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The documentation is excellent, and the Programmable I/O (PIO) is a unique feature. Still, the lack of WiFi and Bluetooth makes the RP2040 uninteresting for me

The documentation is excellent, and the Programmable I/O (PIO) is a unique feature. Still, the lack of WiFi and Bluetooth makes the RP2040 uninteresting for me compared to the ESP32 in a DIY project. With the ESP32, I can quickly throw in a web interface and use Over-The-Air updates. I think they missed the opportunity to position them against the ESP32.

martyvis 5y ago
Totally agree. Their release seems to make it seem that dual core with multiple hundred K of RAM is unique. The elephant in the room is while it has nice GPIO interfaces for sensors, you want onboard wireless for backhaul. Espressif have had this space for a couple of years now.
- 6f8986c3 5y ago
  For secure applications, on-board wireless makes your life hell. I'm actually pretty happy they didn't.
  - nousermane 5y ago
    Depending on application and how you define "secure", you might find that having an easily sniffable SPI/SDIO/UART connection between main MCU and wifi chip can be a weakness.
    - 6f8986c3 5y ago
      I believe the point is "no wifi whatsoever". If you need wifi, by all means, go integrated. But not everybody does.
- kortex 5y ago
  I can think of many application with no need for wireless backhaul, or where wireless becomes a liability. It boils down to cost, power, noise, security, frequency used, and complexity. LoRa or similar is probably better than Wifi for many applications. I like that it isn't opinionated about the wireless stack. I'm guessing that lots of Picos will see use as enhanced GPIOs for Pi "motherships," which provide backhaul to multiple wired-in Picos. In fact I have a project which could use a decidedly non-wireless USB GPIO, for use on an airplane imaging system.
- mschuster91 5y ago
  The problem with onboard wireless is that this adds a boatload of complexity regarding certification in various regulatory domains, trademark compliance, ...
  - nousermane 5y ago
    ...not to mention massive code size increase, for wifi/bt driver. And that driver is likely to come as an inscrutable binary blob.
- antattack 5y ago
  What you say is true, however, $1 is a killer feature. It can replace many IC and will make a very good addition to ESP32 which lacks pins for many projects. And, sometimes you want external chip so output is not affected by ESP32 reboots or freezes.
numpad0 5y ago
Pair it with ESP32-SOLO or nRF5. That’s what ESP8266 was originally meant for, a wireless modem chip. Remember back when ESP-01 came with AT command firmware?
taf2 5y ago
I agree what would have been really interesting for me is if the pico board had had wifi and support for pi camera… then you’d have a board to compete nicely with the Esp32 cam
dimatura 5y ago
If you do want bluetooth/WiFI, agreed, it's annoying to not have it, true. I rarely need either capability, so I don't mind too much. (And it's remarkable that ESP32's are so cheap that I find myself using them even if I don't use those features). On the other hand I often find myself missing USB-related features on the ESP32, such as being able to act as HID device or even a USB host. The ESP32-S2 fixes that, although software support for that is still relatively immature.
selykg 5y ago
There are some other solutions based on the RP2040 that will include wifi and bluetooth. So you'll just have to pickup one of those if you want them. I suspect they will be more expensive but probably not prohibitively so. For instance: https://launch.arduino.cc/nano-rp2040 https://launch.arduino.cc/nano-rp2040
- cjdaly 5y ago
  yes! I found these on sale at digikey. Search for "arduino nano rp2040". They cost about $28.
guenthert 5y ago
The PIO is a very neat feature, allowing (limited) hard real time programming (even when using MicroPython) and while perhaps uncommon, it's not exactly unique: TI Sitara MCU (as used e,g, in Beagle Bone Black etc.) offers more capable Programmable Realtime Units (limited functionality co-processors). The Raspberry Pico board is however much cheaper (not sure about the price of the MCUs).

martyvis 5y ago

Totally agree. Their release seems to make it seem that dual core with multiple hundred K of RAM is unique. The elephant in the room is while it has nice GPIO interfaces for sensors, you want onboard wireless for backhaul. Espressif have had this space for a couple of years now.

6f8986c3 5y ago
For secure applications, on-board wireless makes your life hell. I'm actually pretty happy they didn't.
- nousermane 5y ago
  Depending on application and how you define "secure", you might find that having an easily sniffable SPI/SDIO/UART connection between main MCU and wifi chip can be a weakness.
  - 6f8986c3 5y ago
    I believe the point is "no wifi whatsoever". If you need wifi, by all means, go integrated. But not everybody does.
kortex 5y ago
I can think of many application with no need for wireless backhaul, or where wireless becomes a liability. It boils down to cost, power, noise, security, frequency used, and complexity. LoRa or similar is probably better than Wifi for many applications. I like that it isn't opinionated about the wireless stack. I'm guessing that lots of Picos will see use as enhanced GPIOs for Pi "motherships," which provide backhaul to multiple wired-in Picos. In fact I have a project which could use a decidedly non-wireless USB GPIO, for use on an airplane imaging system.
mschuster91 5y ago
The problem with onboard wireless is that this adds a boatload of complexity regarding certification in various regulatory domains, trademark compliance, ...
- nousermane 5y ago
  ...not to mention massive code size increase, for wifi/bt driver. And that driver is likely to come as an inscrutable binary blob.
antattack 5y ago
What you say is true, however, $1 is a killer feature. It can replace many IC and will make a very good addition to ESP32 which lacks pins for many projects. And, sometimes you want external chip so output is not affected by ESP32 reboots or freezes.

numpad0 5y ago

Pair it with ESP32-SOLO or nRF5. That’s what ESP8266 was originally meant for, a wireless modem chip. Remember back when ESP-01 came with AT command firmware?

taf2 5y ago

I agree what would have been really interesting for me is if the pico board had had wifi and support for pi camera… then you’d have a board to compete nicely with the Esp32 cam

dimatura 5y ago

If you do want bluetooth/WiFI, agreed, it's annoying to not have it, true. I rarely need either capability, so I don't mind too much. (And it's remarkable that ESP32's are so cheap that I find myself using them even if I don't use those features). On the other hand I often find myself missing USB-related features on the ESP32, such as being able to act as HID device or even a USB host. The ESP32-S2 fixes that, although software support for that is still relatively immature.

selykg 5y ago

There are some other solutions based on the RP2040 that will include wifi and bluetooth. So you'll just have to pickup one of those if you want them. I suspect they will be more expensive but probably not prohibitively so. For instance: https://launch.arduino.cc/nano-rp2040 https://launch.arduino.cc/nano-rp2040

cjdaly 5y ago
yes! I found these on sale at digikey. Search for "arduino nano rp2040". They cost about $28.

guenthert 5y ago

The PIO is a very neat feature, allowing (limited) hard real time programming (even when using MicroPython) and while perhaps uncommon, it's not exactly unique: TI Sitara MCU (as used e,g, in Beagle Bone Black etc.) offers more capable Programmable Realtime Units (limited functionality co-processors). The Raspberry Pico board is however much cheaper (not sure about the price of the MCUs).