
Intel Releases the Arduino 101 Source Code - tdrnd
https://blog.arduino.cc/2016/04/21/intel-releases-the-arduino-101-firmware-source-code/
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userbinator
Intel has been making some very... unusual SoCs recently. As I understand it,
this one has a 486-like core at 32MHz. Too bad it's not PC-compatible, because
something of that size, performance, and power-consumption would make a great
retro PC to play with old software and experiment.

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lewi
It would!

The Curie is a wonderful little SoC. The built in BLE, Gyro and Power
management make it perfect for much more than a beefy UNO clone.

After seeing so much press from Lady Gaga to the X Games, I got a few 101s and
started deving. Got to the point I wanted to get a few boards made with it.
Turns out the only way a private individual can buy a Curie chip is attached
to the 101 board.

Perplexed, I asked a representative a few days ago at a trade show why they
were so scarce. It appears Intel, or rather the division responsible, isn't
making the individual module available for purchase. That is unless, and I
quote, "Your name is Oakley or similar".

Which makes me a little sad as their brand messaging calls for a "Makers
Movement" but doesn't give us the products they have developed for it.

One thing I find particularly amusing is the 101's step counter tutorial
featured on their Maker page[1]. A 7cm x 5cm pedometer with a battery
management circuit that isn't mapped out on the board.

Either way, I hope they release this wonderful little package they have
developed.

[1]
[https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/Genuino101CurieIMUStepCou...](https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/Genuino101CurieIMUStepCounter)

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vonmoltke
> After seeing so much press from Lady Gaga to the X Games, I got a few 101s
> and started deving. Got to the point I wanted to get a few boards made with
> it. Turns out the only way a private individual can buy a Curie chip is
> attached to the 101 board.

> Perplexed, I asked a representative a few days ago at a trade show why they
> were so scarce. It appears Intel, or rather the division responsible, isn't
> making the individual module available for purchase. That is unless, and I
> quote, "Your name is Oakley or similar".

This has been my biggest frustration with Intel. They will not sell their
solder-on chips to distributors for some reason. I feel like they could make
some major inroads into ARM-dominated markets if they made getting their
products much easier. After all, how are you supposed to become an "Oakley" if
you can;t get off the ground in the first place? Plus, if you get there on ARM
chips, what is your motivation to suddenly switch to Intel once you are big
enough for them to give a shit about you?

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makomk
From what I can tell, the whole thing is basically a PR stunt. Intel are less
interested in actually displacing ARM than they are in generating lots of
publicity about how they're part of that hip new IoT thing. They've funded an
entire TV show called America's Greatest Makers to try and associate the Intel
Curie with wearables and the maker movement, done a whole bunch of high-
profile tie ins with the X Games, Lady Gaga, Arduino, BMW, etc but they've no
interest in actually making it available unless it'll give them publicity.

It seems to be impossible to find official power consumption figures for it
anywhere either, and the documentation is lacking in general.

~~~
mbanzi
The Curie is a nice little SOC and it will be available to purchase. If you
read the press release associated to the recent internal reorg at Intel they
mention IoT as one of their focus markets.

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cyphar
It's not released under a free software license. What a shame.

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ashitlerferad
Which license?

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ISL
It appears to be the "Intel Software License Agreement". As near as I can
tell, it's for inspection only?

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Sanddancer
Website has the wrong license. Source itself all seems to be 3-clause BSD.

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baldfat
This is the original BSD license, modified by removal of the advertising
clause. It is a lax, permissive non-copyleft free software license, compatible
with the GNU GPL.

This license is sometimes referred to as the 3-clause BSD license.

The modified BSD license is not bad, as lax permissive licenses go, though the
Apache 2.0 license is preferable. However, it is risky to recommend use of
“the BSD license”, even for special cases such as small programs, because
confusion could easily occur and lead to use of the flawed original BSD
license. To avoid this risk, you can suggest the X11 license instead. The X11
license and the modified BSD license are more or less equivalent.

However, the Apache 2.0 license is better for substantial programs, since it
prevents patent treachery.

[http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-
list.en.html](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.en.html)

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nxzero
Is there anything that's still closed-source on the board and if so, what?

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dec0dedab0de
well this is not OpenSource, they just released the code.

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mbanzi
Here is a link to the board design files.. everything is open source (apart
from the processor itself)

[https://www.arduino.cc/en/uploads/Main/Arduino101RefDesign.z...](https://www.arduino.cc/en/uploads/Main/Arduino101RefDesign.zip)

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lgleason
In the meantime if you want to play with a small solution there are solutions
like the Mbientlab MetaWear that give you a nice small package and are
approachable as a maker.

[https://mbientlab.com/metawear/](https://mbientlab.com/metawear/)

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snvzz
I'd rather use eChronos or seL4. They're provable and free software.

Intel call their thing an RTOS; it's bullshit. They lack proof of hard
realtime.

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dekhn
RTOS means a bunch of things; hard realtime is a very specific subset of that.

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samlittlewood
Interested to see that the download contains 3 distinct GCC cross toolchains:
x86, ARC, and ARM.

Um, Wow!

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kefka
Why am I not surprised. I guessed this months ago and told people to stay away
from it.

It was a closed-source blob masquerading as open source hardware (under the
Arduino name).

Good thing the people at my hackerspace understood what I was saying, and
bought none.

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Sanddancer
It's a bug on the website. The source itself is all 3-clause BSD.

