Bit:2:Pi Allows the BBC Micro:Bit to Connect to Raspberry Pi Addon Boards

NB. BBC Micro:Bit is NOT included

The Bit:2:Pi enables you to re-use all those hundreds of Raspberry Pi addon boards and HATs.

Simply plug your micro:bit into the edge connector and the required Raspberry Pi Hat onto the GPIO connector, then program your micro:bit to control the new board. Most Raspberry Pi boards are very simple to program as they are controlled by simple on/off signals on the GPIO connector which are easily copied in the Micro:Bit. 4tronix have also used Neopixel hats (eg. Unicorn pHAT) with great success and are happily communicating via I2C as well.

Select which micro:bit pin is connected to which GPIO pin via a set of configurable jumpers. There is a default set of connections that works for the most common boards, including I2C and SPI connections, but it is a simple matter to unplug a jumper or two, and replace it with a longer wire jumper (4 included) to connect your preferred pins.

Of course, the original code for the Raspberry Pi won't run directly on the micro:bit but with support from our community we will get more and more boards working and with example microbit code.

Current boards tested include:

• 4tronix: PlayHat, Picon Zero, PiStop, motor controllers
• Pimoroni: Unicorn pHAT/HAT. Explorer, Enviro pHAT, Blinkt!, Scroll pHAT

Power is supplied to the board and the micro:bit via the micro-USB connector on the side, but there is also an option to add a battery holder to allow completely wire-free operation.

More details on the 4tronix blog