Intel to ship Galileo Gen2 open-source computer in August for $60
Intel to ship Galileo Gen2 open-source computer in August
for $60
Intel's competitor to the Raspberry Pi could be used to
create robots, 3D printers, wearables
By Agam Shah
July 15, 2014 02:12 PM ET
IDG News Service - Intel's answer to the popular $25
Raspberry Pi credit-card sized PC, the Galileo Gen2, is set to be available in
August for around $60.
Like the Pi, the Galileo Gen2 computer is an uncased
board with all the components necessary to build a PC. Only external
peripherals need to be attached. Galileo is targeted at the community of
do-it-yourselfers and enthusiasts who make robots, small electronics, wearable
devices and even PCs.
The Gen2 succeeds the first Galileo computer, which
started shipping late last year for around $70. The new Galileo has a low-power
x86 processor called Quark, while the Raspberry Pi has an ARMv7 processor.
Intel is trying to make its way into the wearables and
robotics market, and is using Galileo as a way to explore opportunities for the
Quark chip. The chip maker is pinning its hope on the maker community to come
up with ideas.
At $60, the board is more expensive than ARM-based
alternatives like Raspberry Pi and BeagleBone, which starts at $50. But with
100-megabit Ethernet and 256MB of DDR3 memory, Galileo offers more features for
its price compared to the ARM options.
The Galileo Gen2 has incremental upgrades over its
predecessor, and the sum of features should allow devices made with it to
function better. Robots and 3D printers should move more accurately with the
improved PWM (pulse-width modulation) control line, which will deliver more
bits of resolution for better movement control. Power over Ethernet (PoE)
capability has also been added, and general-purpose input/output (GPIOs) speed
and toggling capabilities have been improved.
The Galileo Gen2 runs on a 32-bit Quark SoC X1000 chip,
with clock speeds of up to 400MHz. It has slots for USB, mini-PCI Express and
Micro-SD card storage. The board runs Linux, and supports the Arduino
integrated development environment, which is widely used to make robots and
electronics. Galileo can be attached to PCs running Windows or Mac OS for
electronics creation.
Intel offers other computers for the do-it-yourself
community. It has announced, but not yet shipped, the Edison embedded computer
for wearables, and is shipping the $189 MinnowBoard Max open-source computer
for embedded applications.
Agam Shah covers PCs, tablets, servers, chips and
semiconductors for IDG News Service. Follow Agam on Twitter at @agamsh. Agam's
e-mail address is agam_shah@idg.com
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