

Arduino Announces New Linux Boards in Collaborations with Intel and TI - emilepetrone
http://makezine.com/2013/10/03/arduino-announces-two-new-linux-boards/

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jws
Intel Galileo: "Pentium class" 32 bit Quark SoC X1000 with an Arduino header.
November 29th.

TI Arduino TRE: 1-GHz Sitara AM335x processor plus an AVR processor for the
Arduino side. Includes the Arduino sockets and it looks like an X-Bee socket.
This looks like a Beaglebone combined with an Arduino. Ships sometime in
Spring of 2014.

Of the two I find the TRE more interesting. Precise control of pins is
difficult in Linux where you could be preempted and holding the CPU and
counting cycles is frowned upon.

BTW: If anyone invents a time machine, please go back and get the original
Arduino header alignment fixed.

~~~
joezydeco
If you need microsecond or nanosecond-level control of I/O, you're probably a
little too advanced for an Arduino-type environment.

If you do, the AM335x offers a subsystem called the PRU that lets you program
I/O that runs independently from the core. Kind of like, hmm, a bunch of
Little Arduinos inside the Big Arduino.

[http://www.ti.com/lit/wp/spry136a/spry136a.pdf](http://www.ti.com/lit/wp/spry136a/spry136a.pdf)

~~~
jack12
The thing is, the only tool provided for using the PRU is an assembler[1]. So
trying to make an AM335x into an "Arduino" required at a minimum: a friendlier
real-time IO system / PRU toolchain, the creation of an Arduino sketch and
library API compatibility layer, and circuitry to deal with 5V IO.

Solving all that by just bolting an ATMega beside the AM335x isn't the least
bit elegant, but Arduino has never seemed to be too bothered about elegance.

_1:
[https://github.com/beagleboard/am335x_pru_package](https://github.com/beagleboard/am335x_pru_package)

~~~
joezydeco
But the reality is that at gigahertz speed you could run the TRE's I/O from
userspace and have pretty accurate timing. Just latch your LEDs. =)

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digikata
Working on the recent expansion of embedded computing power has been like
watching PCs develop all over again. Going from predominantly bare-metal
software, to a mix of light RTOSs, and then full blown OSs. CPU Bit growth
form 6 to 64. Peripheral speed and selection has grown too. That spectrum has
always existed, but now that the industry focus isn't as strong on desktop
CPUs, there's a vast current of progress being applied to the embedded side.
The capabilities have grown to the point that I'm not even sure if embedded is
the right long term name for this type of computing anymore.

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ChuckMcM
Fascinating announcement. I love the boards, they have an interesting mix of
hackability and programability. And they are clearly in response to the
Raspberry Pi success (although much of that is the price point, RasPi type
systems have been available for $200 - $300 each for a long time and don't get
the traction of a $35 system :-)

I found the Arduino Yun [1] to be perhaps the most interesting board
(nominally $52) which is a very inexpensive Linux setup with an Arduino
adjacent. You can even load sketches over WiFi. Its interesting because you
have a much more sophisticated computation engine acting as a glorified serial
port for an 8 bit micro.

The parallels to the original microcomputer explosion cannot be over looked.
The Altair 8800 was introduced as a "real computer" using chips designed for
calculators and embedded systems which engineers could build and use much more
cost effectively than the minicomputers available at the time. Here we have
Arduinos which have an approachable level of complexity and a cost (< $50
seems to be the trigger point) which makes them useful in the
education/hacking role.

On the specific announcements the TRE is the most interesting to me as I've
got BeagleBone Black systems (one is running the Hue lights in my office) to
Arduinoess and Pies and the "sweet spot" is definitely somewhere in the
middle. Not enough pins on the Pi, not enough compute oomph in the Arduino. A
number of things then are a blend of an Arduino and a larger system, so the
TRE, the Yun fit that niche which the TRE being a more programmable on the
Linux side version of the Yun.

[1]
[http://store.arduino.cc/ww/index.php?main_page=product_info&...](http://store.arduino.cc/ww/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=11_12&products_id=313)

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spongle
Now the simple has been made incredibly complicated and it's virtually
impossible to take a design based on these to production for the amateur!

~~~
andyjohnson0
Seconded. I personally prefer the simplicity of the existing arduinos, but if
someone needs one of these boards then why not use a raspberry pi or
beaglebone that have mature ecosystems?

