Adafruit have taken Raspberry Pi’s RP2040, the same SoC found in the Raspberry Pi Pico, and placed it into something different. A USB key shaped device with no GPIO and limited connectivity. What were they thinking? Adafruit have created a range of RP2040 powered boards, from their smallest, QT Py RP2040 to their largest Feather RP2040 all feature a selection of GPIO pins and most come with extra features.
For Adafruit’s latest RP2040 board we have a board designed around Adafruit’s Trinkey form factor that sees a Trinket style device merged with the convenience of a USB key. Trinkey QT2040 is designed for plug and play use and can be connected to any computer running any operating system.
Trinkey QT2040 offers a quick and simple means to build projects with the power of the RP2040 and so we did just that with a series of sensors connected via the handy Stemma Q / Qwiic connector.
Physically Trinkey QT2040 is slightly larger than the QT Py RP2040 but this is a good thing as Trinkey QT2040 has been designed to take advantage of many Stemma QT components that have a similar footprint. Using the four M2.5 screw holes we can stack components atop one another and by using short Stemma QT cables we can build neat and powerful projects.
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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.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
