[nycbug-talk] Maker Faire Today - a few embedded boards

[Isaac (.ike) Levy]

Hi All,

My first time at Maker Faire in Queens yesterday was a blast, some relevant things to post here.

Along with a massive "Learn to Solder" booth- (oriented toward kids) there were loads of robots, construction kits and systems, aerial robotics/quadricopters, tons of 3d printers, there were also tons of bizarre independent vendors for embedded computers.  The EFF had a booth, the NY TOOL chapter was doing their thing, all good stuff.  Apparently, the world of Aurduino is diversifying out to UNIX capable hardware- and massive expansion, on more powerful embedded computers.

If your'e thinking of heading out to Maker Faire today, I think these booths will be of interest to NYC*BUG folks:

--
UDOO

http://www.udoo.org/
A new ARM board company from Italy- it's analog/digital pinout matches the Arduino, to take advantage of using Arduino shields- graphics card on board, etc…

George R. and I spent some time Speaking to their developers about *BSD, about compilers, etc…  They brought one relevant thing- an ARM standard.

http://www.secoqseven.com/
http://www.qseven-standard.org/
interesting list of boards,
http://www.qseven-standard.org/index.php?id=43

An ARM hardware standard?  I'd be interested to hear people's feedback on this.  Anything that makes it less cumbersome to develop for an architecture is good, no?

--
CHIPKIT

http://chipkit.net/
http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Prod=CHIPKIT-UNO32

MIPS based embedded boards, again, pinouts to fit Arduino shields, apparently focused on being *tiny*.

--
MINNOWBOARD

http://minnowboard.org/
The shiny new intel board- they've got some to look at, and one driving a tabletop robotic arm.

--
MY FAVORITE

Unrelated to UNIX, I was delighted to find a Gieger Counter which plugs into an iPhone/iPad:
http://www.radiation-watch.org/

It's amazing that they produced a useful Gieger Counter for less than $50.
(I think this guy sold out yesterday).

Best,
.ike