Intel aims x86 chips at Arduino hardware hackers with Galileo

From CNET News.com: Determined to carve out a niche for itself in the low-power device market, Intel on Thursday announced a partnership to bring its small Quark processors to the Arduino world of hardware hobbyists.

Intel missed out on the first years of the mobile-phone and tablet revolution, which has been powered instead been powered by processors whose designs are licensed from ARM Holdings. Arduino devices, use even smaller, less powerful devices today, Atmel's 8-bit microcontrollers.

Through a partnership with Arduino announced at the Maker Faire in Rome, though, Intel will build Arduino-compatible electronics boards called Galileo that use its 32-bit Pentium-class Quark processor. It'll begin selling the boards in November and is working with 17 universities to incorporate Galileo into classroom projects.

"Through our ongoing efforts in education, we know that hands-on learning inspires interest in science, technology, engineering, and math," said Intel's new chief executive, Brian Krzanich, in a statement.

And Massimo Banzi, founder of the Arduino project, seemed keen on adding new processing horsepower. "We're thrilled to be working with Intel and to having the performance of Intel technology for the first time in our development boards," he said in a statement.

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