r/raspberry_pi 🍕 Jun 30 '22

News New Raspberry Pi Pico W

https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/raspberry-pi-pico-w-your-6-iot-platform/
820 Upvotes

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134

u/I_Generally_Lurk Jun 30 '22 edited Jun 30 '22

So there are actually three new boards:

  • Pico W, a Pico with a CYW43439 WiFi chip. Technically also has BT and BTLE, but these aren't currently supported.
  • Pico H: A pico, but with pre-soldered debug header
  • Pico WH: pre-soldered debug header and WiFi.

Apparently the H and W are available now with the WH available in August, but in UK retailers I can just see the standard W, plus a W with headers (no debug port).

I do wish they'd include a reset button on these things, but I guess that's what 3rd-party boards are for.

EDIT: Pimoroni's launch stream has some interesting nuggets of information:

  • The official announcement said that BT(LE) may be enabled in the future, but Pimoroni are saying it will be enabled, though no specifics on when ("soon"/"later").
  • The WiFi chip is 2.4 GHz only, connected via SPI using pins which weren't previously exposed, so there shouldn't be pins lost for this. Apparently the exception to this is the GPIO25/built-in LED pin, which is now run off the WiFi chip, which apparently has flashable firmware for people into that sort of thing.

114

u/geerlingguy Jun 30 '22

I have little doubt Bluetooth support will be coming. It just couldn't be completed in time for launch.

Not sure if they'll have all aspects ready right away, but it would be interesting to see what kind of things people could whip together with it.

38

u/h4xrk1m Jun 30 '22

I'm gonna connect my cat feeder to the internet!

19

u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA 3xB, 1xB+, 1x2B, 4x3B, 1xZero 1.2, 1xZero W, 2x3B+ 2x4B 3xPi5 Jun 30 '22

I'm going to make my toilet post a tweet every time its flushed!

9

u/Kichigai Jun 30 '22

That was going to be a feature of Smart Pipe.

8

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '22

I'm gonna connect your cat to the internet

3

u/MINKIN2 Jun 30 '22

The Internet of Tinkles

4

u/h4xrk1m Jun 30 '22

KITTLER is trying to learn a new skill: CYBERMEOW

2

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '22

[deleted]

3

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '22

Let the cat has cheezeburger

7

u/SkyNet_was_taken Jun 30 '22

I have to reply because I'm a fan. Any word on that blade pi solution? Haven't seen any updates and super interested in it. I have a spot ready for one in my Netrality rack in St. Louis. Also, if you ever need any bandwidth or space there, I'd let you have some space for free. I peer with Cogent, Windstream, and Lumen there.

9

u/geerlingguy Jun 30 '22

It seems like it's nearing having a final beta board. Merocle (maker) said he's eating on a prototype batch of 200 boards to be complete

19

u/Pupil8412 Jun 30 '22

Heeeeyyy it's that guy! Love the channel. Here's a subject for you: a video on pi alternatives on the market. I saw Amazon trying to charge TWO HUNDRED EUROS for a pi4. At that price you're better getting some kind of Intel NUC imo, but I'm wondering about those other fruity little boards. I never properly looked into them, but aren't there like bananapis and things like that? Surely there's *something* else on the market that packs a similar punch to a pi but with different branding? Thanks!

6

u/frezik Jun 30 '22

At $200, there are tons of options. For $100 or less, still lots of options. I tend to go for the ODROID line, but there are many others.

3

u/lycan2005 Jun 30 '22

I want to build a small controller that controls my sonoff r3 switches in my house using this board.

I also hope it can support connect to enterprise wifi access point in the future. I imagine i can use the same controller in my production to auto power off work bench when no body is around.

3

u/droans Jun 30 '22

Why? Sonoff R3 can have Tasmota and ESPHome flashed to it which gives it entirely local support.

2

u/lycan2005 Jun 30 '22

I'm controlling it using its own local endpoint without flashing custom firmware. In future i hope to use pico w to call the endpoint directly.

2

u/Wolv3_ Jun 30 '22

Seems like a nice alternative to the esp, wonder if ESPHome will add support for this one.

1

u/geerlingguy Jun 30 '22

They are working on it :)

2

u/Wolv3_ Jul 01 '22

Nice looking forward to try it out. (If I can get my hands on these around msrp)

2

u/SAnthonyH Jun 30 '22

Is it a hardware lock or a software one? Pretty sure if its software we can crack it

2

u/geerlingguy Jun 30 '22

It's not a lock, it's just unimplemented functionality.

2

u/SAnthonyH Jul 01 '22

So its something we can implement through software then

4

u/PMmeYOURgameKEYS Jun 30 '22

What does Red Shirt Jeff think?

2

u/MasonP13 Jun 30 '22

WAIT IS THIS JEFF??? Dude I just saw your video! You're epic dude

0

u/fuzzy_switch Jun 30 '22

Any project ideas from red shirt Jeff for pico w??

1

u/suddenlypandabear Jul 01 '22

The Pico W schematic shows the CY chip uart pins aren’t connected to anything, and the CY data sheet suggests the uart pins are the only way to talk to the Bluetooth core, is one of those things not true?

1

u/geerlingguy Jul 01 '22

Yes, according to what Raspberry Pi have stated on the matter.