Last week (Thursday, August 8th 2024) the Raspberry Pi foundation launched its new Raspberry Pi Pico 2 with RP2350. It is a microcontroller with two options (selectable) of processor: Either dual core ARM Cortex-M33 or dual core Hazard3 RISC-V.

It is mostly regarded as a drop-in replacement for the consolidated RP2040. But with a lot more packed inside, as for example 520k RAM (double the RP2040 amount), 150MHz clock speed and external support for QSPI PSRAM (memory).

Features

In terms of security features the chip has support to signed boot, 8kb one-time-programmable memory, SHA-256 acceleration and a TRNG (true random number generator).

Features also an onboard LDO SMPS (switch mode power supply). There can exist four versions of the chip:

• RP2350A, QFN60 without flash
• RP2350B, QFN80 without flash
• RP2354A, QFN60 with 2Mb flash
• RP2354B, QFN80 with 2Mb flash

Availability

It is said in the official page that the chip will be mass available before the end of 2024.

Pinouts

QFN60 versions will feature 30 GPIO and QFN80 will have 48 GPIO. Like the RP2040, the new RP2350 has PIO control (programmable IOs).

Software

In terms of software the official documentation cites CircuitPython, microPython and C/C++, no mention to Arduino. There is also mention to Pigweed, a tool made by Google to supply C++ libraries. Reading Pigweed’s website I got the impression that it is more of a professional/mass production tool than a hobbyist one.

Final words

There is a lot of fuzz and buzz around the RP2350 these days, specially with the selectable core feature (RISC-V/ARM). I have already ordered mine here in Brazil with a local seller (MakerHero) and am waiting for it to come to me. So that I can try it out and learn how to develop with it.

See you next time.