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Qualcomm to acquire Arduino

qualcomm.com

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Re: Qualcomm to acquire Arduino

#471

Post by monegator »

sschueller wrote: post #134
pcdoodle wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ESP32 is a dumpster fire IMO. I prefer to get things done quickly over cheap.

How so? I have a product that you can buy that runs on an ESP32S3[1]. They work very well and you can even do OTA updates. Even my competitor uses an ESP32 :) [1] https://www.stationdisplay.com/

peripherals are a dumpster fire. I usually have to resort to bit-bang if i want to use the peripherals in a slightly different way than intended. Way easier than figuring out all the "drivers" thing to see if it's actually possible. Also, the couldn't make a decent ADC if their life depended on that. I use them for projects that require radio and GPIO, or slow PWM, or low accuracy ADC, or screens (but only with the preapproved screen controllers)

Re: Qualcomm to acquire Arduino

#472

Post by cyberax »

arjvik wrote: post #401
cyberax wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are some advantages to Arduino. Like This _is_ possible with Linux, but not at all trivial and likely impossible with general-purpose distros. Interrupt handling and (on RP2040) dedicated multicore code is also nice.

Curious - how does one achieve this in Linux? I assume initramfs-only with special purpose pid0 and only the modules needed statically compiled into the kernel? What else would it take?

The main slowdowns will likely come from device initialization and the bootloader.

Bootloaders need to initialize most of the devices and load the kernel image. Then they hand the control over to Linux which proceeds to re-init these devices again.

The userspace matters, but on recent computers it doesn't matter that much. You can get to sub-40ms with https://katacontainers.io/ That's a project that uses full VMs to run Docker images boot instead of kernel namespacing.

Re: Qualcomm to acquire Arduino

#473

Post by jhallenworld »

qdotme wrote: post #454

What I was actually hoping for.. and so far turned out disappointed, is a half-decent LTE/4/5G module that can be Arduino compatible. Just like ESP8266 (and later -32) variant opened up the IoT over WiFi, there is a potential industry-wide opportunity space for a decent, low-cost, always-online (just bring SIM) hobby board. Without awful vendor tooling. And ideally without "modem-to-something" bridge (which almost al…

I like https://www.makerfabs.com/maduino

It uses Simcomm modules...

Re: Qualcomm to acquire Arduino

#474

Post by guerrilla »

pclmulqdq wrote: post #386
jajuuka wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think Qualcomm bought them to destroy them. I think they see Arduino as a gateway. Instead of hoping students will learn ARM it's more reasonable to leverage Arduino's simple nature to act as an on-ramp for more low level developers. I wouldn't be surprised if Arduino IDE saw a revamp to better support jumping the gap between the Arduino to Snapdragon. ST and TI do the same thing with their boards too and it'…

People are making so much of this when it seems so much simpler. Qualcomm likes buying high-margin businesses, and Arduino is a high-margin business. Gross margin on their boards is over 90% (hence why you can buy a Chinese clone of a $30 board for $3) and this trend shows no signs of slowing down. The TI equivalent of the $30 Arduino Uno is $5, and it's a true gateway product.

What's the TI equivalent?

Re: Qualcomm to acquire Arduino

#475

Post by chimpontherun »

geerlingguy wrote: post #74
chimpontherun wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is kind of sad, since the Uno pinout is horrible for high-speed signals

FYI the new Q has two 'high speed connectors' on the bottom side, for signals like CSI, HDMI, USB 3.1, etc. Haven't seen any examples of bottom 'high speed' shields yet, though. They said there would be some made available.

Well, if all the interesting signals are on the mezzanine, what's the point of the Arduino form factor and pinout? Just to claim that they're supporting a widely used platform? Engineers can see through it.

The more I look at it, the more it sounds like a platform designed by M&A team

Re: Qualcomm to acquire Arduino

#476

Post by sneak »

noobermin wrote: post #468
pclmulqdq wrote: post #465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you have a good income stream but you want more money now? Arduino is a lifestyle business (a good lifestyle, don't get me wrong) much more than a growth business. It's easy to price what the income stream is worth.

I don't know if you realise it or not but the point you're making is self-contradictory. If they make great margins, that's why qualcomm would want to buy them, but not why they'd want to sell and have to share it. I guess it makes sense if you're saying arduino are suckers

It’s unlikely that Qualcomm purchased them for their revenue or margins, which to Qualcomm’s scale are basically irrelevant.

Re: Qualcomm to acquire Arduino

#478

Post by robert_foss »

reflexe wrote: post #467

Hopefully it will make Qualcomm behave more like Arduino and not the opposite. Qualcomm is one of the worse companies I have had the pleasure to work with. Their support model is hellish and they provide very little information and documentation, so usually you’ll end up doing a lot of guessing and reverse engineering. They will tell you to sign a contract with one of their “design partners”, but even they can’t get…

Qcom is a corporate behemoth, much like Oracle. In the immortal words of Bryan Cantrill, it is a lawnmower and if you stick your hand in it you'll get it chopped off.

Re: Qualcomm to acquire Arduino

#479

Post by mrheosuper »

cyberax wrote: post #318
geerlingguy wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm speaking in a broader sense, comparing the variety of other Arduino boards like the Uno R3/R4. That wasn't too clear in the OP, sorry! The concern I have with the $44 Q is it has 2GB of RAM and 16GB eMMC, and a processor that's probably between a Pi 3 and Pi 4 in terms of speed and IO (though 4nm, so probably much more efficient). For $45 I can buy a Pi 5 with it's own built-in GPIO, PCIe, and a much faster SoC,…

There are some advantages to Arduino. Like This _is_ possible with Linux, but not at all trivial and likely impossible with general-purpose distros. Interrupt handling and (on RP2040) dedicated multicore code is also nice.

100ms boottime is very high, in theory they should have near instant boottime(placing application code right at reset vector)

Re: Qualcomm to acquire Arduino

#480

Post by noobermin »

sneak wrote: post #476
noobermin wrote: post #468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if you realise it or not but the point you're making is self-contradictory. If they make great margins, that's why qualcomm would want to buy them, but not why they'd want to sell and have to share it. I guess it makes sense if you're saying arduino are suckers

It’s unlikely that Qualcomm purchased them for their revenue or margins, which to Qualcomm’s scale are basically irrelevant.

So it sounds like again, this purchase makes no sense from anyone's perspective unless arduino are suckers.
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