[tobijkl]

The documentation is excellent, and the Programmable I/O (PIO) is a unique feature. Still, the lack of WiFi and Bluetooth makes the RP2040 uninteresting for me compared to the ESP32 in a DIY project. With the ESP32, I can quickly throw in a web interface and use Over-The-Air updates. I think they missed the opportunity to position them against the ESP32.

[martyvis]

Totally agree. Their release seems to make it seem that dual core with multiple hundred K of RAM is unique. The elephant in the room is while it has nice GPIO interfaces for sensors, you want onboard wireless for backhaul. Espressif have had this space for a couple of years now.

[kortex]

I can think of many application with no need for wireless backhaul, or where wireless becomes a liability. It boils down to cost, power, noise, security, frequency used, and complexity. LoRa or similar is probably better than Wifi for many applications. I like that it isn't opinionated about the wireless stack.

I'm guessing that lots of Picos will see use as enhanced GPIOs for Pi "motherships," which provide backhaul to multiple wired-in Picos.

In fact I have a project which could use a decidedly non-wireless USB GPIO, for use on an airplane imaging system.

[antattack]

What you say is true, however, $1 is a killer feature.

It can replace many IC and will make a very good addition to ESP32 which lacks pins for many projects. And, sometimes you want external chip so output is not affected by ESP32 reboots or freezes.

[6f8986c3]

For secure applications, on-board wireless makes your life hell. I'm actually pretty happy they didn't.

[nousermane]

Depending on application and how you define "secure", you might find that having an easily sniffable SPI/SDIO/UART connection between main MCU and wifi chip can be a weakness.

[6f8986c3]

I believe the point is "no wifi whatsoever".

If you need wifi, by all means, go integrated. But not everybody does.

[mschuster91]

The problem with onboard wireless is that this adds a boatload of complexity regarding certification in various regulatory domains, trademark compliance, ...

[nousermane]

...not to mention massive code size increase, for wifi/bt driver. And that driver is likely to come as an inscrutable binary blob.

[dimatura]

If you do want bluetooth/WiFI, agreed, it's annoying to not have it, true. I rarely need either capability, so I don't mind too much. (And it's remarkable that ESP32's are so cheap that I find myself using them even if I don't use those features).

On the other hand I often find myself missing USB-related features on the ESP32, such as being able to act as HID device or even a USB host. The ESP32-S2 fixes that, although software support for that is still relatively immature.

[selykg]

There are some other solutions based on the RP2040 that will include wifi and bluetooth. So you'll just have to pickup one of those if you want them. I suspect they will be more expensive but probably not prohibitively so.

For instance: https://launch.arduino.cc/nano-rp2040

[cjdaly]

yes! I found these on sale at digikey. Search for "arduino nano rp2040". They cost about $28.

[guenthert]

The PIO is a very neat feature, allowing (limited) hard real time programming (even when using MicroPython) and while perhaps uncommon, it's not exactly unique: TI Sitara MCU (as used e,g, in Beagle Bone Black etc.) offers more capable Programmable Realtime Units (limited functionality co-processors). The Raspberry Pico board is however much cheaper (not sure about the price of the MCUs).

[taf2]

I agree what would have been really interesting for me is if the pico board had had wifi and support for pi camera… then you’d have a board to compete nicely with the Esp32 cam

[numpad0]

Pair it with ESP32-SOLO or nRF5. That’s what ESP8266 was originally meant for, a wireless modem chip. Remember back when ESP-01 came with AT command firmware?