Open-Source Project Turns Raspberry Pi Pico W Into a USB Wi-Fi Dongle

A GitLab project repurposes the Raspberry Pi Pico W as a USB Wi-Fi adapter. Instead of running its own firmware in isolation, the board connects to a host computer over USB and presents itself as a network interface, using the Pico W’s onboard wireless radio to give the host Wi-Fi connectivity — essentially a do-it-yourself alternative to a commercial USB Wi-Fi dongle.

The appeal is cost and hackability. The Pico W is an inexpensive RP2040 microcontroller board with an integrated wireless chip, so building a working adapter from one is cheap and fully programmable. That makes it a practical option for desktops or older machines without built-in Wi-Fi, and an attractive base for tinkerers who want firmware they can read, modify, and extend rather than a sealed black-box device.

The source provides little beyond the project’s premise, so specifics on supported drivers, throughput, and host operating systems would need to come from the repository itself. As an open-source maker effort, its value lies less in raw performance than in demonstrating how versatile the low-cost Pico W platform has become.