Linino-Enabled Arduino Yun Shrinks In Size and Cost

DeviceGuru writes: Arduino announced a smaller, cheaper Arduino Yun Mini version of the Arduino Yun SBC at the Bay Area Maker Faire [Friday]. The $60 Arduino Yun Mini SBC sacrifices a number of interfaces in order to reduce size, and gives the OpenWRT Linux based Linino distribution, which is also used by the original Yun, more control over the board's functions. Arduino also announced a new community web portal called my.arduino.org, plus an open source Arduino IDE-alpha development system that is entirely based on JavaScript, which will be available there by the end of the month.

Comments

Hip-Hip-Hooray!

[turkeydance]

A Nerd story today!

Re:Hip-Hip-Hooray!

[Aighearach]

arduino.org sounds right, but it is the wrong one. That is the company that is trying to steal the name from arduino.cc the actually originators.

I know dice doesn't care about nerd shit, but please learn this one. It is a big deal right now, and will provide lots and lots of stories with links to MSM over the next couple years as it plays out.

If dice wants their bait to attract clicks, they should figure this one out and get on the OSS side.

Is this an Arduino product?

[Cassini2]

Whatever happened to the Arduino vs Arduino suit?

What makes hardware is great software support. I would hate to wind up with a piece of hardware that can only run a small fraction of the Arduino software.

Also, along those lines, is OpenWRT a friendly enough distribution to make the user experience as easy as it is with the old Arduino?

Re:Is this an Arduino product?

[thegarbz]

Well Arduino updated the software to flag all Arduino boards as non-legitimate. So Arduino then forked the Arduino code for the sole purpose of removing the warning and then upgraded the release number making it look like a more current version of the Arduino IDE. Then in a death by kindness move Arduino then upgraded their software to include a board manager which would allow your software to run anywhere be it the officially unofficial Arduino boards, some real Arduino boards whatever the hell they are, or just some Atmel Microcontroller where someone has uploaded the bootloader. Meanwhile Arduino is still suing Arduino.

I'll leave it as an exercise to the read to figure out which Arduino is which, because fuck knows I tried and failed miserably.

Of note though is that this link is posted at Arduino.org not Arduino.cc so this board is a product by the people who are trying to steal the trademark and run off with it.

Re:Is this an Arduino product?

[Vapula]

If you go to Arduino.cc on archive.org, you may find early boards which bear the name Arduino but
- don't bear Martino's name (the guy behind Smartprojects SRL which since renamed to Arduino SRL and opened arduino.org)
- bear the name of two other founders which are behind arduino.cc (which exists since the beginning) and Arduino.LLC
- bear the name Arduino which proves that the name Arduino was used before involvment of Smart Projects

So, I think the case is pretty clear : Smart Project is hijacking the name Arduino in bad faith, trying to steal the work of a whole community for his own profit. The fact that it acted so when Arduino.cc was beginning to allow other companies to build arduino boards (for example for US Market) give a clear motivation for doing so...

Re:Is this an Arduino product?

[thegarbz]

So, I think the case is pretty clear : Smart Project is hijacking the name Arduino in bad faith

No doubt. But there's something even more clear and legally binding than some pictures of early products which is that Smart Projects had to pay a licence fee to use the Arduino name which is what they are refusing to do now. Also all their products had listed on the box "Manufactured under license".

The only problem with the legal system is that it's slow. Otherwise it's a pretty open shut case unless Smart Projects win due to some screwed technicality.

This is not Arduino

[Anonymous Coward]

Bad form Slashdot. The Yun Mini is not official Arduino. Arduino.org is hosted by the PCB manufacturer that is trying to hijack the Arduino brand. The official Arduino site has always been Arduino.cc, and there is no Yun Mini there.

Re:This is not Arduino

[ShanghaiBill]

The Yun Mini is not official Arduino.

As long as it works, why should I care?

Arduino.org is hosted by the PCB manufacturer that is trying to hijack the Arduino brand.

Why should I support the "official" brand over the people that are getting things done, and releasing cool products?

Re:This is not Arduino

[FranTaylor]

they have a very negative point of view about people who actually believe in free software:

http://blog.arduino.cc/2013/07/10/send-in-the-clones/

"we had the issue of figuring out a business model to sustain our work and keep innovating the project"

"we also realized we needed a way for people to be guaranteed that
        they were buying a quality product that would replace any defective item, should problems arise
        they were contributing to a community that would bring forward open-source values and knowledge sharing"

so despite the fact that they are putting free software licenses on their products, they seem to have some sort of remorse about choosing such a liberal model and so they try to "walk it back" by attaching strings and conditions, somehow they think they they can still be the arbiter of products with free software licenses

it's no wonder they've had legal problems, they don't respect the laws they pretend to uphold.

