{"slug": "arduino", "name": "Arduino", "category": "editors", "category_name": "Editors and IDEs", "description": "", "recommenders": 5, "commenters": 39, "warners": 19, "score": -8.748, "rising": -1.64, "first": "2025-11-18", "latest": "2026-10-06", "why": "The main reasons I use it are because I don't need to write a makefile, and the integrated serial port.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 13, "compare": 4, "warn": 22}, "spark": [3, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "The main reasons I use it are because I don't need to write a makefile, and the integrated serial port.", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "arduino.cc", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.arduino.cc", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Arduino", "Arduino IDE"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 782430192, "item_id": 48901887, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48901887", "by": "rzzzwilson", "date": "2026-07-13", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The boards are programmed in C++ through the Arduino IDE.", "excerpt": "Another vote for getting into the Arduino world, which includes the ESP32. To learn the basics there's still no better route than getting an Arduino Uno (or clone) starter kit and learning about digital electronics. The boards are programmed in C++ through the Arduino IDE. As you progress you could program larger-memory boards with python. Some people use other languages like Rust. You aren't limited to small AVR mic", "context": "retired software engineer with a microcontroller hobby", "use_case": "microcontroller programming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What hardware hobby would you recommend to a software engineer?"}, {"id": 736670864, "item_id": 46041929, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46041929", "by": "neltnerb", "date": "2025-11-24", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The main reasons I use it are because I don't need to write a makefile, and the integrated serial port.", "excerpt": "Definitely, it's always used GCC under the hood, and also just been the IDE. Arduino (the original AVR boards anyway) have always relied on GCC, and not just that but the entire open source chain that already existed for AVR-GCC. I'm sure they contribute back (I guess \"sure\" is an exaggeration), but it worked pretty darn well already. Arduino, for me, replaced emacs for an IDE. The main reasons I use it are because I", "context": "Works alone on small codebases", "use_case": "microcontroller programming", "switched_from": "Emacs", "story": "Arduino Terms of Service and Privacy Policy update: setting the record straight"}, {"id": 736281072, "item_id": 46017567, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46017567", "by": "neltnerb", "date": "2025-11-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Arduino was a nice beginner friendly IDE for sure", "excerpt": "I recall AVR-GCC not only working just fine in 2005 but being the official method for compiling code for those chips. I used it before Arduino came out to target the same chips. Arduino was a nice beginner friendly IDE for sure that eliminated the need for make files or reading documentation for GCC, but the existing ecosystem was definitely not closed source.", "context": "", "use_case": "Beginner microcontroller programming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Arduino Terms of Service and Privacy Policy update: setting the record straight"}, {"id": 736254160, "item_id": 46015885, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46015885", "by": "analog31", "date": "2025-11-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I stick with the general Arduino API", "excerpt": "I've played with a lot of boards, including Teensy, Seeed XIAO family, some boards from Adafruit and SparkFun, and one Chinese copy of a Chinese ESP32 board. For my work projects, I use Teensy because it's the screaming-est processor, and I use its computing power. The cost isn't exorbitant since it's typically re-usable unless you want to turn something into a permanent installation. I suggest play with what you've ", "context": "", "use_case": "Microcontroller projects", "switched_from": "", "story": "Arduino Terms of Service and Privacy Policy update: setting the record straight"}, {"id": 736130656, "item_id": 46008166, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46008166", "by": "cptskippy", "date": "2025-11-21", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "dramatically better than the Arduino.org IDE", "excerpt": "I just made the discovery the other day that there are two Arduino IDEs, the old crusty one maintained by Arduino.org and the new hotness maintained by Arduino.cc. I'd been using the Arduino.org version which had mostly driven me to use PlatformIO and ESPHome. https://www.arduino.cc/en/software/#ide Unfortunately, but perhaps fortuitously, I needed to use a Library only compatible with Arduino 3.0.0 which is incompat", "context": "", "use_case": "Arduino board programming", "switched_from": "Arduino.org IDE", "story": "Arduino published updated terms and conditions: no longer an open commons"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 783866304, "item_id": 