On Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 7:37 PM, balaji sivanath <[email protected]>wrote:
> Hi, > I saw few posts here about arduino boards,linux boards etc. I > dont know what is the use of these boards. Just am asking here to know > about the purpose of using those boards. > The Arduino board is based on a combination of open source circuit design and a software suite comprising of an open source C/C++ compiler and a rich bunch of libraries. It allows people without a strong embedded app development background, but with a bit of C or C++ knowledge to create stuff which can interact with the real world. Trust me, the first time you get to write a program which can interact with the real world (not the user, database or a web server), the feeling is incredible. Arduino gives this power to an average individual who might not have a strong electronics/embedded/development background. With the arduino board, you can write 10 lines of C code and get a light to blink or a servo motor to turn 10 degrees. The Arduino IDE is java based and runs in Linux, Windows and Mac OSs. The compiler is a GCC compiler. The core of the hardware is a AVR based 8 bit micro controller. Linux boards are extremely diverse. It comprises of any board which runs Linux as an OS. Typically these boards (in the context used in the previous threads) are used in embedded systems. They are typically small, run of a single power supply and do not have a hard disk for storage. Most of these boards will not even have a VGA out to connect a monitor. They are used in places where a real world device or rig requires intelligence to operate. You can write the control application in any language the Linux OS supports (like C, Python, Java etc). Linux takes care of the low level stuff and you take care of the functional logic to control the device. There are versions of the Linux kernel which are tuned for real time performance which are used in mission critical applications where a decision may need to be taken within nano seconds of an external event. In most cases the Linux OS and your application will reside on a flash based storage system. Linux boards are a very generalized term and the above write up is extremely limited and tries to just give an intro to the concept. Regards, Arun _______________________________________________ ILUGC Mailing List: http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/mailman/listinfo/ilugc
