3 ms·

ARM and the BBC collaborate on a new initiative

58 points by timthorn 12y ago

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
rogerbinns 12y ago
Can anyone speak as to how open the hardware is? In particular it is all documented and with completely open drivers, and no proprietary blobs.
- ctz 12y ago
  I don't think anybody knows about the hardware yet. The photo of the prototype is an Atmel ATMega: not an ARM core, no BLE radio; extremely unlikely to be involved in the final design. I'd expect they'll use one of the Cortex-M0 uCs with built-in BLE radio (like those made by Nordic or Cypress). Microcontrollers tend to be nicely open from a software perspective.
  - snops 12y ago
    >I'd expect they'll use one of the Cortex-M0 uCs with built-in BLE radio (like those made by Nordic or Cypress). Actually, it sounds more like there will be a Freescale Microcontroller on board: >Both Freescale and Nordic Semiconductor are working with us on making this initial 1 million devices a reality. Freescale do make Cortex-M* uCs (the Kinetis range), but do not make any with BLE, so I suspect that the main micro will be Freescale, while Nordic provide the BLE radio. Most MBED dev kits use two microcontrollers, one to provide the USB interface (ARMs CMSIS-DAP Protocol), and one that actually runs the code, so the same is probably the case here with the Nordic SOC providing both BLE radio and USB interface.
sp332 12y ago
Earlier story: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9189937 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9189937 The BBC does not see Micro Bit as a rival to similar computing devices such as Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Galileo and Kano, but rather hopes it will act as a "springboard" to these more complex machines. ... The final version will have a Bluetooth link enabling it to be hooked up to other devices such as a Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi Foundation is helping to develop learning resources for it.... BBC Learning's Gareth Stockdale, who is developing the device, said: "The BBC's role is to bring focus to the issue, and then we will withdraw from the market." After the first million Micro Bits go out to schools, there will be no more.

58 points by timthorn 12y ago

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

Can anyone speak as to how open the hardware is? In particular it is all documented and with completely open drivers, and no proprietary blobs.

ctz 12y ago
I don't think anybody knows about the hardware yet. The photo of the prototype is an Atmel ATMega: not an ARM core, no BLE radio; extremely unlikely to be involved in the final design. I'd expect they'll use one of the Cortex-M0 uCs with built-in BLE radio (like those made by Nordic or Cypress). Microcontrollers tend to be nicely open from a software perspective.
- snops 12y ago
  >I'd expect they'll use one of the Cortex-M0 uCs with built-in BLE radio (like those made by Nordic or Cypress). Actually, it sounds more like there will be a Freescale Microcontroller on board: >Both Freescale and Nordic Semiconductor are working with us on making this initial 1 million devices a reality. Freescale do make Cortex-M* uCs (the Kinetis range), but do not make any with BLE, so I suspect that the main micro will be Freescale, while Nordic provide the BLE radio. Most MBED dev kits use two microcontrollers, one to provide the USB interface (ARMs CMSIS-DAP Protocol), and one that actually runs the code, so the same is probably the case here with the Nordic SOC providing both BLE radio and USB interface.

sp332 12y ago

Earlier story: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9189937 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9189937 The BBC does not see Micro Bit as a rival to similar computing devices such as Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Galileo and Kano, but rather hopes it will act as a "springboard" to these more complex machines. ... The final version will have a Bluetooth link enabling it to be hooked up to other devices such as a Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi Foundation is helping to develop learning resources for it.... BBC Learning's Gareth Stockdale, who is developing the device, said: "The BBC's role is to bring focus to the issue, and then we will withdraw from the market." After the first million Micro Bits go out to schools, there will be no more.