A first look at Maker Faire Rome 2015

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As the saying goes, “When in Rome, do as the Makers do!” 

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It seems like yesterday that we were at the New York Hall of Science preparing for what was surely an incredible World Maker Faire 2015. And now just a few weeks later, the Atmel crew has arrived in Rome, all set to kick things off at the Sapienza University campus.

Once again a Silver Sponsor of this year’s show, you’ll find several startups and Makers who’ve successfully demonstrated what it takes to go from “the MakerSpace to the MarketPlace.” In addition to big names like Bosch, those inside the Atmel booth will include:

Acme Systems

Acme Systems designs and manufactures Linux-embedded boards, namely the Arietta G25 system-on-module with an Atmel AT91SAM9G25 at its core. One project in particular that you’ll want to check out is the team’s open source LED panel that interacts with a smartphone over Wi-Fi.

Arduboy

A crowd favorite back at World Maker Faire, Arduboy is an open source, credit card-sized console that lets people play, create and share their favorite 8-bit games.

Intoino

As seen on Indiegogo, Intoino‘s KITS provide a simple way for young Makers to learn coding and electronics while bringing their connected projects to life.

1Sheeld

In case you missed them at Maker Faire Bay Area 2015, 1Sheeld magically transforms your smartphone into one of 40 different reconfigurable Arduino shields.

Cosino

Cosino is an open source platform comprised of flexible, easy to-use hardware and software components. The team will be showing off their latest projects based on the Cosino (SAM9G35) and Cosino Enigma (SAMA5D3) CPU modules along with their carrier boards and other GNU/Linux embedded systems.

Qtechknow

Everyone’s favorite teenage CEO and whiz kid, Quin Etynre will once again be on hand with Qtechknow’s Arduino-compatible board, the Qduino Mini. But that’s not all, you’ll even be able to snap a black and white selfie in his thermal printer photo booth!

Bosch

Heck, even major brands are tapping into the powers of the Maker Movement! Escaping dangerous dark or smoke-filled structures quickly is crucial for the firefighters who save thousands of lives on a daily basis. Tailored for those situations, Bosch will be demonstrating a prototype of their indoor navigation device that’s built around the mighty Arduino and BNO055.

Arietta G25 is an Atmel-powered SBC for the IoT

Acme Systems currently offers the Aria G25, a tiny system-on-module (SoM) built around Atmel’s versatile SAM9G25. As CNX Software reports, the company is prepping a smaller and lower-cost ARM Linux SBC powered by the same processor.

Dubbed the Arietta G25, the new board targets the DIY Maker market and IoT applications.

Key specs include:

• CPU: Atmel’s AT91SAM9G25 (ARM9 clocked @ 400Mhz)
• RAM: 128 MByte DDR2
• MicroSD Socket for up to 32GB bootable Linux microSD (not included)
• USB 2.0 ports: 1 hi-speed host/device, 1 hi-speed host, 1 full-speed
• UART: 1 (RXD,TXD,RTS,CTS)
• I2C bus: 1
• SPI bus: 1 with 2 chip select (5 to 50 MHz)
• PWM: 4 lines
• A/D converters: 4 channels@10 bit
• Size: 25x51mm
• Power supply: single 3.3 Volt DC
• Line levels: TTL 3.3V (NOT 5V tolerant)
• Operative temperature range: -20 +70 °C
• Pinstrip: 20×2 pitch 2,54mm (100mils)
• PCB layers: 8

“Since this is early stage of development, no documentation is available, but we do have some informations about Aria G25 support,” a CNX Software writer explained.

“You can build the latest Linux kernel (3.12.8 release, or 3.13r8) for the board. [Plus], lots of tutorials are provided, including one explaining how to create an Embedded Debian Grip 7.2 image. The board is not open source hardware, but the company provides some hardware documentation. Finally, support is available via Google Groups.”

The Atmel-powered SBC, slated to ship in 2014, will initially be priced at 10 Euros ($13.53) for orders placed before May 2014, increasing to about 20 Euros ($27.06) thereafter.

 Additional information about the upcoming board is available on Roberto Asquini’s blog here.

Atmel’s SAM9G25 powers CoreWind’s SoM

CoreWind has debuted a system-on-module (SoM) powered by Atmel’s ARM-based SAM9G25 embedded MPU (microprocessor). The CORE9G25 – targeted at engineers – helps reduce development time for the design of low-power sipping Linux-based devices.

According to the CORE9G25 product page, the platform integrates the CPU, RAM, Flash, Ethernet, power and EMI components on a single SMD component (40×40 mm,1.57×1.57 inches) using a six-layer PCB.

Aside from Atmel’s SAM9G25 MPU, key product specs include:

• 128-256 MByte DDR2 RAM (system memory)
• 10/100 Mbit LAN
• Three host ports
• 6 serial lines (UART)
• Two I2C buses
• Two SPI buses
• Up to 60 GPIO lines
• OS boot from Nand Flash or SD card
• Supports BuildRoot & Debian

CoreWind is also offering its CORE9G25-CON (expansion) board which can be used to evaluate the CORE9G25 SoM and create end-user products for prototyping.

As CNX Software notes, the CORE9G25 (base) is somewhat similar in specs and appearance to the ARIA G25 manufactured by ACME Systems.

The CORE9G25-128 is currently available for $30; the CORE9G25-256 for $40; the CORE9G25-CON (128) for $50 and the CORE9G25-CON (256) for $60
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