Looks like I will soon have yet another distraction - Arduino UNO Q

For people that know about these Linux SOCs, what do you find attractive in the Uno Q as compared to RPi or Beaglebone or others?
 
joepasquariello said:
For people that know about these Linux SOCs, what do you find attractive in the Uno Q as compared to RPi or Beaglebone or others?
Click to expand...
Not sure yet: For example I have a few different RPIs sitting around, like a 5 with an SSD on it, a couple of 4s... Most of the time they
sit in a cabinet... Nice boards.

Had: a Beagle Bone Black (when it first came out don't remember but kickstarter) - again was a nice board, Although they then changed
everything over to be Device Tree orientated, which at the time, I hated... (now spending lots of time fighting DT with zephyr).

The most fun ones I had were UP boards. They run X86 code, so could easily migrate stuff stuff down from PC to it. For example I had
the Arduino IDE running on it, so I could reprogram the Teensy I had connected to it. Often times over wifi to my PC, either through
virtual screen or command line. The one issue there was/is even now with Arduino-CLI is programming a teensy when not in graphics mode.
So would hack the platform.txt to use the teensy loader cli... Wish there was option that the Teensy app could run with out GUI.

As for what I will like about this one? Again we will see... As I started this off saying it is yet another distraction!
 
Maybe I missed the memo...but I though that Teensy was it's own thing apart from Arduino. So if Arduino goes to Qualcomm, Teensy is its own thing separately and just would sail it's own way. True??? False???
 
The reality of today's situation doesn't neatly fit into a simple Yes-No / True-False answer.

But at least business-wise the answer is simple. PJRC isn't financially connected with Arduino. PJRC is owned entirely by me & Robin.

Today our only meaningful business relation is with SparkFun who are now manufacturing & selling Teensy. While SparkFun technically doesn't own Teensy, the practical reality is Teensy's future is intertwined with SparkFun.

On the tech side, we are linked with Arduino in a couple important ways. The simple one is we test and publish Teensy's software releases primarily for Arduino IDE. The others like PlatformIO and Visual Micro generally update based on what's published for use with Arduino's software.

The not-so-simple tech aspect is we generally follow Arduino's general design approach. This too could be thought about in relatively simple terms like compatibility with Arduino's APIs and more or less following their published guidelines. But I believe the real value of Arduino is more subtle than merely an API, it's an overall philosophy with a lot of attention to novice user experience & usability. Whether Teensy or anyone really has ever come close to such lofty intangible ideas is a good question. Whether that's really Arduino or just some utopian ideal is also a good question. I really don't have all the answers.

I do believe Teensy would not have become the success it is today has we not followed Arduino's lead on numerous design decisions.

You wanted a simple True-False answer, or maybe you just wanted reassurance that Teensy can go on without Arduino? Perhaps this helps. But the situation is nuanced. What happens with Arduino really matters. That's why so many people are concerned about the acquisition by Qualcomm, a company that doesn't have a reputation anything like Arduino's long history of openness and accessibility for novice makers.
 
Will the Arduino IDE as we know it continue to be developed?

It's already difficult for me to run two Teensy 4.1s with their respective EVE 4 displays at the same time in IDE 2. Do I now have to learn a different environment?
 
TFTLCDCyg said:
Will the Arduino IDE as we know it continue to be developed?

It's already difficult for me to run two Teensy 4.1s with their respective EVE 4 displays at the same time in IDE 2. Do I now have to learn a different environment?
Click to expand...
From what I read the answer is yes at least from what I was reading and seeing in different videos.
 
Yeah, I don't see the Arduino IDE going anywhere. But, it really is better to learn how to use PlatformIO in the long run. It's just plain better if you hope to get more in depth with programming.
 
While I don't speak for Arduino, I'm also pretty confident Arduino IDE will continue.

Whether it remains their primary focus, I'm less certain. Whether the normal IDE has even been their main focus in recent years is a good question. They've clearly put a lot of work into "professional" products for the industrial controls market. To be honest, I really haven't looked at that stuff much. I'm pretty focused on the maker community / market.

But even as Arduino has worked on those other projects, they clearly have keep up with maintaining the new (2.x.x) IDE. As long as they keep selling all the normal AVR and SAMD based boards for makers, seems like a safe bet they'll continue the Arduino IDE.
 
Delivered, In/At Mailbox


1761604877970.png


Flashing a New Image to the UNO Q​


1761604840672.png


Code: 
   // from CMD line ...
C:\Users\user\Downloads\arduino-flasher-cli-0.2.3-windows-amd64>arduino-flasher-cli.exe flash latest
Checking for Debian image releases
Found Debian image version: 20251006-395
Do you want to download it? (yes/no)
y
Downloading Debian image version 20251006-395
Download progress: 1.00 %
   ...
Download progress: 99.05 %
Download of Debian image completed
Unzipping Debian image
arduino-unoq-debian-image-20251006-395/
 ...
WARNING: flashing a new Linux image on the board will erase any existing data you have on it.
Do you want to procede and flash T:\TEMP\flasher-updater-1696261708\arduino-unoq-debian-image-20251006-395 on the board? (yes/no)
y
Flashing with qdl
Waiting for EDL device
 ... ???????? ... see update-image above - PINS MUST BE JUMPERED ... below
 ...
flashed "BackupGPT" successfully
13 patches applied
partition 0 is now bootable

1761607807504.png
 
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Boot time is about 25 seconds.

Logged on WiFi and then there was an UPDATE required to that?

UNO Q & App Lab Update​

>>> It may take up to 15 minutes

Might explain FAIL with 2 errors of first sample App Lab upload to BLINK???\

It completed and then needed an update again?

