Bit-banged 10BASE-T Ethernet and Wi-Fi router in Rust on the Pico 2 W

Name: Bit-banged 10BASE-T Ethernet and Wi-Fi router in Rust on the Pico 2 W
Availability: InStock
Author: mdeeds

by mdeeds·Jun 4, 2026·5 points·0 comments

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AI Analysis

●●●●GemWizardryBig BrainNiche Gem

Software 10BASE-T PHY on a $5 MCU removes need for dedicated Ethernet hardware.

Strengths

•Software Manchester decoding at 10Mbps pushes PIO timing constraints to the absolute limit.
•Full NAPT router with Wi-Fi AP demonstrates functional utility beyond a protocol demo.
•Rust `no_std` on dual RISC-V cores ensures memory safety without garbage collection overhead.

Weaknesses

•RX throughput caps at 100 KB/s, below the 10BASE-T theoretical limit.
•Requires specific external RS-485 transceiver and magnetics, limiting hardware compatibility.

Post Description

Software 10BASE-T Ethernet (using PIO to bit-bang TX and RX) and wireless router on the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W. Running cyw43 + an async executor in rust on the RP2350's RISC-V cores. Using cheap and minimal external hardware (just a magjack and ISL3177E RS-485 transceiver). I wanted to see how far I could get with the cheap, MCU-based, Wi-Fi router idea and learn some more about using rust on the RP2350 and RISC-V. Definitely not a good choice for a home router but it could be useful for low-rate IoT traffic.

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