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What is your take on Qualcomm Arduino becoming Persona Non Grata

colporteur — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 02:22:38 GMT

I'm a big Arduino fan. I recall the purchase announcement.

I chimed in at the time but I've been sidelined for the last year on microcontroller project so I have to experience to speak of.

https://toolguyd.com/qualcomm-arduino-has-become-persona-non-grata/

I read this article and thought E14 peoples could share their insight.

RE: What is your take on Qualcomm Arduino becoming Persona Non Grata

WestfW — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:57:53 GMT

Meh. I don't think that Arduino has become "Perona non grata."
I'm much more interested in the "bare microcontroller replacement" Arduinos than the "runs an RTOS" or "runs Linux" boards, and the timing of the Q is a bit unforuate (what with RAM price increases and such.) I hope that the"bottom level" boards (that one could build themselves!) remain supported and in-development, but I don't see any signs that this isn't the case.

A $25 board that has $5 "clones" or "assemble yourself from parts" as alternatives is more intersting (to me) than "another $80 linux board" or a $300 "supercomputer-class
board. Albeit, perhaps not so profitable. :-(

(OTOH, it's not Qualcom's forte, and things might go the way of Google's IoT efforts...)

RE: What is your take on Qualcomm Arduino becoming Persona Non Grata

ralphjy — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 17:27:39 GMT

I use the Arduino IDE, but you shouldn't have problems using VSCode with PlatformIO. Like the Arduino IDE, you would need to use the appropriate board library (platform) and board specification depending on which Xiao type you are using.

RE: What is your take on Qualcomm Arduino becoming Persona Non Grata

BigG — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 13:39:25 GMT

I almost always use Zephyr RTOS

docs.zephyrproject.org/.../index.html

RE: What is your take on Qualcomm Arduino becoming Persona Non Grata

obones — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 09:37:36 GMT

They do look interesting but one question that I could not answer from their product page is what tools do they use to get programmed?

I mean, I do almost all this kind of development inside VSCode with mostly PlatformIO but it wasn't clear if that's the one to use.

RE: What is your take on Qualcomm Arduino becoming Persona Non Grata

ralphjy — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 15:32:29 GMT

I do a lot of small projects that require I2C, SPI, and a few GPIO, plus maybe a radio. I almost exclusively use XIAO boards for those. I use Arduino and RPi MCUs a lot less than I used to. The ability to have a huge choice of different MCUs in the same small footprint is great and many of the boards are really low cost (under $10).

I think the Uno Q and Ventuno Q may be a good fit for larger projects, but it will take some time to see if they will work for me. I’ve tended to use RPis in that space.

RE: What is your take on Qualcomm Arduino becoming Persona Non Grata

rsc — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 14:37:41 GMT

I'm switching all my small projects over to Seeed Studio XIAO boards. I certainly can't afford to purchase a bunch of Ventuno boards.

RE: What is your take on Qualcomm Arduino becoming Persona Non Grata

embeddedguy — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 03:57:14 GMT

I'm fine with everything but there are a few questions that comes to my mind when it comes to software part of the boards like Uno Q.

Right now, there is support of software from Arduino or maybe Zephyr (I have not tried this) for communication between these two MPU <--> MCU over RPC and hopefully they will add more functionality like this in the future. But then one is fixed to use specific RTOS/software to make full use of the board until some open-source people come and contribute their code enough so that both devices can talk to each other. So sometimes we are forced to use a specific software that may be a bad idea. !

Also, some people have said above that the road test for Arduino has reached some 200+ applications. That shows how much "Popular" it is. That necessarily do not reflect that every other working product has Arduino in it. Because it is more popular and comparatively easy to use, people know it well and people apply to get it. If there would be some FPGA board from Xilinx, then a lot of people would not apply because they do not have skills or sometimes interest in FPGA that much. I would say Arduino is more versatile for embedded systems.

Also, for example, hacksters and other platforms gave some 300+ Uno Q for free. I appreciate but then some people have more than one Uno Q and some even have five.! Insteady, they could have given Media hat for Uno Q to try out the dual camera and mic setup.

my personal understanding is also that Arduino's advanced boards such as from Pro series had some issues. For example, there was lack of software support for some peripherals etc, etc. And Qualcomm now can make is better. Cause Arduino has released a lot of boards even they have made FPGA based boards. such as MKR Vidor. They might be struggling to manage a lot of different chip vendors and their software. 😃

RE: What is your take on Qualcomm Arduino becoming Persona Non Grata

manojroy123 — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 14:39:17 GMT

I think it will become popular once a lot of application is build around that platform and there is a high demand for those application.

RE: What is your take on Qualcomm Arduino becoming Persona Non Grata

robogary — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 13:19:51 GMT

A sample size of 200 seems pretty insignificant to me to measure popularity.