Yes, now this works -
1761611103153.png

1761611132439.png
 
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theboot900 said:
That's a long boot time. Is that just first boot or every boot?
Click to expand...
That seems the normal ~25 seconds ... measured after the update - just again. It runs an Arduino infinty loop on the LED layout active during boot.

Turning it OFF to measure breaks the Browser connect and required a full App Lab restart after LOGIN - and re-RUN with upload? - Browser connect refuses until restart ...

So, Update LINUX, then login to WiFi and Update - Twice? - assign PASSWORD in there and it is required to start using WiFi

Starting USB seems to connect better and resumes after restarting

LED is RED #3 of four on board corner.

Came in tiny box and so real 'START' directions ... and requires the App Lab to use the Linux part ...
 
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defragster said:
That seems the normal ~25 seconds ... measured after the update - just again. It runs an Arduino infinty loop on the LED layout active during boot.
Click to expand...

That's a long time. Waiting 25 seconds for a boot up

I don't get the hype in the microcontroller world for this. It's not a microcontroller, but a microcomputer. More so to compete with the Pi.

Add to that everything seems so undeterministic.
 
I don't see the reason for existence for such a board. If someone wants Linux there is much better supported raspberry pi. 25 second boot time is laughable. Bloated Windows starts faster.

Long live Teensy. Immediate boot is so crucial.
 
tomas said:
I don't see the reason for existence for such a board. If someone wants Linux there is much better supported raspberry pi. 25 second boot time is laughable. Bloated Windows starts faster. Immediate boot is so crucial.
Click to expand...
Uno Q is compatible with Arduino shields and lots and lots of Arduino libraries. That makes it quite different from RPi. I haven't used Uno Q yet, but I would imagine the on-board microcontroller can boot up more or less immediately, so perhaps you can think of that part of Uno Q as your Teensy, and the multi-core Linux thingy as a way to do lots of things you can't do with Teensy.

I'm sure we'll get a lot of good info from @defragster and some of the other Teensy experts as they do their evaluation.
 
For a Linux SBC, I'd look to RPI long before I'd consider anything Arduino. For an MCU device, Teensy or Pico/RP2350 before anything else. What I find hard to fathom is calling an SBC an "Uno". Uno implies a lineage that is a complete stretch.

The Uno form factor is certainly interesting to some subset of Makers out there but it seems to me that ship has long since sailed. I'd rather use a Teensy (or feather or *pill or ...) form factor. Generally easy to prototype in a solderless breadboard and quick incorporation in a custom PCB made for cheap (even with tariffs) in a Chinese factory or OSHPark. I use Teensy 4.1 on one of my grblHAL CNC boards and 5 years later it is still a strong seller (many thousands sold). I designed a version for one of the SAM Arduinos and it was a complete dud. Plus, I hated the PCB shield layout - what a PITA to work around. The format adds zero value to my designs.

As to the Arduino IDE, worst case is someone forks it and carries on. The Arduino value is in the libraries/cores. Given the majority of cores and vast number of libraries are from independent parties, there will always be strong incentive for something that works and isn't crippled by Humongus Inc.
 
PhilB said:
For a Linux SBC, I'd look to RPI long before I'd consider anything Arduino. For an MCU device, Teensy or Pico/RP2350 before anything else. What I find hard to fathom is calling an SBC an "Uno". Uno implies a lineage that is a complete stretch.
Click to expand...
Uno, Mega, Nano, etc - are now names by form factor. I personally did not feel the UNO R4 was properly named as it too much implied
that it was the next revision and it was far too different from the R3... But for example there is the Nano and there is one or more Avr versions,
but there is ESP version and RPI version ...

theboot900 said:
That's a long time. Waiting 25 seconds for a boot up
Click to expand...
We should all remember that this is just their first release of it... What I would personally say is a late Alpha maybe beta quality version.
Side note: My install was not exactly smooth, lots more details up at:

But as for the 25 second wait, there is already a Pull Request to make that optional:
github.com

feat: unoq: enable menu for immediate mode by facchinm · Pull Request #235 · arduino/ArduinoCore-zephyr

Selecting "Startup mode->Immediate" will instruct the loader to skip the boot animation and directly start the sketch. Extra care should be taken to ensure that the Linux side is up be...
github.com github.com
That is do you have the Arduino wait until the SBC is ready to communicate with it, or start immediately.

As for it versus RPI, I have to remember that I was not overly impressed with
the RPI 1 or even 2, back then, They booted slow, I did not like using SD Cards, ..., but the current ones are nice... Like the one I have
on my desk with SSD, etc.

What do I think of it? Not sure yet. But once I had it setup, I was able to connect to it over WIFI and reprogram the Micro-controller,
which I appreciate. I have so far programmed it using USB as it was plugged into my PC. Over WIFI as I mentioned, and using an
USB Hub with mouse/keyboard and HDMI connection was able to program it that way.

As they say time will tell.
 
The 'out of stock' was of course on their website for a 77 $/pound? item.
I just ordered the Ethernet capable version @KurtE linked (the 2nd) - $25 and will be here in a couple of hours.

The IDE can be used to program just the MCU - I did not try that. Note above was the use of the "App Lab". Many sources and resources to build that example pushbutton on a webpage "sketch". Uses the MCU INO and some CPU Python, and then the webpage and resources to handle the messages.
 
Be interested to hear more feedback on the UNO Q. As someone who has migrated to Pi 5 for screen-based projects, but pairing it with the Teensy4.1 for the things it is good at, this SBC / MUC hybrid intrigued me, but it seems to be two underpowered devices paired together and possibly coupled in a way that gives you the worst of both worlds :) The 12 second boot to full desktop on the Pi 5 is reasonable for many use-cases, but can still be a bit much for the "instant on" crowd; 25 seconds is an eternity! Hopefully they can tune that down, remove non-essential services, etc. Will watch closely.
 
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