[HH] Intel Galileo

[Tom Metro]

Federico Lucifredi wrote:
>> Quark? Is that some new Intel CPU?
> 
> Indeed. SoC, to be precise.
> 
> http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/do-it-yourself/galileo-maker-quark-board.html

  Introducing the Intel Galileo development board, the first product in
  a new family of Arduino-compatible development boards featuring Intel
  architecture.
  ...
  This platform provides the ease of Intel architecture development
  through support for the Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Linux host
  operating systems. It also brings the simplicity of the Arduino
  software integrated development environment (IDE). It's all about
  delivering Intel performance and quality to the DIY maker
  community--to support invention and creativity.

So Arduino compatible? Looking at the evaluation board schematic, which
includes a block diagram (also appears in Galileo data sheep below):
https://communities.intel.com/docs/DOC-21822

I'm not seeing a microcontroller for the Arduino-compatible
functionality. Are they implementing it through emulation in the main
CPU? (Looks like they use I/O expanders hanging off of an I2C bus to
implement GPIO and PWM.)

Apparently it is shield compatible with Arduino ("pin-compatible with
Arduino shields designed for the Uno R3").

Quoting from the almost 1000 page Quark SoC data sheet:
https://communities.intel.com/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadBody/21828-102-2-25120/329676_QuarkDatasheet.pdf

  o 400 MHz maximum operating frequency
  o Single processor core
  o 32-bit processor with 32-bit data bus
  o Support for IA 32-bit Pentium x86 ISA compatibility
  o Integrated Floating Point Unit
  o Low power options to run at half or at quarter of maximum CPU
  frequency
  o 32-bit address bus, 32-bit data bus
  o 16 Kbyte shared instruction and data L1 cache.
  o Total memory size from 128 Mbyte to 2 Gbyte
  o On-die Boot ROM provides Hardware Root of Trust (RoT) for firmware
  authentication
  o The SoC has two PCI Express root ports, each supporting the PCI
  Express Base specification Rev 2.0 at a maximum of 2.5 GT/s data
  transfer rates. Each root port is configured as a x1 link.
  o 10 and 100 Mbps data transfer rates with RMII interface to
  communicate with an external Fast Ethernet PHY
  o 16 GPIO pins provided
  o 6 GPIO pins remain active during S3 and can be used to wake the
  system from the Suspend state.
  o Remaining 10 GPIO pins are powered during S0 state only and are not
  available in S3
  o Two 16550 compliant UART controllers [oddly connected to a 3.5mm
  headphone style jack]
  o Legacy Bridge Components - Provides hardware blocks required to
  support legacy PC platform features. The legacy bridge components
  include the RTC, Interrupt Controllers, Timers and General Purpose
  I/Os (GPIO).


That was for the SoC at the heart of the board. More high-level details
in the Galileo eval board data sheet:
https://communities.intel.com/docs/DOC-21835

  Galileo is the first Arduino board to provide a mini PCI Express
  (mPCIe) slot. This slot allows full size and half size (with adapter)
  mPCIe modules to be connected to the board and also provides an
  additional USB Host port via the mPCIe slot. Any standard mPCIe module
  can be connected and used to provide applications such as WiFi,
  Bluetooth or Cellular connectivity.


As this board has a "full sized mini-PCI Express slot", which could
potentially accept a SATA interface supporting port multipliers, I
wonder if this would make a good NAS controller. (Might be limited by
the 400 MHz CPU and 100Mb Ethernet.)


So this seems far more geared towards makers than the MinnowBoard. I
wonder why they are pursing both?

What's the ultimate intended market for this SoC? Phones and tablets?

Have we reached a point where the Arduino hobby market has created
enough product volume and familiarity among new engineers that Arduinos
are now looked upon as a viable building block for industrial solutions?
(I can't see Intel getting all that excited over a low volume "maker"
product.)

If you're a vendor of small embedded boards, which have traditionally
been vastly incompatible with each other, you now have an opportunity to
produce something that is Arduino compatible, so your buyer already
largely knows how to develop for it. You just have to sell them on your
particular integrated peripherals or whatever other hardware advantage
you bring to the table.

 -Tom