Intel has discontinued its Edison, Galileo, and Joule product lines. The hardware was intended to be adopted in the IoT, wearable, embedded computing and single-board computer markets:
Intel has discontinued three of its offerings for the Internet of Things and embedded device markets.
The chipmaker said in a series of low-key product updates that it would be killing off the Edison [PDF], Galileo [PDF] and Joule [PDF] compute modules and boards over the second half of the year.
The notices mark an ignoble end for three lines that were once seen as key to Chipzilla's IoT and connected appliance strategies.
First unveiled at the 2014 CES show as a "PC on a card," Edison's aim was to put x86 chips into both the wearables and "maker" markets with kits and hobbyist boards (like the Arduino).
Additional coverage on hackaday.io with one interesting note:
It's important to remember that this does not mark the end of the semiconductor giant's forray into the world of IoT development boards, there is no announcement of the demise of their Curie chip, as found in the Arduino 101. But it does mark an ignominious end to their efforts over the past few years in bringing the full power of their x86 platforms to this particular market, the Curie is an extremely limited device in comparison to those being discontinued.
Related Stories
Intel to Stop Developing Compute Cards
Intel will not develop new Compute Cards, the company has confirmed to Tom's Hardware. Compute Cards were Intel's vision of modular computing that would allow customers to continually update point of sale systems, all-in-one desktops, laptops and other devices. Pull out one card, replace it with another, and you have a new CPU, plus RAM and storage.
"We continue to believe modular computing is a market where there are many opportunities for innovation," an Intel spokesperson told Tom's Hardware. "However, as we look at the best way to address this opportunity, we've made the decision that we will not develop new Compute Card products moving forward. We will continue to sell and support the current Compute Card products through 2019 to ensure our customers receive the support they need with their current solutions, and we are thankful for their partnership on this change."
Oh yeah, that was a thing.
Here's some EOMA68 news from 2018:
Remember The EOMA68 Computer Card Project? It Hopes To Ship This Year
A libre GPU effort based on RISC-V, Rust, LLVM and Vulkan by the developer of an earth-friendly computer
The EOMA68 Libre Computer Developer Wants To Tackle A Quad-Core RISC-V Libre SoC Design
Previously: Intel Announces Compute Card, a Small and Flat Form Factor for Computing
Related: EOMA68 Free/Libre and Modular Computing Devices
Intel Discontinues Edison, Galileo, and Joule Product Lines
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday June 20 2017, @10:33PM (2 children)
Eventually they'll give up.
Maybe the problem was them attempting to bring the full *power* of the x86 anywhere - nobody wants an internet-connected hairbrush that's too hot to hold. (Might make a good internet-connected crimper, though?)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 21 2017, @02:12AM
I'm hopelessly bald, you insensitive clod!
(Score: 2) by Soylentbob on Wednesday June 21 2017, @04:18AM
That's just a matter of where to put the chip. If you use it instead of the heat-wire, you should be fine.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 20 2017, @11:22PM (3 children)
Thus, when x86 finally starts to lose its hegemony, it will make sense for Intel to jump to the RISC-V [riscv.org] architecture.
With Intel's clout, RISC-V will easily push ARM out of the market and leave AMD holding the x86 bag.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday June 21 2017, @04:20AM (1 child)
So what are they waiting on?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 21 2017, @04:39AM
The phrase you are attempting to use is "What are they waiting for?"; I'll leave it as a homework assignment to think about the difference between "waiting for" and "waiting on".
As already stated, Intel must wait for x86 to start losing its hegemony, because only then will it be necessary to rely on superior fabs for profit; there is still a long way to go.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday June 22 2017, @01:49PM
Intel could lose their process advantage. 14nm has been stretched out for a long time. 10nm is coming [kitguru.net], and while Intel's 10nm may be more advanced [hothardware.com] in transistors/area than Samsung and others, that advantage could disappear as 7nm and below start using completely different technologies like EUV lithography, gate-all-around transistors (instead of FinFETs), new materials, whatever.
Intel is already working on using its fabs to build ARM chips [theverge.com]. RISC-V? lolno
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by TheGratefulNet on Wednesday June 21 2017, @03:29AM (2 children)
to put a phrase to it. in short, the curie is junk. it has bugs, its performance is not great, its cost is about $20 for the chip thru mouser (yikes), its a 'bga from hell' that NO maker would ever choose to go near or build a board for. its either 1.8v or 3.3v but not at all 5v friendly, and I could go on and on, but I'll stop here.
intel has no idea what they are doing, wrt the maker scene. none at all, which is a shame, since the scene could use more players and vendors.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday June 21 2017, @04:17AM
3,3 V is the new "5 V". Better get with the times. Anyway what usually kills Intel in this market is PRICE. I need a cheap controller. Not a gazzillionhertz megahot processor with spydoors. If I wanted performance processing, I'll buy a server.
Oh and that BGA being bad. So true. Sure it can be handled but when ARM has any package one can wish. Intel x86 is dead.
(Score: 2) by stormwyrm on Wednesday June 21 2017, @08:24AM
It's said that you can use an oven toaster [instructables.com] to handle BGAs. But if it doesn't work after the fact, the only way to check is to use an x-ray machine, which I don't think too many people have. 😋 And bloody hell, $20 is excessive. I could buy two Arduino Nano knockoffs with that kind of money. Or four PIC32MX270s [mouser.com], which have a 32-bit MIPS core running at 50 MHz, and are freaking through-hole 28-pin PDIP to boot, making it possible to use an ordinary breadboard to start prototyping right away. Heck, I could add $15 and get myself a Raspberry Pi instead.
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.