Intel and Arduino have teamed up to make a whopper of a board using Intel's new Quark x1000 system-on-a-chip. The Galileo board looks, for all intents and purposes, like a fatter version of an Uno. It features the same pin layout as the Uno, and has a USB and power socket mounted on the board. The new Quark chip though, is a Pentium-based, 32-bit, single-thread 400MHz CPU. The Quark uses one tenth of the power of an Atom CPU in a fifth the size.
The Galileo runs a Linux OS, with the Arduino software library, to create one common open source tool. Similarly to regular Arduino boards, it can be programmed from Windows, Mac OSX and Linux environments. It is compatible with all previous Arduino shields. Intel has been working with universities around the world, and is developing curriculum based on the new board. It will also donate 50,000 boards to 1,000 universities across the globe. The Galileo features several industry standard I/O interfaces; ACPI, PCI Express, Ethernet, SD, USB, UART and RS-232.
The Galileo looks like it can take on the mighty Raspberry Pi, and allow hackers and makers to create large-scale and complex projects, such as robotics and home automation, with ease. The Galileo will be released in November, and Intel has yet to release a price or list of retailers. You can keep up to date from Intel's Galileo site.