[synergy20]

rp2040 might be a good alternative nowadays, esp with its PIO blocks. esp32 might have some other political "risks" these days as it is made in china.

[bonzini]

I am not sure why the Raspberry Pi Pico abandoned the 40 pin interface. It would be really cool to be able to develop C or Python code both under Linux, for ease of editing and debugging, and then run it on a microcontroller.

[synergy20]

pico does have 40 pins, and yes I develop all c/python on it under x86 linux, you can also develop it on a Raspberry Pi.

[bonzini]

I mean the 2x20 header. It's become a standard for Linux SBCs but not for microcontrollers.

The Pico doesn't let you use a Raspberry Pi with ssh to develop your code using the very same hardware modules that you will use on the microcontroller. You need to either make a mess of jumper cables, or cross compile and transfer the executable constantly over serial.