“Hello, this brand of tools that was specifically made for people to learn about? Yes, you’re no longer allowed to attempt to understand how they work.”
Here’s the solution. Stop using Arduino. That’s how people power work. Then a new open alternative will pop up, and people can start using that. Ones desire to create and build, should never belong to only one brand - but a universal brand - whenever possible.
Here’s a problem. Schools are full of them. They are really, really good for that specific field. People only think about their private use, but education will suffer the most. Or taxpayers, because they have to pay the bill. Again.
i think it was already dead and replaced by the esp32s - the original arduinos are too expensive for what actually offered: get the performance of a 8-bit cpu with 2k RAM but at raspberry pi prices
Exactly. Why would anyone still use Arduino when alternatives are both better and cheaper?
I rooted my original chromecast with a teensy arduino board.
nostalgia perhaps
Qualcomm has quietly made some massive changes to Arduino’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, marking a clear departure from the platform’s founding principles.
According to Adafruit, the new policies introduce sweeping user-license provisions, broaden data collection (particularly around AI usage), and embed long-term account data retention, all while integrating user information into Qualcomm’s broader data ecosystem.
Section 7.1 grants Arduino a perpetual, irrevocable license over anything you upload. Your code, projects, forum posts, and comments all fall under this. This remains in effect even after you delete your account. Arduino retains rights to your content indefinitely.
The license is also royalty-free and sublicensable. Arduino can use your content however they want, distribute it, modify it, and even sublicense it to others.
The terms further state that users are not allowed to reverse engineer or attempt to understand how the platform works unless Arduino gives permission. Adafruit argues that this contradicts the values that made Arduino attractive to educators, researchers, and hobbyists.
The Privacy Policy states Arduino is wholly owned by Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. User data, including from minors, flows to other Qualcomm Group companies.
What the fuck?! TO ALL USERS, ABANDON SHIP! I REPEAT…
It’s time for micropython.
Micropython is a software project, not hardware
Imo, arduino is also mostly a software project nowadays. While they did make a bunch of avr boards that were quite novel and interesting at the time, now they are not as good in terms of both price and performance compared to various arm-based boards.
What keeped arduino alive is a bunch of libs and arduino ide cores for various boards ppl have written over time.
The MicroPython pyboard is a compact electronic circuit board that runs MicroPython on the bare metal, giving you a low-level Python operating system that can be used to control all kinds of electronic projects.
Literally the second paragraph
Stupid question.
Does this apply to what you write and upload on the Arduino IDE to your boards? Or just whatever you publish on their website/ cloud?
First it was Raspberry Pi now Arduino. Is ESP32 all that’s left?
What happened with raspberry pi?
It’s more expensive than what it is really worth years ago, among many other problems. It was a cheap and reliable programming platform when it was Raspberry Pi 1.
That’s not enshittification, that’s just a price increase. I’d hardly say it’s the same as this change to arduino
I’m glad I still have shitloads of ESP8266s kicking around.
Which ESP32 boards do folks recommend lately? Too many options.
Digikey sells the Espressif dev boards, not very expensive either.
ESP32C3 are pretty cool. Choose a random one from Aliexpress where the board pictures are unique and high quality and the description doesn’t have spelling errors or the AI flair.
Thank you kind sir. AliExpress has been lacking my funding too long.
Please tell me ESP32 with python is still a good option or did they get bought out too?
Espressif is still just Espressif. The RP and Nordic semiconductor chips are good too, though RP is also a corporation now.
I assume RP is raspberry pi? That’s a single board computer. Arduino is a microprocessor.
Yes, the 2040 is a microcontroller.
RP 2040: https://www.seeedstudio.com/XIAO-RP2040-v1-0-p-5026.html
RP 2350: https://www.seeedstudio.com/Seeed-XIAO-RP2350-p-5944.html
Nordic Semi nRF52840, Bluetooth only board: https://www.seeedstudio.com/Seeed-XIAO-BLE-nRF52840-p-5201.html
There are a few others by this manufacturer of different chips, none quite as fast as the ESPs though:
https://wiki.seeedstudio.com/SeeedStudio_XIAO_Series_Introduction/
I’m only linking the Seeed ones because they’re high quality. They’re also the only ones I’ve found this size with built in battery chargers.
Hope that helps. Oh and as a bonus, here’s someone using the RP2040 and an OLED to turn a lego brick into a Doom machine:
Nice! Thank you.
