Pimoroni Badger 2040 is a Raspberry Pi RP2040 board equipped with a 2.9-inch black and white E-Ink display with 296 x 128 resolution and programmable with C/C++, MicroPython, or CircuitPython.
The board is not just an ePaper badge, as it also comes with five buttons, and expansion capability through a Qwiic/STEMMA QT connector plus some pads with UART, I2C, interrupt, and power signals.
Badger RP2040 specifications:
- MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Arm Cortex M0+ running at up to 133Mhz with 264kB of SRAM
- Storage – 2MB QSPI flash
- Display – 2.9-inch B&W E Ink display with 296 x 128 pixels resolution, ultrawide viewing angles, ultra-low power consumption; Dot pitch – 0.227 x 0.226 mm
- USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power and programming
- Expansion
- Qwiic/STEMMA QT connector
- 10 pads with I2C, an interrupt pin, UART, SWC/SWD, 3.3V, GND
- Misc
- 5x front user buttons
- Reset and boot buttons (the boot button can also be used as a user button)
- White LED
- Power Supply
- 5V via USB-C port
- JST-PH connector for attaching a battery (input range 2.7V – 6V)
- High-precision voltage reference for battery level monitoring
- Dimensions – 85 x 48 x 9 mm
Pimoroni provides C++ and MicroPython samples for all their Raspberry Pi RP2040 board on Github, and you’ll also find CircuitPython firmware for the Badger 2040 on the official website.
The board ships with a dual AAA battery holder, two AAA batteries, velcro squares, a black lanyard made from recycled plastic bottles, and a USB-C to USB-A cable for programming.
The Badger 2040 has been around for a couple of months, and Les Pounder from Tom’s Hardware reviewed the board in March. He was rather satisfied with the experience notably with the easy-to-use library, the nice-looking screen, the Stemma QT connector for expansion, and support for both USB and battery power, but lamented the lack of an on-board charging circuit, and Pimoroni does not provide an enclosure. The good news is that Andreas Känner released a 3D printable case in April a few weeks after the review.
The Badger 2040 Raspberry Pi RP2040 E-Ink board can be purchased for about $17 (board only) or $23.50 with all accessories shown above (Third photo from the top).
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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No wireless connectivity? What could it be used for?
E.g. small e-book reader, tiny game console (there is Chrome Dino game ported), quiz machine, virtual keyboard…
You can connect ESP8266/ESP32 via UART for WiFi.