First 'Pi Silicon' Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect Spotted

News
By Les Pounder
published

Fresh 'Pi' from the oven

Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect
(Image credit: Arduino)

The Raspberry Pi Pico introduced the RP2040 SoC, aka 'Pi Silicon,' to the world in January 2021, and it also brought about an interesting collaboration between Raspberry Pi and Arduino, which saw the announcement of an Arduino powered by Pi Silicon but with extra features not found in the Raspberry Pi Pico. In a recent tweet from the official Arduino account, we have finally seen the board fresh from wave soldering.

The Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect shares the same DIP style package, ideal for use on a breadboard or embedding into a project via castellated GPIO pins. The Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect has only 30 GPIO pins, versus the 40 present on the Raspberry Pi Pico. What we lose in GPIO pins we gain in extra features, and the Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect will come with WiFi, Bluetooth, and a 9-axis IMU sensor and microphone. These extra features mean that the Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect could become the ideal board for IoT projects.

Being an Arduino product, the Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect can be programmed via the Arduino IDE, Arduino Create web editor, and appliances created using the IoT Cloud.  If you prefer MicroPython, the good news is that Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect can also be coded in this language.

There is still no indication on price or availability, but Tom's Hardware will be reviewing this board and many other RP2040 boards from other partners.

Les Pounder
Les Pounder

Les Pounder is an associate editor at Tom's Hardware. He is a creative technologist and for seven years has created projects to educate and inspire minds both young and old. He has worked with the Raspberry Pi Foundation to write and deliver their teacher training program "Picademy".

2 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Findecanor
    The board has 30 pins in total, compared to 40 pins in total on the Raspberry Pi Pico.

    The classic Arduino Nano has 22 GPIO pins, and I would be surprised if this new board's pinout would be different.
    A Pico has 26 GPIO pins out of 30 supported by the RP2040 chip.
    Reply
  • OldSurferDude
    I was disappointed with the Pi Pico because the development environment appeared to be pretty clunky. I have found the Arduino IDE very useable (yeah, it has some problems.) This, in and of itself, IMHO, makes it a better choice.

    The execute-in-place hardware will make very compelling (putting your code into external flash)

    The price will certainly dictate how I would be using it.
    Reply