Qualcomm Arduino Takes Aim at Raspberry Pi
We are starting to see some early articles about Qualcomm having taken over Arduino. Fluff designed to distract from what's really happening, e.g. a headline that says a whole lot of stuff and then says "and a Qualcomm Acquisition"... as if that's just some unimportant detail. The latest pieces mention "Linux", e.g.
- Arduino has just been acquired by Qualcomm, and they're already launching a new product that runs Linux
In a shock move, Qualcomm has acquired Arduino, the open-source hardware and software company. The move marks one of Qualcomm's most significant steps yet toward expanding its influence beyond smartphones and computing, and into the rapidly growing markets of Internet of Things (IoT), edge computing, and STEM education. What's more, the two companies are already launching their first product: the Arduino UNO Q.
The Arduino UNO Q packs Qualcomm's Dragonwing QRB2210 (matching the part number of the company's RB1 platform) alongside a low-power STM32U5 MCU. It starts at $44 for 2 GB RAM and 16 GB of eMMC, and goes to $59 for 4 GB RAM and 32 GB eMMC.
- Qualcomm Introduces The Arduino Uno Q Linux-Capable SBC
Generally people equate the Arduino hardware platforms with MCU-centric options that are great for things like low-powered embedded computing, but less for running desktop operating systems. This looks about to change with the Arduino Uno Q, which keeps the familiar Uno formfactor, but features both a single-core Cortex-M33 STM32U575 MCU and a quad-core Cortex-A53 Qualcomm Dragonwing QRB2210 SoC.
According to the store page the board will ship starting October 24, with the price being $44 USD. This gets you a board with the aforementioned SoC and MCU, as well as 2 GB of LPDDR4 and 16 GB of eMMC. There’s also a WiFi and Bluetooth module present, which can be used with whatever OS you decide to install on the Qualcomm SoC.
Qualcomm is a Windows pusher, even if Qualcomm has somewhat deficient Linux support. Arduino, unlike Qualcomm, was never a Windows pusher.
Qualcomm is a Microsoft partner [1, 2, 3, 4]. It has financial commitments to that effect. Qualcomm is a pusher of software patents. Don't lose sight of that. Be wary and sceptical of their latest charm offensive; remember Nokia. █