[HH] Arduino Leonardo

[Tom Metro]

Courtesy of Limor Fried's G+ post...

A video of Massimo Banzi (official Arduino team member) describing the
new Arduino Leonardo
http://youtu.be/QS2y-nc3uPI

He explains the new board has a single processor that both runs your
code and handles the USB communication. I wasn't aware that typical
Arduino boards had a separate processor to handle USB. (I guess that's
because it is a small, specialized part specifically designed for
providing USB connectivity, so it's viewed more as an interface chip
than a CPU.)

That also explains why the more bare-bones boards, like the JeeNode, use
USB "cables" with active circuitry.

It sounds like one of the benefits of moving USB into the main CPU is
that the Arduino can now act as an interactive USB peripheral, emulating
a mouse or keyboard, for example.

He also says they standardized the location of the I2C connection on the
shield connector (it wasn't before?), and the new board adds more I/O.
All for 16 to 18 Euros (less than the Arduino Uno).

 -Tom