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Qualcomm to acquire Arduino

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Re: Qualcomm to acquire Arduino

#101

Post by ssl-3 »

chpatrick wrote: post #29

ESP stuff is so damn cheap and capable now I'm not sure what you would use Arduino for these days.

Various ESP dev boards, Arduino, Pi Pico -- any of these are good places to get started from on the road towards doing useful things with microcontrollers, I think.

Arduino is just a familiar name with a long (~20 year!) history. There's a plethora of pre-existing projects that a person with no prior programming or electronics experience can implement easily to get their feet wet.

Some manner of ESP32 (or STM or MSP or RP2...) may be a good choice for a project for someone with some experience, but if you put a reasonably-motivated person in a room with a computer and an Arduino starter kit then they'll successfully be building simple things in no time.

It remains a friendly place to start doing stuff, and that was always the primary intent.

Re: Qualcomm to acquire Arduino

#102

Post by stefan_ »

webdevver wrote: post #10
murillians wrote: post #5

I only feel dread when I see a Qualcomm story on HN anymore.

genuinely, what is the survival story for qualcomm entering the next decade? - completely missed out on AI - phones become commodity, push for complete vertical integration from apple, google - squeezed by chinese soc vendors from 'below' (mediatek, unisoc) they're cooked, right? there's no way out, surely.

Buying random companies they have no use for like Arduino, they have firmly entered the Intel era.

Re: Qualcomm to acquire Arduino

#103

Post by cosmic_cheese »

jsheard wrote: post #24
webdevver wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

genuinely, what is the survival story for qualcomm entering the next decade? - completely missed out on AI - phones become commodity, push for complete vertical integration from apple, google - squeezed by chinese soc vendors from 'below' (mediatek, unisoc) they're cooked, right? there's no way out, surely.

Apple's vertical integration is formidable but Google are still really struggling with their execution, their Tensor SOCs are consistently years behind Snapdragon in performance and efficiency even after their switch to TSMC this generation. Qualcomm is probably safe at the high end of the Android market for a while yet.

The gap between Google’s and Apple’s SoCs is insane. Current Pixels bench at around a third of what current iPhones do.

Not that performance matters to all users, but with how much Pixels cost you have to ask yourself what it is you’re paying for. Even if you don’t care for Apple, for a little more you can get a competitor for a Snapdragon.

Re: Qualcomm to acquire Arduino

#104

Post by wyldfire »

geerlingguy wrote: post #3

Additionally, they're launching their first joint product, the $44 Uno Q SBC, which has a Dragonwing SoC and STM32 microcontroller on an Uno form factor board[1]. It seems like Arduino will keep their brand, maintain their existing product lines, and continue building devices using other vendor's chips (besides Qualcomm), etc... but as with all acquisitions—I wonder how long that state of affairs will last. Alternati…

I guess I'm replying to you with your own video? But it seems interesting and relevant [1].

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfKX616-nsE

Re: Qualcomm to acquire Arduino

#106

Post by moralestapia »

webdevver wrote: post #10
murillians wrote: post #5

I only feel dread when I see a Qualcomm story on HN anymore.

genuinely, what is the survival story for qualcomm entering the next decade? - completely missed out on AI - phones become commodity, push for complete vertical integration from apple, google - squeezed by chinese soc vendors from 'below' (mediatek, unisoc) they're cooked, right? there's no way out, surely.

[flagged]

Re: Qualcomm to acquire Arduino

#107

Post by extraduder_ire »

s1gsegv wrote: post #90
phoehne wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're more fun. The programming is easier (although you can get an Arduino like experience on a ESP32). They have 5V options, which make some projects easier without having to add additional components. The ESP32 API (and the Pico for that matter) are better suited professional programmers. An Arduino is better if you're doing something and want a quick, easy, simple to program controller. It started as a way for a…

For what it’s worth, the original ESP32 is actually 5V tolerant, semi-officially acknowledged by Espressif. Good enough for hobby projects, anyway

I'm surprised cheap level shifters with the same pin pitch as various dev boards aren't common.

Re: Qualcomm to acquire Arduino

#108

Post by oytis »

b00ty4breakfast wrote: post #69

call me cynical but I can't imagine this ending very well. Even if qualcomm does nothing to alter the operations at Arduino, what happens if they go belly-up in a decade?

IDK, what kind of innovation we need from Arduino now? Arduino IDE exists and is open source. Arduino Uno exists and is open source. Arduino cores, both from Arduino itself and third-party exist and are open source. Not sure how they made money recently, I hope they are up to something good with Qualcomm.

Re: Qualcomm to acquire Arduino

#109

Post by mrheosuper »

chpatrick wrote: post #29

ESP stuff is so damn cheap and capable now I'm not sure what you would use Arduino for these days.

you are comparing apple to orange, Arduino is not MCU. In fact, the uno r4 has a variant with esp32 module on it.

It's like saying AMD Cpu is so much better, why do you need Linux.

Re: Qualcomm to acquire Arduino

#110

Post by ACCount37 »

magtux wrote: post #83

This is a recipe for disaster. Arduino is great for education/tinkering. Qualcomm won't sell you anything even if you are ready to commit to buying 1000s. I tried to source some Qualcomm chips for a startup @ 10k qty and was told there would be no information or support. Qualcomm can have a much bigger market if they simply open up some product lines for distribution like MediaTek do. China has a way more vibrant, in…

10k? Sorry, pal! We're in QualcommLand, and you need to be at least 100k units tall to ride this ride!

But if you are a small developer, there are options for you! Have you tried to: eat shit? And die? So that you don't insult our PRECIOUS FUCKING TIME by IMPLYING that a MERE 10K would be ENOUGH for THE GREAT QUALCOMM to ACTUALLY CARE?

The optimist in me wants to believe that this acquisition is a sign of Qualcomm actually trying to be better than that. But realistically? Yeah no. It's Qualcomm. They wouldn't have let it get this bad if they ever cared.

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