Re:This is not Arduino

[Echo_Hotel]

They gave that up in the update last week.
They took out all the "not a genuine arduino" popups and even added expanded and simplified tools for adding board designs including the ESP2866.
Obviously they want your money, everyone does, but they have seen the error of their methods and moved forward in a positive way.

Re:This is not Arduino

[Aighearach]

You're conflating two things, copyright and trademark.

The source should be open, that is why the open it. So then if you want to create a MyCoolEmbeddedBoard product, you can! No problem. They're not complaining about that.

What they're complaining about is not people using their designs, but advertising it with Arduino trade name. That is reasonable. Just like, if I create some software I should make my own name, and not try to tell people is the Free Software Foundation Whatthewhat. They have a right to their own name, even after they've given away the source. Indeed, having the correct name is part of knowing where your source is from.

What they want is that when people buy a piece of Open Source Hardware that has the Arduino trademark, it is drop-in compatible and the name is properly licensed. And if you want to copy their license and not their name, then you don't need a trademark license, and you can be compatible or not. You can, for example, say on the box that it is compatible with their brand, and that you're not licensed or affiliated, as long as it is clear that you're not official. That is fair use. But you can't put their logo on your product to advertise that compatibility, or use their name in a way that makes it sound like you're licensed.

This should be obvious to anybody that has ever written software. If you have, and it isn't, please learn this shit finally. That includes anybody who would buy this stuff and call themselves a "maker."

Re:This is not Arduino

[FranTaylor]

What they're complaining about is not people using their designs

read it again:

"we also realized we needed a way for people to be guaranteed that
                they were buying a quality product that would replace any defective item, should problems arise
                they were contributing to a community that would bring forward open-source values and knowledge sharing"

if this is not whinging about competitors, what is?

Re:This is not Arduino

[FranTaylor]

duh, I copied that stuff from their web site today

Re:This is not Arduino

[Aighearach]

They're complaining about people using their brand in ways different than what they want the brand to be. That is their call. No, it is not whinging or whining to want to exercise your own prerogatives. If you want to use a non-licensed component, you'll have to follow some install instructions; or use a fork that supports your device and doesn't use their trademark. Pretty simple choices.

If you're complaining that you might have to do a manual installation if you use a cheap-o board, then yes I would call that whining.

Re:This is not Arduino

[Vapula]

You should care because what made Arduino's success is it's software and numerous libraries, work of a whole community that is being stolen by Arduino.org/Arduino SRL.

Arduino SRL don't have much community support so you will probably only see real improvements on Arduino.cc/Arduino LLC side...

As a matter of fact, when you look at both github projects, you will see the respective commits :
Arduino.org
- new firmware for Yùn
- rebranding (removing of references to Arduino.cc

that's nearly all changes

Arduino.cc
- new "plugin" system to add boards easily... Think of these Digispark, ESP8266, Galileo, Edison, ... which until now required special builds of Arduino IDE
- many bugfixes (including regression from 1.5.3, still not fixed in arduino.org's IDE)
- beter support for using old code in new IDE ...

In other words, in the long term, Arduino.org will be the loser... Even if they "win" at court, arduino.cc will only have to change it's name and people will follow... You can't expect any good community support for Arduino.org product... And if you're using Arduino instead of bare-bone Atmel AVR, it's because of the software (and the numerous libraries and other), not because Arduino is "superior"...

Not an Arduino.cc product

[NimbleSquirrel]

Arduino SRL, formerly Smart Products, was created by one of the five original creators of Arduino. For years they produced hardware and paid royalties to Arduino.cc, helping to keep the project alive. Yet at the same time they sneakily registered the Arduino trademark in Italy without the knowledge or permission of the other co-creators. Suddenly, now that Arduino is successful and widely used, they rebranded themselves as Arduino SRL, registered the Arduino.org domain, and are promoting themselves as the creators of Arduino. They also stopped paying any royalties to Arduino.cc and have ceased supporting that project altogether.

Why is Slashdot promoting this company trying to falsely cash in on the Arduino name? I know I won't be giving them a cent. Go to the original project instead: Arduino.cc

Re:Not an Arduino.cc product

[Hognoxious]

I'm confused. If they registered the trademark in Italy, how does that give them the right to use it elsewhere - including .org which is, AFAIK, transnational?

