Solder Party has announced three new carrier boards for its tiny RP2040 Stamp module, including a clever handheld console — and is making them available early as “Flux projects.”
Solder Party unveiled the RP2040 Stamp last year, building around the then shiny-new Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller to create a tiny 1″-square system-on-module. In December, the company released the RP2040 Stamp for purchase — along with a carrier board inspired by the classic Arduino Uno. Earlier this year, a round carrier board designed to play nice with alligator clips and conductive thread joined the family — and now there are three more carrier boards from which to choose.
Solder Party’s RP2040 Stamp module now has three new carriers, including the impressive Handheld Console. (📷: Solder Party)
The RP2040 Stamp Handheld Console, as the first of the carriers is imaginatively named, converts the module into a compact handheld console with six face buttons and a single-color 1.3″ 128×64 OLED display. Elsewhere on the board is a speaker, a physical power switch, solder points for an optional battery, a Qwiic connector for external hardware, and an RGB LED. “As the console is powered by the Stamp,” Solder Party explains, “you can run CircuitPython on it as well as Arduino, including experimental support for the Arduboy2 library.”
The second of the new carrier boards is the MacroPad, which uses the Stamp to power — what else — a 3×4 macro pad. In addition to the solder points for 12 mechanical switches — not included — the board’s design includes one RGB LED per key, three function buttons, and the same 1.3″ OLED panel as the Handheld Console carrier. “The board features a 3-in-1 combo RP2040 Stamp footprint,” Solder Party adds, “meaning you can solder the Stamp directly using the SMD pads, use 2mm pin headers, or using our FlexyPins!”
The MacroPad includes three control buttons in addition to its mechanical keys, with a display as an added bonus. (📷: Solder Party)
The final new carrier is the Photo Light, a 4×4 matrix of RGB LEDs designed to provide programmable mood lighting for photography projects. As well as the LEDs, the board includes a three-way switch, a Qwiic connector for external hardware, a power switch, USB Type-C connectivity, and a connector for a lithium-polymer battery — plus mounting holes that, the company suggests, could be used to hold an optional diffuser in place.
What all three of the new boards have in common, beside the RP2040 Stamp, is their status as “Flux” projects. “At Solder Party, we always want to get interesting products in people’s hands. However, releasing a product is no easy feat, we need to make sure everything is polished, provide documentation, examples, and extensive support,” the company explains. “With Flux, we want to streamline the process a bit, get fun projects into everyone’s hands quicker.
The Photo Light aims to offer smart programmable lighting for photo and video work. (📷: Solder Party)
“Flux projects are more experimental in nature. While they are tested and verified, the documentation might not be fully there, and the examples might be very basic,” Solder Party continues. “Flux projects are targeted at people who are not scared to put a bit of extra work into getting the project to where they want it to end up. These projects are also produced in smaller quantities, there is no guarantee there will be more produced in the future. Even if there is a new batch, it might differ from the initial version.”
The carriers are now available to order on the Solder Party Lectronz store, priced at $10 for the Photo Light, $14 for the MacroPad, and $16 for the Handheld Console; design files and source code for each are available on the Solder Party GitHub repository under the CERN Open Hardware License v1.2. A 3D-printable case for the Handheld Console has additionally been published to Printables under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International license.