I hadnt been able to score a free one so my on hand inventory remains 0.

I have several RPis already and the Arduino Q is like a RPi with a built in Arduino with no easy way for them to share a register table.

RE: What is your take on Qualcomm Arduino becoming Persona Non Grata

BigG — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 08:50:33 GMT

Here's a real experts opinion on the Arduino Uno Q.

As the author notes: "Why build a board this way? Because the two halves are bad at each other's jobs, and every serious embedded Linux project eventually rediscovers this. Linux gives you Python, OpenCV, TensorFlow-class models, filesystems, and Wi-Fi, but it cannot promise that your code runs in a deterministic manner: a garbage collection pause or a busy scheduler between you and a stepper motor is how projects fail. A microcontroller keeps promises measured in microseconds but would spend all its RAM opening one HTTPS connection. The classic RPi answer is two boards and a USB or uart cable; the UNO Q's answer is one board where the pairing is designed, powered, and (the actually novel part) programmed as a single unit."

https://derekmolloy.ie/getting-to-know-the-arduino-uno-q-two-brains-one-board-and-zephyr-underneath/

RE: What is your take on Qualcomm Arduino becoming Persona Non Grata

arvindsa — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 02:14:53 GMT

Arduino started off as a platform to make it easy for people to get started with electronics and they did an amazing job at promoting the ecosystem. There was a board for every level of expertise, all levels of pricing from cheap to expensive. What Qualcomm tried to do apart from the legal chaos in their Terms of Use/Service is try to push a product that not everyone wanted. Arduino Q and Ventuno is something of value to people who needs a combination of Linux and Real-time controller, and to get on the AI bandwagon. Till now People used a Normal SBC (RPi/Jetson etc) along with a microcontroller to get the things done, so on the specs side, it was tempting to have a board with both the MPU and MCU with good hardware integration. But The problem became actual usage. For simple / fusion AI based on sensor reading We do not need SBC. It is usable when we need Lidar/Camera. But Arduino Q does not have physical ports to connect them. Which means I need the expansion board or an USB-C Hub. So instead of a SBC and MCU Board wired together, I am seeing Q, USB Hub wired together. I am losing the freedom of choosing the combination of SBC and MCU in exchange for a good looking board. Usability wise, I give it a thumbs down.

misaz mentioned people are interested in Ventuno for reviewing. 300 Units of Q had been given away, 2~3 Design challenges in our community itself had Arduino Q in their Kits, so on the surface it looks like there are interest, but the question is are people putting their own money to buy the same board? Of course there can be really good use-cases for the Q and Ventuno. I am looking at making one as Home assistant and another to run Klipper, they are all experiments.

I would not say the boards are persona non-Grata but Qualcomm current strategy/philosophy definitely is.

RE: What is your take on Qualcomm Arduino becoming Persona Non Grata

misaz — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 22:21:51 GMT

More then 200 people is interested in getting Ventuno and revieweing it here on Element14, so I would say it is quite popular: Ventuno Q RoadTest. In fact it is the most popular device we have seen there in at least last 5 years.

At the same time stocks at distributors are mostly full and it is questionable if Uno Q sells well? To me it seems that many hobbyyists are interested in free Uno Q (like Hackster gave 300 units as part of some competition, E14/Farnell also gave them away in high quanties in various competitions compared to other HW). But I am not sure how many free Uno Q recipients made something production grade with it and bought actual units afterwards. (My personal score: 3 free units, 0 bought 😃)

RE: What is your take on Qualcomm Arduino becoming Persona Non Grata

BigG — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 22:02:44 GMT

Must be one of the biggest myths out there that Arduino is just for hobbyists. Arduino are simply doing what any good sound commercial business would do. Nothing wrong with that at all. They continue to innovate and, in my opinion, the Arduino Uno Q is very innovative.

Qualcomm are also being very proactive too with the launch of some new dev boards themselves. E.g. This series looks very impressive.

https://www.qualcomm.com/developer/hardware/qcc74xm-evk

https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/87-84454-1/87-84454-1_REV_C_Qualcomm_QCC74xM_programmable_1x1_Wi-Fi_6__Bluetooth__and_IEEE_802_15_4_module_Product_Brief.pdf

So no, certainly not Persona Non Grata in my book.

RE: The Grande Arduino

kk99 — Sun, 27 Sep 2026 14:33:45 GMT

If anyone would like to order, it looks like there are a few boards in stock here:
www.tme.eu/.../

The Grande Arduino

cstanton — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 10:21:27 GMT

Arduino have been kind to us today, I have the good fortune of being sent an Arduino VENTUNO Q ahead of our VENTUNO Q RoadTest (which is still open for applications until the 9th of October).