If I registered Apple as a trademark in Lavatria or Nbongo and claimed that gave me the right to Apple.org I'd be smothered in lawyers before the allegorical ink was metaphorically dry.

Re:Not an Arduino.cc product

[NimbleSquirrel]

Arduino LLC, which is the company all the co-creators founded to handle trademarks and licensing filed for and received the US trademark for Arduino. They tried to file for the international trademarks as well, and that is when they found out Smart Projects (later named Arduino SRL) had registered the trademark in Italy. Since then Smart Projects/Arduino SRL have tried to hijack the brand. They have also tried to argue that since they made the hardware, they should have the US trademark as well. Nevermind that they paid licensing fees to use the brand for many years.

Re:Not an Arduino.cc product

[Anonymous Coward]

The "real" arduino has most of their products sold out right now...

Re:Not an Arduino.cc product

[thegarbz]

I'm confused. If they registered the trademark in Italy, how does that give them the right to use it elsewhere - including .org which is, AFAIK, transnational?

There's no need to be confused. They are at the receiving end of a lawsuit because of this action. All is right in the world.

Re:Not an Arduino.cc product

[Vapula]

It looks like it won't stay "sold out" for too long : Adafruit has agreed to a partnership to produce the Arduino boards in US.

Imagine a Beowolf Cluster of these babies!

[Anonymous Coward]

An Arduino Supercluster would be awesome!

Anyone else familiar with Linino?

[NimbleSquirrel]

I had never heard of Linino before, so I did a quick look. The github is maintained by Dog Hunter. Both the doghunter.org and the linino.org domains are registered to Dog Hunter, with Frederico Musto listed as its CEO. The same Mr Musto who also happens to be the CEO for Arduino SRL. I wonder if Linino was thrown together because Arduino SRL cannot legally use Arduino.cc code. Someone feel free to correct me if I am wrong....

Re:Anyone else familiar with Linino?

[thegarbz]

. I wonder if Linino was thrown together because Arduino SRL cannot legally use Arduino.cc code.

What makes you say that? Arduino was an open source project. In fact SRL took the Arduino project and forked it and now publish it on their own site. The jury is still out on whether they will have to change their name, but they sure as hell are entitled to use the code.

Re:Anyone else familiar with Linino?

[NimbleSquirrel]

Sure they can use the code and for it, if they comply with the license. But by only being able to run the Arduino.cc code, even if they forked it, they severely weaken their legal claims over the Arduino trademark and strengthen the claims of Arduino.cc. They claim because they made the physical product, they have the rights over it, but that claim can only hold water if the hardware isn't tied solely to the Arduino.cc codebase.

Yea! Another one for my collection!

[Anonymous Coward]

I say that because I've been so busy with other crap that I haven't had time to build anything remotely interesting. So I've become an Arduino collector. :(

Cheaper?

[ArcadeMan]

How the hell is 60$USD cheaper than a regular Arduino?

And now, I'll go read TFA...

Okay, WTF is an Arduino "Yún"? This is the first time I heard about it and there's already a "mini" version. Great job at advertising your products, Arduino. NOT.

Re:Cheaper?

[ArcadeMan]

edit*: this is not a true Arduino, this is something made by the "other guys".

If you want the real Arduino stuff, go to Arduino.cc

* sort of an edit. Thank you Slashdot for your forum system from 1965.

Re:Cheaper?

[FranTaylor]

Arduino, this is something made by the "other guys".

you mean the people who release product information under free software licenses and then make a big nasty stink when other people make legal use of this information?

http://blog.arduino.cc/2013/07/10/send-in-the-clones/

"free software is great but only for us"

Re:Cheaper?

[ArcadeMan]

No, what I mean by "the other guys" is that they're trying to steal the Arduino names. I got no problems with clones, I buy "Pro mini Arduino" boards from Chinese sellers on eBay.

Even if I wanted to buy the "real thing", their shipping cost alone is going to be more than the cost of the part from eBay because the Chinese sellers have free shipping. I still don't get how that works.

Re:Cheaper?

[Aighearach]

It is the not-open thing that these fake-arduino "arduino.org" guys (the real one is arduino.cc) are pushing. That is why you didn't hear about it. Those of us that buy this stuff have been seeing it and having to look it up and find out is crap for awhile now.

Re:Cheaper?

[Aighearach]

You're failing to differentiate between copyright and trademark.

Lets say I take a Free Software Foundation software product. Totally Libre, right? Now I want to fork it. Guess what? I can't use any of their trademarks. I can't claim it is made by the Free Software Foundation. I can't use their name in any way that makes it sound like I'm affiliated with them, or an official licensed source of their software. I can say I forked it from their thing, sure.

