Not just that the output channels can switch up to 4A (sourcing) per channel. It's a bit of a beast I was struggling to find setups to test its full capabilities :D
I'm getting the impression the Pi Foundation is abandoning the Linux based pi's and moving to the pico's. Pi commercial arm seems to have abandoned consumers and focusing on commercial. Great to see Pimoroni continuing to innovate.
It's the chip shortage causing an unpleasant but necessary shift in priorities. The Raspberry Pi foundation simply can't build enough PIs to cope with demand when demand was already outstripping supply. Eben Upton stated at the start of all this chaos that the Raspberry Pi foundation would be prioritising industrial applications as if those customers weren't supplied businesses would go bust and be unable to feed their families. However, he also stated that the RP2040(pico) chip had no similar supply issues. So Pimoroni, Adafruit, Sparkfun, et al. have retooled/converted/modified their PI product lines to provide the same functionality the PI enjoys through HATs, breakouts etc. to the PICO microcontroller. This isn't a bad thing at all. Let's be honest do you really need a full Unix stack to run an e-ink picture frame? A weather station? A led matrix? A bitcoin tracker? etc. No. In fact bolting a RPI on often limits the functionality as the pi usually needs constant power even though the 'use case' doesn't. Like you I'm massively impressed with what Pimoroni are doing with the Pico especially now that the Pico W is GA. The new Enviro range is simply awesome!
That’s one heck of a board! Up to 40V Good lord.
Not just that the output channels can switch up to 4A (sourcing) per channel. It's a bit of a beast I was struggling to find setups to test its full capabilities :D
I'm getting the impression the Pi Foundation is abandoning the Linux based pi's and moving to the pico's. Pi commercial arm seems to have abandoned consumers and focusing on commercial. Great to see Pimoroni continuing to innovate.
It's the chip shortage causing an unpleasant but necessary shift in priorities. The Raspberry Pi foundation simply can't build enough PIs to cope with demand when demand was already outstripping supply.
Eben Upton stated at the start of all this chaos that the Raspberry Pi foundation would be prioritising industrial applications as if those customers weren't supplied businesses would go bust and be unable to feed their families.
However, he also stated that the RP2040(pico) chip had no similar supply issues. So Pimoroni, Adafruit, Sparkfun, et al. have retooled/converted/modified their PI product lines to provide the same functionality the PI enjoys through HATs, breakouts etc. to the PICO microcontroller. This isn't a bad thing at all.
Let's be honest do you really need a full Unix stack to run an e-ink picture frame? A weather station? A led matrix? A bitcoin tracker? etc. No. In fact bolting a RPI on often limits the functionality as the pi usually needs constant power even though the 'use case' doesn't.
Like you I'm massively impressed with what Pimoroni are doing with the Pico especially now that the Pico W is GA. The new Enviro range is simply awesome!