Oak Development Technologies' BREAD 2040 Brings All RP2040 Features to Breadboard Users

Oak Development Technologies is back with another board design, this time taking the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller and making every function accessible to breadboard users: the BREAD 2040.

"The BREAD 2040 was designed in an inspirational burst of energy while watching the CircuitPython Day Adafruit Board Tour," hardware developer Seth Kerr explains. "The BREAD 2040 takes an old fashion approach to this design, keeping in mind bread board friendliness as well as providing modern USB style plugs with the USB Type-C connector."

There's no hiding that the board is inspired by the Raspberry Pi Pico, which is also a breadboard-friendly design based around the low-cost RP2040 microcontroller. The BREAD 2040 breaks away from its inspiration with a few key design changes — starting with the use of a USB Type-C connector for data and power where the Pico uses a micro-USB.

Another tweak is in the inclusion of a physical reset button, as well as the usual boot-mode button, and a NeoPixel-compatible SK6812mini RGB LED in place of the Pico's on-board single-color LED.

The biggest change, though: The Serial Wire Debug (SWD) pins, which are located on the short end of the Raspberry Pi Pico opposite the USB connector, are brought out to the side, meaning that every single function of the chip is available on the breadboard.

ODT has launched the board on Tindie at $12.95, which is admittedly a hike over the $4 Raspberry Pi Pico.