Intel Galileo: "Pentium class" 32 bit Quark SoC X1000 with an Arduino header. November 29th.<p>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.<p>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.<p>BTW: If anyone invents a time machine, please go back and get the original Arduino header alignment fixed.
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.
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 :-)<p>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.<p>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.<p>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.<p>[1] <a href="http://store.arduino.cc/ww/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=11_12&products_id=313" rel="nofollow">http://store.arduino.cc/ww/index.php?main_page=product_info&...</a>
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.
If Galileo is priced competitively to the BeagleBone we've got a whole new game on our hands.<p>Intel had released the Minnowboard (<a href="http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/09/199-4-2-computer-is-intels-first-raspberry-pi-competitor/" rel="nofollow">http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/09/199-4-...</a>) 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.<p>This reminds me of the Netbook arms race except the end product is infinitely more useful.
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.<p>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.<p>[1] <a href="http://www.udoo.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.udoo.org/</a>
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.