 mm Memory – 8MB PSRAM Storage – 8MB SPI […]

Solder Party’s “RP2350 Stamp” modules features Raspberry Pi RP2350A or RP2350B microcontroller

Solder Party’s RP2350 Stamp is an update to the company’s tiny RP2040 Stamp module based on a Raspberry Pi RP2350A, and they also introduced the RP2350 Stamp XL module that makes use of the extra GPIO pins on the RP2350B, and a “RP2xxx Stamp Carrier XL” carrier board taking either module. RP2350 Stamp and RP2350 Stamp XL The RP2350 Stamp has exactly the same layout as the RP2040 Stamp and mostly benefits from the more powerful Cortex-M33 cores, additional memory, and security features, while the XL variant adds more GPIOs, footprint for a PSRAM chip, as well as UART and SWD connectors. Both come with a 16MB SPI flash for storage. RP2350 Stamp specifications: Microcontroller – Raspberry Pi RP2350A MCU CPU – Dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 processor @ 150MHz Memory – 520KB internal RAM 8KB OTP Storage Package – QFN-60; 7×7 mm Storage – 16MB flash I/Os – All 30x I/Os […]

Khadas VIM4 SBC