All Arduino products are designed in mind with the open-source development model who gives users the ability to improve the product and fix the problems that may occur during the manufacturing process. The Arduino Tre is also developed under the open-source development model, as well as all the software installed on the electronic board.
The Arduino Tre project started with the idea to introduce more users in the world of hacking by combining Linux skills with programming and electronics.
Arduino Tre
Arduino Tre is based on a Sitara AM335x processor with real capabilities to run a full version of the Linux OS.
To get the right power for Arduino Tre, the engineers integrate in the electronic board the Sitara AM335x processor. This processor has real capabilities to run Linux faster, or to make I/O operations and graphical interfaces such as 3D Kinect sensors in real-time.
From the development side, the Arduino engineers prepare a list of surprises including here a new integrated development environment fully compatible with Tre, as well as keeping alive the compatibility between several platforms capable to share and use the same codes, or the ability to write programs on Linux, Windows, or Mac.
Using the experience of Arduino and BeagleBone communities and combining with the desire to build the most powerful open-source hardware, the new community of the embedded system has the role to create the technology more accessible for engineers, students, designers, or hobbyists.
Arduino Tre and BeagleBone Black uses the same core, which makes ease the transition between these two boards.
The transition between Arduino Tre and BeagleBone Black boards could be done easily since both platforms use the same core. The Tre embedded system was engineered based on the BeagleBone Black core. This possibility was considered as the best option since the engineers from both sides working together to standardize the default distribution between both platforms.
For the first time Intel processors are used in both Arduino and BeagleBoard boards. This opens new opportunities to build affordable and more powerful open-source hardware platforms for robotics and automation applications.
Tre has more advanced performances even than Raspberry Pi, which was released as the ultimate hackable computer for developing a long list of things.
Arduino Tre
The third (Tre) Arduino electronic board integrates support for running real-time applications as a special feature due to three AVR microcontrollers programmed in assembly language. Running a full version of Linux without using a dedicated microcontroller makes the Arduino Tre unavailable to run real-time applications since the Linux kernel cannot provide hard-latency guarantees for the flows.
Arduino Tre is 100 times faster than Arduino Leonardo or Arduino Uno and can be used for real-time applications.
Based on 1-GHz Sitara AM335x processor, Arduino Tre is 100 times faster than Arduino Leonardo or Arduino Uno. This extra power allows users to build complex Linux-powered applications as well as desktop applications.
The Arduino Tre platform was designed to be extended to a wide range of multidisciplinary applications where innovators can use it as a base to develop advanced projects like 3D printers or robots able to think in real-time.
The Tre IDE
The TRE IDE Interface
The Tre was released these days under a beta testing program where all the users can become contributors and help the manufacturer to fix the problems or improve the features.
For the new embedded system was building an editor with simple and powerful features. The Tre IDE comes pre-installed on the Linux board and has the ability to upload sketches on the onboard Linux. The integrated development environment is accessible via web browser, has a friendly UI look, and offer access to examples and libraries.
Price
Being part of a beta program, the Tre was released only in a limited number and only for a short list of users. The Tre board will be available worldwide later this year after the embedded platform will pass the real test of the users.
Arduino Tre package includes: Micro USB cable, 5V Power supply, Micro-SD 8GB memory card, WiFi Dongle D-Link DWA-121.
All the packages with Arduino Tre beta were purchased at a price of €149.00($204) + VAT.
Technical Specifications
- Microcontroller – Atmel ATmega32u4Clock;
- Speed – 16 MHzFlash;
- Memory – 32 KB (ATmega32u4);
- SRAM – 2.5 KB (ATmega32u4);
- EEPROM – 1 KB (ATmega32u4);
- Digital I/O Pins (5V logic) – 14;
- PWM Channels (5V logic) – 7;
- Analog Input Channels – 6 (plus 6 multiplexed on 6 digital pins);
- Processor – Texas Instrument Sitara AM3359AZCZ100 (ARM Cortex-A8);
- Clock Speed – 1 GHz;
- SRAM – DDR3L 512 MB RAM;
- Networking – Ethernet 10/100;
- USB port – 1 USB 2.0 device port, 4 USB 2.0 host ports;
- Video – HDMI (1920×1080);
- Audio – HDMI, stereo analog audio input and output;
- Digital I/O Pins (3.3V logic) – 23;
- PWM Channels (3.3V logic) – 4;
- Card slot – MicroSD card;
- Feature – Support LCD expansion connector;