32-bit Arduino

At last the Arduino team have announced an official 32-bit ARM board.

The specs look pretty standard for a ARM Cortex-M3 but they’re nice specs none the less.

The uC is a SAM3U processor from Atmel with the following specs:

• Speed: 96MHz
• Program Memory: 256Kb Flash
• Data Memory: 52Kb SRAM
• Digital I/O: 5 SPI buses, 2 I2C interfaces, 5 UARTS
• Analog I/O: 16ch 12-bit Analog Inputs.

Not sure of the PCB package size but it looks like a 100 or 144 pin TQFP.

I’m not sure if the SAM3U uC is 5V tolerant, which could be a problem for some 5V only shields.

On the whole the 32-bit Arduino looks like a winner, now lets hope the 32-bit Arduino software is as good as the hardware.

Raspberry Pi – An ARM Linux box for $25

I’ve been a fan David Braben work since his (and Ian Bell’s) awesome Elite video game from the 80’s.

It was with great interested when I read about his latest hardware venture “Raspberry Pi” – An ARM Linux box for $25.

The specs for the Raspberry Pi are impressive

• credit-card-sized
• Broadcom BCM2835 application processor
• Ethernet interface using LAN9512 at the $35 price point
• 128MB of RAM at the $25 price point
• 256MB of RAM at the $35 price point

 

The first alpha PCB’s are back and they have successfully managed to get Linux working on them, with their latest blog entries showing the boards running a port of Quake 3.

With shipping quoted for the end of 2011, I know what I want for Christmas this year 🙂