The FREE-WILi 2 (Founder Edition) is an open-hardware, portable hacking multitool and lab designed for hardware hackers, pentesters, and embedded system developers. Designed as an “open electronics multitool,” it combines a range of chips and modules into a handheld device, including two Raspberry Pi RP2350 MCUs, an ESP32-C5 for wireless connectivity, a Lattice ICE40UP5K FPGA, and a Raspberry Pi CM0 for running a full Linux OS.
The device also features a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen, a 14-button physical interface, and modular “Orca” headers for hardware expansion. Its wireless features include 2.4/5GHz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, LoRa, sub-GHz RF, NFC, 125kHz RFID, and IR. These features make it very suitable for wireless testing, embedded hardware debugging, real-time control, electronics development, and retro gaming, with support for Adafruit Fruit Jam, PICO-8, and Doom.
FREE-WILi 2 specifications:
- Compute
- Main MCUs – 2x Raspberry Pi RP2350B (One for main controls, one dedicated to display)
- SoM – Raspberry Pi CM0 (to run a full 64-bit Linux OS and run heavy Python scripts)
- SoC – Broadcom BCM2710A1
- CPU – Quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.0 GHz
- GPU – VideoCore IV GPU supporting OpenGL ES 1.1, 2.0 graphics
- VPU – H.264/MPEG-4 1080p30 video decoding, H.264 1080p30 video encoding
- System Memory – 512MB LPDDR2 RAM
- Storage – 8GB or 16GB eMMC flash
- Wireless – Optional WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 module
- SoC – Broadcom BCM2710A1
- FPGA – Lattice UltraPlus iCE40UP5K FPGA with 5.3K LUTs, 1Mbit SPRAM, 120Kbit DPRAM, 8x multipliers with all pins brought out; 8 MB of dedicated SRAM
- Storage – 2x MicroSD card slots (one slot is for device firmware; the other is for CM0)
- Display
- 3.5-inch 480×320 capacitive touch screen
- DVI output (Driven by RP2350 HSTX)
- Audio
- 3.5 mm audio jack (headphone/mic)
- 4-channel phased-array microphone
- 0.5W onboard speaker
- Wireless
- Dual-band (2.4 GHz + 5 GHz) Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth LE, and 802.15.4 (Zigbee/Thread) via Espressif ESP32-C5
- Sub-GHz connectivity via CC1101 module
- LoRa via STM32WLE5JC Arm Cortex-M4 MCU @ 48 MHz with 256 KB flash memory, 64 KB SRAM, SX126x LoRa radio
- NFC / RFID – 125 kHz RFID (LF) + ST25R3916B NFC (HF) for tag reading, cloning, and emulation
- Infrared – IR Tx/Rx with dedicated case window
- SMA connector for LoRa and Sub-GHz
- USB
- 3x USB host ports (2x 12 Mbps connected to RP2350 display MCU + 1x 480 Mbps port connected to CM0)
- 1x USB Type-C port (CLI, OneWili, GUI, high-speed SD reader)
- Sensors
- IMU – Bosch BMI323 (9-DOF with magnetometer) + BMM350 Magnetometer for motion input
- Environment – Sensirion SHT40 (Temperature & Humidity)
- Light – OPT4001 ambient light sensor
- Debug
- Expansion
- 20-pin (FW1) main connector + 10-pin analog connector + mounting posts for “Orca” add-on modules
- 13x GPIOs (SPI, I2C, UART) with software-selectable I/O voltage
- 4x analog inputs (0–5V) with op-amp buffering, Programmable Gain Amplifier (PGA), and window comparator
- 2x analog outputs (0 to ~4.84V @ 25 kHz)
- CAN FD at full 8 Mbit/s with CAN SIC transceiver
- Misc
- 5-way D-pad + A/B/X/Y (home/ok/cancel/page) buttons
- 14 gamer buttons total (emulator-friendly for PICO-8, Doom, Fruit Jam)
- 5x under-screen context backlit keys
- Innovative 2-press-per-letter hardware keyboard
- Power
- 3,000 mAh battery with USB-aware charging
- Dedicated ultra-low-power (ULP) micro managing 17 independent power zones
- 1–5.5V / 1.5A programmable power supply with MOSFET crowbar for voltage glitching
- 60 µA sleep current
- Dimensions – 152.4 × 78.9 × 22.3 mm
- Weight – 290 grams
On the software side, FREE-WILi 2 runs stock firmware that exposes a USB CLI, on-device GUI, and the OneWili API for controlling the hardware from Python, Rust, or C/C++. It also supports rThon for Python-like real-time scripting, WiliBlocks for visual programming, and ZoomIO for sub-microsecond real-time control. You can also load UF2 applications from the microSD card, run WebAssembly programs through WiliWasm, and use the FREE-WILi GUI on a PC without installation.
It also ships with open hardware documentation, an open board support package (WiliBSP), and “Agent.md” files. This allows LLMs like Claude Code or local models running via LM Studio to autonomously write, compile, and debug custom firmware directly on the device using the onboard hardware debugging probes. More information is available on their GitHub account.
The company mentions that they have ported Meshtastic to the onboard STM32WLE5JC LoRa radio, so FREE-WILi 2 can join a LoRa mesh out of the box. That radio shares one external antenna with the TI CC1101 sub-GHz transceiver via dynamic switching. This is a vendor port — FREE-WILi 2 is not listed as an official Meshtastic device, and regional band settings are not documented yet.
We’ve previously written about other portable wireless hacking tools such as the Flipper Zero, MCU-based alternatives like HackBat and the M1 multitool, Linux-based devices like Interrupt and the much more powerful Flipper One; compared to all of those, the FREE-WILi 2 sits in that same pocket-lab space, but packs different types of SoCs and a wide set of radios into one handheld.
The FREE-WILi 2 Founders Edition is currently available for pre-order at $400 directly on the company’s website. Shipping is expected to begin in Q4 2026. More information is available on the project’s website.
Debashis Das is a technical content writer and embedded engineer with over five years of experience in the industry. With expertise in Embedded C, PCB Design, and SEO optimization, he effectively blends difficult technical topics with clear communication
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