Olimex Unveils the RP2040-PICO-PC Carrier and the RP2040-Py Drop-In Raspberry Pi Pico Replacement

Bulgarian open-hardware specialist Olimex has shown off the initial prototype for its RP2040-PICO-PC, a carrier board that turns the $4 Raspberry Pi Pico into a functional personal computer — and has teased an own-brand drop-in Pico replacement, the RP2040-Py, powered by the same RP2040 microcontroller but with added features.

The Raspberry Pi Pico and the in-house RP2040 microcontroller it carries have proven incredibly popular since their launch earlier this year, aided in the first part by the impressive $4 price point and in the latter by Raspberry Pi's decision to make the chip available for other manufacturers to design their own RP2040-powered board.

Olimex is currently working on two key RP2040-based products, the first designed to take a Raspberry Pi Pico and turn it into a low-power personal computer. "It's [a] small base board for RP2040-PICO, the $4 module with the Cortex-M0+ processor made by Raspberry Pi Foundation," Olimex's Tsvetan Usunov explains. "We were ready with the prototype for a long time but the RP2040-PICO modules were tricky to source."

The carrier board accepts the Raspberry Pi Pico and adds lithium-polymer battery support, a physical reset button, microSD storage, analog audio, DVI video via a physical HDMI connector, UEXT connector carrying UART, SPI, I2C, 3V3, and ground pins, a JST 2.0 four-pin connector with I2C and power, and a debug connector for a serial adapter.

While the Raspberry Pi Pico is designed with embedded tasks in mind, the features of the RP2040-PICO-PC give it potential as a personal computer — and the board may end up being compatible with various operating system projects which have already been released for the board, including Picosoft's ORANGE-Python and Graham Sanderson's BBC Micro emulator. The board will sell, the company has confirmed, for €12 (around $14) with pre-soldered headers.

At the same time Olimex has shown off a render of a drop-in pin-compatible replacement for the Raspberry Pi Pico, designed to get around the scarcity of boards in certain regions. "As RP2040-PICO modules now are not available in production quantities for purchase," Usunov explains, "we decided that until we wait we could make our own version of RP2040-PICO, which to be pin to pin drop in replacement. Fortunately some RP2040 processors are available now, so we can make our own DIL40 board, this is how our RP2040-Py board was born."

The RP2040-Py is the same size and with the same pinout as the Raspberry Pi Pico, but with a number of tweaks: The board includes 2MB of SPI flash, a micro-USB connector for power and data, a DC-DC power supply offering 3.3V at up to 2A, physical reset and boot buttons, a micro-UEXT connector on the underside, and a USB JTAG debugger at the end.

Usunov has confirmed plans to release three variants of the RP2040-Py: The Basic model will cost €5 (around $6) and have the DC-DC supply, uUEXT connector, and reset button; the Basic+ at €8 (around $9.50) will come with pre-soldered header and a power-only micro-USB connector, which can power the board while the main micro-USB is being used in USB device or host modes; and Debug, which will include the JTAG functionality and sell for €19 (around $23).

More information on all boards can be found on the Olimex blog.