You’re almost certainly going to want to plug some extra hardware into your microcontroller to build your projects. Whether that’s sensors, displays, or actuators, it’s this extra hardware that is usually the point of microcontroller projects. There are already some great accessories for Pico, but if you want to get access to a huge range of add-ons, the best solution is to jump right into one of the biggest microcontroller ecosystems around – Feather. Adafruit’s Feather RP2040 has the standard pinout that lets you plug in almost any Feather add-on (or Wing as they are known). These are stackable, so you can add several of them if you need lots of features for your project.
21 GPIOs are broken out, and there’s also on-board LiPo battery charging if you need your project to be
portable, and a STEMMA QT connector for adding even more hardware. There’s 4MB of flash for storing your data and programs, and like the Mini, there are both reset and boot buttons. All this means that the board is slightly wider than Pico (one row on a breadboard).
The Feather RP2040 comes set up and ready to run CircuitPython. CircuitPython includes excellent support for Adafruit (and other) hardware.
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
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