Harry Fairhead writes that Zephyr has reached version 1.0 as Arduino's official operating system, a move necessitated by Arm's abandonment of the mbed OS. The Core-Zephyr release supports a range of newer Arduino boards but leaves classic AVR boards, SAMD/SAM boards, Pi Pico, and ESP32 boards on their existing systems, creating a fragmented software landscape. Fairhead notes that Zephyr remains largely invisible to beginners, serving as a background layer that simply enables the traditional Core functions to run.
- The shift was forced by Arm discontinuing mbed, which Fairhead characterizes as typical of chip makers who prioritize hardware over software support.
- Core-Zephyr supports 10 specific boards including the UNO Q, Portenta H7, and Nicla Vision, but not the ESP32 range (which uses Free RTOS) or classic AVR boards.
- Fairhead suggests Arduino could expand Core functions to expose OS-level facilities like multitasking, particularly on boards with IoT coprocessors.
- The shift was forced by Arm discontinuing mbed, which Fairhead characterizes as typical of chip makers who prioritize hardware over software support.
- Core-Zephyr supports 10 specific boards including the UNO Q, Portenta H7, and Nicla Vision, but not the ESP32 range (which uses Free RTOS) or classic AVR boards.
- Fairhead suggests Arduino could expand Core functions to expose OS-level facilities like multitasking, particularly on boards with IoT coprocessors.
A minimalist Go system for embedded devices, such as Raspberry Pi. gokrazy uses its own minimal Go userland instead of a traditional Linux distribution base, providing advantages in terms of security, maintainability, and reliability.
One of the SX1509's coolest features is its built-in LED-driving support. Beyond digital or even PWM output, the SX1509 can also autonomously blink or breathe LEDs! Just tell it how long to blink, or how fast to rise/fall, and it'll do the rest for you.
