There are some things you should know before you go and spend money on an Intel Galileo board.

  • You might be considering whether to buy the Galileo 1 or Galileo 2. 
    • I have a page listing the differences. 
  • The Galileo board is a Quark based Linux computer that emulates Arduino
    • The Arduino IDE creates a Linux executable file from your sketch.
    • This makes it easy to connect your Arduino sketch to the internet.
    • Linux has a lot more power and can do more complex computations.
    • Linux can have interrupts come along, and this can disturb the timing of your sketch.
  • The Galileo comes with:
    • Power supply (5V 2A), always keep it plugged in.
    • SD card connection built in. (whooo hooo)
      • SDHC up to 32 GB
    • Ethernet connector built in. (awesome)
    • mPCIe connector, which can be used to add Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card.
      • This makes it very easy to connect your Galileo to Wi-Fi.
      • Bluetooth software, especially within Arduino has not been figured out yet.
    • USB Host port
      • Easily add a keyboard, or mouse, webcam, or USB drive.
    • A serial connector for connecting to Linux console.
  • The Galileo does not include:
    • Video
    • Audio
    • It will be difficult to make the Galileo an HTPC (and expensive).
  • The Galileo can be damaged if not enough power is supplied.
    • It is recommended to always have the Galileo plugged into AC power.
    • If you want to run it off of battery, you need to provide a shutdown circuit that will turn off the Galileo if the power is too low.
  • The Galileo consumes more power than other Arduino devices
    • It is a computer, not just a micro-controller.
    • The Galileo is best suited for projects where it can be plugged into an AC outlet.
    • At Idle, it consumes 500 mA.
  • The Galileo can be programmed using the same Arduino IDE interface used by other Arduinos
  • The Galileo board is larger than most Arduino boards.
    • It is roughly the same size as a Raspberry Pi.
  • The Galileo board is pin compatible with Arduino Uno
    • This does not mean all Arduino shields are supported.
    • This does not mean all Arduino libraries are compatible with Galileo
      • A surprising number of Arduino libraries include Arduino specific libraries
      • Unsupported Arduino specific libraries (as of the 1.5.3 release)
        • interrupts.h, wire.h, io.h, protpins.h, common.h
        • version.h, fuse.h, lock.h
        • others...
      • here are some libraries that have work arounds
        • servo.h
        • pgmspace.h
        • SD.h
  • To find out if your Arduino code is compatible with Galileo, download the IDE and compile it.
    • You can compile code for the Galileo before you buy, and you will see if any missing libraries will affect you. 
    • This does not guarantee that the hardware you need to connect will work, only that the software is compatible. 
  • The digitial I/O speed on the Galileo board is 100x slower than most Arduino boards.
    • Typical speed for the I/O can toggle at 230Hz.
    • This slow speed can cause some shields and even sensors to not work.
      • DHT11 and DHT22 senor (Temperature and Humidity) does not work with Galileo
      • Analog temperature sensors work fine.
    • This is from using the pin inside the Arduino IDE.
      • There have been reports by some people that they have worked around this problem inside Linux, but I have not been able to confirm. I personally have not seen the code that does this.
      • I personally have built a Python library that toggles the pins, and I see the same frequency with Python as I did with Arduino. (though, I did not test the "FAST" output signals)
  • The Analog I/O speed is also slow on the Galileo
    • Updates can be achieved on the once per second level.
      • More frequent than that is just not possible.
  • The Galileo uses its own version of Linux that can be modified using Yocto.
    • People have tried to run a standard version of Linux on the Galileo, but no one has succeeded yet.
    • The standard version (one you can just download onto an SD card) has many things that can make your project awesome.
      • Python
      • OpenCV
      • etc.
    • Installing software on the Galileo can be difficult (there is no apt-get)