How to distinguish Pico from Pico W?

[aivarannamaa]

I haven't received my Pico W yet, but I'm told that that its INFO_UF2.TXT uses same Model and Board-ID values as original Pico. Do you know why is that?

Is there another way for distinguishing Pico W from original Pico in bootloader mode? I'd like to enhance Thonny's MicroPython installation dialog to pre-select proper MicroPython automatically.

What about USB PID/VID in normal mode? Are they same as on original Pico?

[jimmo]

I haven't received my Pico W yet, but I'm told that that its INFO_UF2.TXT uses same Model and Board-ID values as original Pico. Do you know why is that?

I don't have one yet either, but they're the same RP2040 chip -- the bootloader doesn't know anything about what else is on the board, and the bootloader on the RP2040 is in ROM.

What about USB PID/VID in normal mode? Are they same as on original Pico?

I believe they would be the same because MicroPython doesn't override it on these boards (again, haven't checked, but I can't see how it would be different from the code). We possibly could though -- might be worth raising an issue on github.com/micropython/micropthon and @kilograham

[scruss]

There's a slightly messy method here:

... reading ADC3 on a running Pico will always return something representing about 1V8-5V5, can never read 0V or thereabouts. On the Pico-W, by setting GPIO25 low one should be able to read 0V or thereabouts.

with some additional commentary in that thread. There's also an official method on page 25 of the "Connecting to the Internet" datasheet.

I haven't got a Pico W yet either, and it looks like mine are a week or more away

[Shards]

I have a couple of the new chips, available from day one here in the UK. I can confirm the INFO_UF2.TXT file is identical to the original board. Once micropython is installed it's easy enough to identify the new board. If nothing else it has a network module.

[danjperron]

OK I got both of them .

you could search for the term "Pico" and "Pico W" to figure out which firmware is for. Mostly check for "Pico W"

Code: Select all

pi@benchpi4:~/micropython/ports/rp2 $ grep -obUa "Pico " ./build-PICO/firmware.uf2
496680:Pico 
pi@benchpi4:~/micropython/ports/rp2 $ grep -obUa "Pico " ./build-PICO_W/firmware.uf2
757446:Pico 
pi@benchpi4:~/micropython/ports/rp2 $ grep -obUa "Pico W" ./build-PICO/firmware.uf2
pi@benchpi4:~/micropython/ports/rp2 $ grep -obUa "Pico W" ./build-PICO_W/firmware.uf2
757446:Pico W

[scruss]

Is there another way for distinguishing Pico W from original Pico in bootloader mode?

I did find a difference, but I'm not sure it's relevant. INDEX.HTM on a v1 silicon Raspberry Pi Pico includes the string version=E0C912952D54, but on a (v2 silicon) Pico W it's version=E0C9125B0D9B.

I don't have any other v2 silicon RP2040 boards to test whether the version relates to the silicon or something else. Other v1 silicon RP2040 boards contain E0C912952D54, so I'm not very hopeful that it can detect Pico Ws. It can certainly tell you if it's not a Pico W, though ...

[aivarannamaa]

Thanks for sharing this observation! But I think I'll refactor the installation dialog to present a dropdown with MicroPython variants rather than rely on index.htm