[NEW WiFi version]Raspberry Pi Pico W is just £6/$6 - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 30, 2022, 02:29:32 pm
content: The old/existing non-WiFi version, at £3.60 (approx) for the Raspberry PI Pico, has been fully available, despite some other products being in short supply.Now there is a new/additional one, with, on the PCB, a Wireless chip. WiFi initially, but they may later enable the BLE features of the additional Infineon (Wireless) chip.I think this is good, because it was the one thing, which was lacking for some uses, with the Pico's. It can more effectively compete with the ESP32's, now.EDIT: This seems a pretty good article about it, and details its specifications:https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/raspberry-pi-pico-wSpec summary (from link above):RAM: 264KB SRAMStorage: 2MB FlashConnectivity: Infineon CYW43439 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi with onboard antenna23 x Digital I/O3 x Analog InputsDimensions: 51 x 21 mmhttps://www.theregister.com/2022/06/30/pi_pico_w/

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 30, 2022, 04:49:25 pm
content: Can anyone actually find it for 6EUR? I see 7.5 EUR everywhere. Still going to buy one, just curios. The Zero W was also not available at the advertised price.

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 30, 2022, 05:02:31 pm
content: Quote from: tszaboo on June 30, 2022, 04:49:25 pmThere are two versions, of the new one (making a total of three, 1 old and 2 new), because there is also the version which includes pre-soldered header pins. I.e. W or WH versions, W=Wireless, H=with header pins. The H option adds a bit of cost, maybe that is the version you found?Examples:Raspberry Pi Pico W at £6https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/raspberry-pi-pico-w?variant=40059369619539Raspberry Pi Pico WH at £7.20, same link, but you need to flip the product selector type button.Also, the WH (with header pins pre-soldered) version, is rumored NOT to be available until August, I think.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 30, 2022, 06:21:13 pm
content: Just saw that.The Pi Hut has it for under 6 EUR:https://thepihut.com/collections/pico/products/raspberry-pi-pico-w

author: Doctorandus_P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 30, 2022, 10:02:03 pm
content: The pi hut does not list in EUR, but it uses some weird foreign units that are proprietary to that hole in the North Sea.

author: tellurium
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 30, 2022, 11:53:56 pm
content: Also there are WiFi & Ethernet RP2040 based boards from WizNet:https://www.mouser.ie/c/?q=wiznet%20rp2040

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 01, 2022, 01:38:29 am
content: Quote from: Doctorandus_P on June 30, 2022, 10:02:03 pmThere's a button for that. But thanks for butting in.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 01, 2022, 05:47:29 pm
content: I was also perplexed about the point of the RP2040 in general until I actually tried it. It's cheap, it's actually available, it's plenty powerful for many applications, it's amazingly overclockable - it runs reliably at up to 400 MHz or so, the PIO is great, the support is good and the documentation as well. The C SDK is also reasonably good and not too bloated. Compare that to many "similar" (but that won't even come close for a number of the above points) cheap chinese MCUs.The Pico dev boards themselves are cool for hobbyists or people willing to prototype a solution around it. The W version, why not? The RF SoC they picked is good and also well documented (at least compared to some other, more obscure chinese solutions). It makes the board a definite alternative to those ubiquitous ESP32 boards for many applications.Just a thought. In any case, use whatever fits your bill, you're comfortable with and that is uh... available? Having more choice here is a good thing.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 01, 2022, 06:44:10 pm
content: Quote from: evb149 on July 01, 2022, 04:00:01 amI have an ESP32-S3 board that is supported by circuitpython. BLE doesn't work, asked Adafruit, they are clueless when they can make it work. The files for it were hidden on the server, because my memory configuration was slightly different than whatever they thought the standard is, and at no point did I get any warnings about it. I2C didn't work properly. I just gave up because frankly I dont have the time to fix everything.With a standard board like this, that many people will get, at least everything will work. Probably.

author: westfw
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 01, 2022, 08:24:35 pm
content: QuoteFrom the CYW43439, it's not clear that the Bluetooth stuff is accessible from the SPI interface that the Pico W has connected. There are separate pins for BT (UART and Audio!)Those pins are not connected to the rp2040.It seems very odd not to have a fully out-of-band interface to the BT functionality, so perhaps I didn't read carefully enough, or perhaps that's all part of the "blob" that isn't documented outside of NDA/etc. (grr.)It seems highly likely that the sorts of low-power applications that some people want from BT are not possible, though. (Low power features now becoming a "traditional" weakness of the RPi Microcontrollers.)(Man, that Infineon/Cypress data sheet is ... poor. Sometimes there is an M3 (main) and an M4 (BT) processor, and sometimes two M3s are shown. Sigh. Maybe it doesn't matter if the second CPU is essentially inaccessible.)

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 02, 2022, 06:23:32 pm
content: Quote from: westfw on July 01, 2022, 08:24:35 pmThe CYW43439 implements a serial and audio profile for Bluetooth, which are accessible using dedicated interfaces (UART, PCM). I haven't read the datasheet deeply enough to know whether Bluetooth could be accessible at a lower level, implementing your own profiles, and through other interfaces such as SPI. That may not be the case. This chip seems not to be as flexible as some other RF SoC such as the CC2640, but it's probably intentional. It's easier to use and cheaper.The RPï foundation has explicitely stated that the Pico W did not support Bluetooth:https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/raspberry-pi-pico-w-your-6-iot-platform/QuoteQuote from: westfw on July 01, 2022, 08:24:35 pmThe rationale for RPi not to enable Bluetooth for the Pico W is unknown, but indeed the RP2040 is not designed to be low-power enough to be a good fit for very low-power applications. It's lowest power mode is "lame" compared to most commercial low-power MCUs out there (even much more powerful ones.) From the DS and a few measurements I made, it doesn't seem possible to get much lower than 1 mA or so even in the lowest power mode, which is like 2-3 orders of magnitude higher than your average low-power MCU (like the stop modes of the STM32.)That said, Bluetooth can be useful even if you don't use BLE, and even if your device is not ultra low-power. A constant audio streaming for instance using a Bluetooth audio profile is not particularly low power. Or any "serial" high-speed link using Bluetooth.Quote from: westfw on July 01, 2022, 08:24:35 pmI didn't find any mention of a Cortex M4 inside the CYW43439 DS. Only M3. Where did I miss it?

author: tellurium
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 03, 2022, 09:04:52 am
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on July 02, 2022, 06:23:32 pmRight. Other applications could be a wifi/bluetooth gateway - like, catching beacon signals with sensor data, or enumerating/reading/writing bluetooth devices from internets.

author: westfw
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 04, 2022, 06:28:00 am
content: Quote[size=0px]I don’t see M4 mentioned in the “datasheet”, but it’s in the block diagram on the Infineon “product page:https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/wireless-connectivity/airoc-wi-fi-plus-bluetooth-combos/cyw43439/

author: rooppoorali
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 17, 2022, 01:50:30 pm
content: Has anyone bought it recently?

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 25, 2022, 12:58:49 pm
content: Pi Pico W, has all its main ICs photographed/opened, internally. It is interesting to see the detailed explanations, in the video, of how the various bits come together, and make its hardware.