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acadien
I suspect these boards are being released in response to the rasberry pi,
although I can't say for certain they're an appropriate replacement. Besides
its not as if they're ending the old line of arduino boards, so if you don't
like the new ones... just don't buy them :)

~~~
andyjohnson0
I'm sure you're right about the new boards being a response to the rpi. I just
have mixed feelings about the possibility of competition between two open
source hardware systems. Maybe it'll produce innovation, or maybe just
duplication of effort.

 _" if you don't like the new ones... just don't buy them"_

I didn't say I disliked them. Since I didn't make myself clear: I do wish them
well.

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codehero
Since the days of the EspressoPC I have always been fascinated by small scale
computers. With so many choices in small linux systems (Gumstix anyone?) I am
not enchanted with seeing the Arduino name slapped on a Linux board. I was
appalled at how digitalWrite was actually implemented, so I cannot imagine
what kind of layers they put between the programmer and the metal.

~~~
antimagic
Yup. There is no argument that modern systems are more flexible, but that
flexibility comes at the cost of needing to understand a vastly more complex
system.

I recently discovered an emulator online of my first 8-bit computer (the
Compucolor II), and I was amazed at how simple it was to use (draw graphics to
the screen, read from the keyboard or disk etc). Whilst you have to write all
of the high-level processing yourself, the actual low-level magic is right
there at your fingertips. Want to set a pin on the serial port - not a
problem, the I/O is memory mapped, and the address you need is in a table in
the 100 page manual that came with the computer. Done! Compare that with
today's environments - find out the API needed to access a serial port pin (if
it even exists!), pull in the system headers and libraries necessary (after
figuring out which are used!), modify your build system to use them, and then
run.

The beauty of Arduino is that it takes you back to that bare metal simplicity.
It makes interfacing to the real world very easy. If you want to run a
webserver it's probably not the best choice, but if you want to switch off
your washing machine because a sensor has detected that a pool of water has
formed on your kitchen floor, Arduino is so much more accessible for an
amateur. I really don't understand where the manufacturers are going with
these boards...

~~~
malandrew
Good comment. Reminded me of something I'm really hoping to see come out of
the arduino/raspberryPi/Beaglebone movement is a fresh look at a LISP machine.
Given how cheap a computer is now, what's stopping the existence of a
simarlarly size and priced Alpha-based chipset that can run OpenGenera or
other LISP machine?

~~~
pjmlp
I bit off topic, but the Smalltalk guys are doing exactly that.

[http://squeaknos.blogspot.pt/](http://squeaknos.blogspot.pt/)

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ChikkaChiChi
If Galileo is priced competitively to the BeagleBone we've got a whole new
game on our hands.

Intel had released the Minnowboard ([http://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2013/09/199-4-...](http://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2013/09/199-4-2-computer-is-intels-first-raspberry-pi-competitor/))
which seemed like a competitor to the Raspberry Pi, but at 200USD it wouldn't
see nearly the uptake the more affordable systems have seen.

This reminds me of the Netbook arms race except the end product is infinitely
more useful.

~~~
tesseractive
> This reminds me of the Netbook arms race except the end product is
> infinitely more useful.

Netbooks have tremendous utility to a subset of users. I have an old netbook
with one of the slowest CPUs released in the past decade (Atom Z520), but it
gets great battery life, and runs Emacs, Python, and a number of other tools I
need like a champ.

Is that what most people want? No. But most people aren't microcontroller
hardware hackers either.

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lhl
I have an UDOO[1] Quad ($135) coming in very soon which is similar to the TRE
- basically an SAM3X8E (Due) Arduino (w/ compatible headers) on a single board
but combined w/ a much beefier i.MX6.

I have a Beaglebone Black and a Wandboard Quad sitting on my desk right now
and I'm sure I'll end up grabbing the new Arduinos when they come out,
although Spring 2014 is pretty far away and I suspect the UDOO will end up
doing everything I want soon.

[1] [http://www.udoo.org/](http://www.udoo.org/)

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jlgaddis
For those of you into the Arduino stuff, what are you making with these boards
(the ones in the article, the Beagle* boards, even the Pi)? I've read a bunch
of the "Build an 'x' with your RPi!" articles but I'm interested in hearing
about some "real-world" things others have built.

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gcb1
maybe with TRE people will finally be able to something banal as those ambient
backlight without having to buy chinese hdmi splitters!

~~~
DonGateley
Indeed. Stereo audio in and out, assuming modern resolution and rates and
sufficiently flexible ports (mic-in to line-in sensitivity and line-out to
phone-out power), with plenty of horsepower for DSP and this aligns really
nicely for audio projects. I've got all kinds of things I want to do with one.

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sbierwagen
No pricing? Pass.

~~~
01Michael10
You make the decision to pass on something before it's even available and all
the information on it is released yet. Interesting...

