It’s been a while since I found my new RP2040 dev board, but I’m happy to see DFRobot’s Beetle RP2040 ( CNX software (opens in new tab)) added to sectors already containing PiMoroni Tiny (opens in new tab) and Adafruit QT Py (opens in new tab).
What makes the Beetle stand out is that it has only 12 mounting pads with through holes on the edges, compared to 26 on the larger Raspberry Pi Pico. (opens in new tab), which is 19 on Tiny and 14 on QT Py. Of these, two are GND, two voltage inputs and outputs, and the remaining GPIO, allowing up to 2x I2C, up to 2x UART, SPI, and up to 2x analog inputs. Additionally, there are fewer across his three sides of the controller, and the pads are larger at 4mm x 3.5mm than his other RP2040 devices, making them easier to solder.
The Beetle measures 27 x 20mm and its thickness is determined by the USB-C port used for power and data transfer. For comparison, the QT Py measures 22 x 18mm and the Tiny lives up to its name at his 19 x 18mm. RP2040 (opens in new tab) The specs are pretty much the same as elsewhere, with a dual-core Cortex-M0+ processor running at up to 133MHz and 264kB of SRAM. Additionally, it has 2MB of flash storage for instructions, which is less than found on other boards, and has boot and reset buttons, as well as user-addressable LEDs.
Create a project (opens in new tab)Of course, familiar C/C++ and Micro/Circuit Python programming is required. (opens in new tab) SDKs and Arduino (opens in new tab)and Mind+, a graphical programming interface based on Scratch 3.
Despite being more obviously limited than others, the Beetle has some useful connections that make it a great controller for lighting, peripherals, or reacting to sensor data.Selling For Less Than $7 From DFRobot Store (opens in new tab) At the time of writing, it appears to be in stock. Other Beetle boards based on ESP-32 and ATmega controllers are also available, but in different form factors.
