The Waveshare RP2350-USB Development Board Series consists of tiny, high-performance microcontroller boards built around Raspberry Pi’s RP2350A chip. Each board features a unique dual-port setup: a primary USB-C connector for power, debugging, and programming, alongside a secondary USB interface powered by the RP2350's programmable I/O (PIO-USB). This layout lets the board act simultaneously as a microcontroller and a USB host or device bridge—ideal for building custom keyboards, USB dongles, macro pads, or hardware emulators.
Connector Variants: Which One Should You Choose?
All three board variants share identical internal hardware, memory, processor power, and pinout arrangements. The only difference is the physical configuration of the secondary PIO-USB interface:
| Feature / Use Case | RP2350-USB-C (Female USB-C) | RP2350-USB-CM (Male USB-C) | RP2350-USB-A (Male USB-A) |
| Secondary Port Style | Female USB-C receptacle | Male USB-C plug | Male USB-A plug |
| Connection Method | Accepts external USB-C cables | Plugs directly into USB-C host ports | Plugs directly into standard USB-A host ports |
| Best Used For | Host applications (connecting external peripherals) | Modern USB-C dongle / keystroke emulation | Standard PC USB-A dongle / legacy host emulation |
| Ideal Projects | Custom USB hubs, macro keypads, hardware tools accepting external USB inputs | Modern laptop USB security keys (Passkeys/YubiKey style), BadUSB tools, USB-C expansion dongles | Standard PC security keys, flash-drive style hardware tools, desktop automation dongles |
Choose the Female USB-C (RP2350-USB-C) variant if: You want to plug standard cables or external USB-C devices (like mice, flash drives, or keyboards) into the board to process their data.
Choose the Male USB-C (RP2350-USB-CM) variant if: You want to plug the board directly into a computer, tablet, or phone's USB-C port without using a cable.
Choose the Male USB-A (RP2350-USB-A) variant if: You want to plug the board directly into a standard USB-A port on desktop PCs, laptops, or power hubs like a traditional USB thumb drive.
Technical Specifications
| Component | Specification |
| Microcontroller | Raspberry Pi RP2350A |
| CPU Architecture | Dual-core ARM Cortex-M33 / Dual-core Hazard3 RISC-V (up to 150 MHz) |
| Memory | 520 KB SRAM + 2 MB Onboard NOR Flash |
| Primary Interface | USB Type-C Receptacle (Power, Flashing & Native USB 1.1) |
| Secondary Interface | PIO-Driven USB (Available as Female USB-C, Male USB-C, or Male USB-A) |
| GPIO Pinout | 15× Multifunction GPIO pins via castellated header pads |
| Peripherals | 2× SPI, 2× I2C, 2× UART, 4× 12-bit ADC, PWM channels |
| Onboard Features | WS2812 RGB LED, BOOT button, RESET button, 500mA LDO power regulator |
| Programming Support | C/C++ SDK, MicroPython, CircuitPython, Arduino IDE |
