I came across an open source development board known as "Arduino". What does it difference from other
 |
| Arduino UNO R3 |
open source board such as Beagle Board and Raspberry Pi? Does it able to run Linux, Android, Win OS, etc.? For those who first encounter Arduino may have the same questions like I do.
Arduino is very popular in US and Europe especially for hacker where you want a quick hardware to do a simple or even a little more complicated control. It is completely open source where the hardware schematic and its firmware library is available from Arduino website (http://www.arduino.cc). You can download the Arduino development environment from their website as well; C compiler is provided free-of-charge. There is no license or code limitation for compiler.
There are many version of Arduino boards depending on which application you would like to design. The one shown on photo is the Arduino UNO R3 which I think one of the most purchased. I downloaded the hardware schematic (http://arduino.cc/en/uploads/Main/Arduino_Uno_Rev3-schematic.pdf) from Arduino website and after going through the schematic, the designer is using two Atmel ATMega micro-controller on board. The ATMega16U2 is a USB micro-controller where it is programmed to be USB-to-UART converter. The other ATMega328 is the main micro-controller for Arduino UNO. The firmware you wrote will be flashed into the ATMega328 which you click on the upload button. There are other version Arduino boards that only used one micro-controller and this will reduce the board size and suitable for portable application.
It doesn't stop there! There are daughter boards or also known as Arduino Shields where it is designed as an added companion to a Arduino board. Some of the example of Arduino Shields are GSM Shields, Ethernet Shields, Motor Shield, etc.
Just ordered the Arduino UNO R3 board and waiting for delivery. Once I tried out the board, I will write more on the experience.