My initial impression's that it's a bit smaller than expected, but like all Arduino products it is well built.

We have plans to explore the functionality of this new bit of kit on the element14 Community alongside those writing a review, so you won't be alone in your explorations when you're selected [emoticon:c4563cd7d5574777a71c318021cbbcc8]

At present we're exploring what cameras we can connect up to it, support is still in development from Arduino, but will be forthcoming.

If you have any questions, I'll see if I can answer them, but we do have a rather comprehensive FAQ with questions fielded by Arduino engineers here: [mention:8ee503e59b2b412399ca2ab1c3b79e7d:6b577b8c04704e209d29b6772bf67243]

RE: The Grande Arduino

geralds — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 16:20:54 GMT

Hi Christopher cstanton

Hi OwainM

First of all, thank you for the invitation to participate in the road test.
I'll write more details in the PM.

-> This is an important step for the testing process.
As previously mentioned, I am using an RPi-compatible 7-inch QLED touch display: the Waveshare 7HP-CAPQLED.
https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/7HP-CAPQLED#External_guides

Since I didn't know whether the display would be detected, I had to perform this initial test—taking it "step by step," so to speak.

Today, I powered up both the Ventuno Q and the display for the first time.

community.element14.com/.../20260922_5F00_143509.mp4

After switching on the Ventuno Q, the LED matrix displayed its animation. That marked a successful initial test.

Next, I turned on the display (while keeping the Ventuno Q powered on); for about 30 to 40 seconds, it seemed like "nothing" was happening.

community.element14.com/.../20260922_5F00_143653.mp4

But in fact, something was going on:
The Ventuno Q was scanning for connected hardware without any indication to the status-LEDs.
It detected the display and immediately adjusted the parameters—both the display geometry and the touch panel settings.

During those first few seconds... (see the video), I didn't realize the display was synchronizing with the computer; I toggled the power on and off a few times.
I assumed nothing was installed on the Ventuno Q yet.
But an Ubuntu operating system was already installed; suddenly, the fan sped up and the LED matrix turned off.
That’s when I realized everything was actually fine.
So, the initial startup turned out to be a simple process.

I then tapped the "Power" button in the top-right corner of the display, a menu opened, and I shut the system down.
Done—the initial startup, including the display and touch panel, worked perfectly right away.
Hooray! The system is up and running.
Yep, as I said, since I didn't have any information on this yet, I had to take this step first.
Now I can move on to working with additional hardware and the software.

I hope this proves useful to the other road testers when they start up their Ventuno Q systems for the first time.
Because that could also affect what accessories they have.

Best Regards

Gerald

---

RE: The Grande Arduino

battlecoder — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 18:29:59 GMT

It's always exciting to see a new board and dive down into the specs so I'll probably be checking this one out. Had no idea there was a roadtest open for it! That's what I get for letting other projects distract me from my daily dose of E14.

RE: The Grande Arduino

geralds — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 16:17:32 GMT

Hi cstanton

Yes, it would be an honor for me to write a review.
Yes, the accessories would be a great help.

Many thanks for that.

Best Regards

Gerald

---

RE: The Grande Arduino

cstanton — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 13:05:10 GMT

geralds do you want to write up a review for it since you already have it? We can add you to the RoadTesters list.

maybe OwainM can send you a few accessories.

RE: The Grande Arduino

skruglewicz — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 17:58:01 GMT

I meant to say that I have applied for the Ventuno Q roadtest.at:
https://community.element14.com/products/roadtest/rt/roadtests/728/test-ai-controlled-robotics-actuation-on-the-arduino-ventuno-q#pifragment-18971=4&pifragment-18972=7&pifragment-19828=11

RE: The Grande Arduino

dang74 — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 17:45:14 GMT

Good luck with your application skruglewicz

RE: The Grande Arduino

skruglewicz — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 17:24:09 GMT

This looks like a fantastic board—I've been waiting patiently for the Arduino VENTUNO Q to finally become available! I went ahead and applied for the RoadTest as well, so fingers crossed I get selected to review one and put it through its paces. Really looking forward to seeing what kind of projects everyone builds with it.

Now I Can Q Too

kmikemoo — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 02:34:06 GMT

Thank you to element14 (especially [mention:263052ecbca54576895d7c02934a5652:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05]) for sending me an Arduino Uno Q as part of the Top Tech Voices series.
I haven't really figured out what I want to do with this board yet - other than experience the two processors and App Lab.
Eventually, I want to get it to do something related to amateur radio. The possibilities are exciting.

RE: Now I Can Q Too

kmikemoo — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 22:56:47 GMT

Arduino has delivered my order. Now I need to make time to play with it. I want to start with the audio interfaces first.