Solder Party Launches New BB Q20 Keyboard, RP2040 Stamp Round Carrier, and a FlexyPin Wio Adapter

Open source hardware specialist Solder Party has announced a trio of new board designs, including a Raspberry Pi RP2040-powered compact keyboard and a circular carrier board for the company's earlier RP2040 Stamp system-on-module.

Solder Party launched its original BBQ10KBD board two years ago, taking the physical QWERTY keyboard from discarded BlackBerry Q10 smartphones and turning it into a standalone device with PMOD connector for use with microcontrollers, FPGAs, and more. The first of the company's latest launches is a direct successor: the BB Q20 Keyboard, now boasting an on-board Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller.

As well as the keyboard keys, the BB Q20 Keyboard includes an optical trackpad in place of the Q10's trackball and full support for USB Human Interface Device (HID) operation via a USB Type-C connector to the top — though, for embedded projects, there's also a Qwiic interface plus the same PMOD options as its predecessor. An injection-molded transparent case is included, to improve comfort in use.

The RP2040 Stamp Round Carrier, meanwhile, does exactly as the name suggests: Provides a carrier board for Solder Party's earlier RP2040 Stamp microcontroller module. In addition to a three-in-one footprint offering surface-mount, through-hole, and FlexyPin options, the latter of which allows for solder-free module installation, the carrier breaks out general-purpose input/output (GPIO) pins to alligator-clip and sewing-friendly contact points, offers a physical on/off switch, two user-accessible buttons, and connectors for USB Type-C or lithium-polymer batteries — plus a ring of 16 individually-addressable RGB LEDs for good measure.

The final entry in Solder Party's new range is the Wio RP2040 FlexyPin Adapter, designed to accept the aforementioned Wio RP2040 module — which combines Raspberry Pi's popular dual-core microcontroller with Wi-Fi connectivity — and adapt it for use in a breadboard. Its key selling point: The use of FlexyPins, as with the RP2040 Stamp Round Carrier, which allows the module to be installed without soldering.

The new products are now all available on the Solder Party Lectronz store, priced at $28 for the BB Q20, $8.50 for the RP2040 Stamp Round Carrier plus $11 for an RP2040 Stamp to put in it, and just $1 for the Wio RP2040 FlexyPin Adapter — plus $6 for a pack of 100 FlexyPins to install in it. Design files, meanwhile, are available on GitHub under the CERN Open Hardware License v1.2.