Source code is not a trade name. And even when the source is Free (as in libre) there is still huge value in knowing who you got it from. In fact, that sort of knowledge helps protect Freedom, and helps me make use of that Freedom.

I use some arduino tools in making my own products. But I don't need to lie and plaster their name all over it, I can put my own name on it. And when people look at the project history, they can see any open parts I forked or included, and who I got them from. For example, all my AVR based boards, I copy from arduino design when needed, and I always use their arduino.cc-branded programmer board. There is no limit to what I can copy, just a limit on when I can claim my device "is an adruino."

That said, on the hardware side arduino mostly just copies what the AVR data sheet tells you do with the chips. ;) But notice how AVR used their own trademarks to describe the boards, instead of AVR's?

Re:Cheaper?

[FranTaylor]

read it again:

"we also realized we needed a way for people to be guaranteed that
                                they were buying a quality product that would replace any defective item, should problems arise
                                they were contributing to a community that would bring forward open-source values and knowledge sharing"

they are not content to allow the competitors to exist, they say expressly that they are going to make negative statements about any and all of their compeitors

Re:Cheaper?

[Anonymous Coward]

All I see in that quote is that they want people to know they're getting a genuine Arduino. I see nothing about making negative statements about competitors, as long as the competitors aren't calling their products Arduino. Maybe there's something more in the full article (this is Slashdot, you actually expect me to read the article?), but reposting that quote over and over as if it proves something just makes you look like a shill.

Re:Cheaper?

[Vapula]

Given the FTDI debacle, I think that their claim is correct. If you buy some chinese "arduino" using a fake FTDI and it gets bricked by the FTDI driver, Arduino don't want people turning against him saying "look, your boards don't work".

You may call it Induino (as some Chinese clones do), you may say it's Arduino compatible, the only restriction is that you may not say it's an Arduino unless aproved by Arduino project... seems quite fair to me...

Re:Cheaper?

[Shirley Marquez]

Fake FTDI chips are only a minor worry in the current Arduino world since most Arduino boards don't contain one. The Uno and Mega2560 use a second AVR; the Leonardo, Micro, Esplora, and all the ARM boards use processors with built-in USB.

Places where you do have to watch out: clones of the Nano, external USB-serial boards that are used with the Mini, Pro, and Pro Mini, and anything based on earlier generation Arduinos such as the Duemilanove. Older Nano clones and separate converter boards were problematic, but now they have mostly switched to a different USB-serial chip, the CH340G, which is much less expensive than the FTDI. That means they're not quite drop-in replacements (on Windows you have to do a one-time driver install) but you don't have to worry about them getting bricked.

Too expensive

[squonk42]

The $50 price tag really hurts: the Domino Qi Mini has the same characteristics, but only costs $37, including a shield form-factor baseboard with 1x Ethernet, 1x USB-A, 1x MicroSD Card slot and 2x USB on PC front-panel compatible header: https://www.kickstarter.com/pr... The Domino Qi Mini alone will soon be proposed at $32: http://domino.io/product/domin...

arduino leeches

[FranTaylor]

they solder an atmel chip on a board, pick an arbitrary pinout, borrow other people's software, and pretend that they "own" some sort of "secret sauce"

then they make a special web page where they cry and whinge about having to "compete" and they impugn competing products and infer that they are "inferior"

in the end their biggest legacy will be the matching ferraris in their lawyer's driveway

Finally!

[dohzer]

Finally... they got rid of the ridiculously awful Arduino pin spacing/alignment the old ones had and have switched to pin blocking. Thank god for that.

Re:Finally!

[Vapula]

They didn't get rid of it...
The Yùn has that awful pinout, the Yùn mini don't

But Uno has that awful pinout, Micro and Nano don't...

Yùn mini is nothing new, it's a Yùn made breadboard friendly like the Nano is a Uno breadboard friendly.

stupid board design too

[Anonymous Coward]

Tiny little board with fairly weak Linux cpu and ram (400 mhz Mips cpu, 64mb ram, compared to much more with a raspberry pi model A+) sounds great: a lower powered, smaller board good for wearables. With wifi even. But it turns out that it needs an amp of 5 volt power that it regulates down to 3.3v ~ 500 mA on board. Much better would have been make it runnable directly on a lipo cell at 200 mA or less, even if that means slowing down the mips cpu to 100 mhz or whatever. It's still plenty fast for most things one wants to do with a small wearable board, including public key cryptography etc.