48991644, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48991644", "by": "ninjagoo", "date": "2026-07-21", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "such egregious rules against tinkering", "excerpt": "From Arduino's Terms & Conditions [1], Section 8.2: \"8.2 User shall not: - translate, decompile or reverse-engineer the Platform, or engage in any other activity designed to identify the algorithms and logic of the Platform\u2019s operation, unless expressly allowed by Arduino or by applicable license agreements; or - extract or make copies of the information contained in the Platform (except with respect to Content owned", "context": "", "use_case": "Maker platform", "switched_from": "", "story": "Arduino Launches Plug-and-Play Modules for Long-Range Sensor Projects"}, {"id": 783307216, "item_id": 48956701, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48956701", "by": "jackb4040", "date": "2026-07-18", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "I'm surprised if you could even keep a real project of any scale manageable within the Arduino framework.", "excerpt": "This is so cool, I love seeing more and more epaper projects! I would love some deeper technical blogs like what Eric Migikovsky is doing at Pebble. It was surprising to see Arduino vs ESP-IDF even mentioned as a real decision to be made for a market product. The battery life would obviously be nowhere near optimal, but I'm surprised if you could even keep a real project of any scale manageable within the Arduino fra", "context": "", "use_case": "e-reader firmware framework", "switched_from": "", "story": "Open Book Touch: open-source e-reader"}, {"id": 745892896, "item_id": 46618306, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46618306", "by": "ptorrone", "date": "2026-01-14", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "arduino has moved away from that", "excerpt": "we are sticking with open source, arduino has moved away from that and sparkfun has an open-source certification revoked due to not being open source.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "SparkFun Officially Dropping AdaFruit due to CoC Violation"}, {"id": 743012961, "item_id": 46438310, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46438310", "by": "worksonmine", "date": "2025-12-30", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "both of these are hobbyist toys", "excerpt": "To me that sounds like claiming Arduino IDE is a \"crucial extension\". Their website[1] lists a bunch of IDEs where it can be integrated, so I wouldn't call it missing. That said both of these are hobbyist toys to make it more approachable and embedded development was fine long before VSCode, they're in no way \"crucial\". [1]: https://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/integration/ide/index.html#desktop-ides", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "VSCode rebrands as \"The open source AI code editor\""}]}], "who": [{"by": "rzzzwilson", "context": "retired software engineer with a microcontroller hobby", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48901887", "date": "2026-07-13"}, {"by": "analog31", "context": "long-time user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46274007", "date": "2025-12-15"}, {"by": "neltnerb", "context": "Works alone on small codebases", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46041929", "date": "2025-11-24"}, {"by": "dekhn", "context": "hobbyist building automated microscopes", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45986075", "date": "2025-11-19"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["microcontroller programming", "microcontroller development", "embedded development", "maker platform", "e-reader firmware framework", "coding esp32 watch"], "compared": [{"slug": "platformio", "name": "PlatformIO", "co": 9, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 4}, {"slug": "esp-idf", "name": "ESP-IDF", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "visual-studio-code", "name": "Visual Studio Code", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "esphome", "name": "ESPHome", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "embassy", "name": "Embassy", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45984143", "title": "The Death of Arduino?", "mentions": 14}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46265362", "title": "Adafruit: Arduino\u2019s Rules Are \u2018Incompatible With Open Source\u2019", "mentions": 10}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46009056", "title": "Arduino Terms of Service and Privacy Policy update: setting the record straight", "mentions": 5}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46005553", "title": "Arduino published updated terms and conditions: no longer an open commons", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46291870", "title": "Arduino UNO Q bridges high-performance computing with real-time control", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49950653", "title": "Best-selling Zigbee temperature sensors tested and compared", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"warn": 7, "neutral": 7, "compare": 2, "recommend": 3}, "2025-12": {"warn": 12, "neutral": 2, "compare": 1}, "2026-01": {"neutral": 1, "warn": 1, "compare": 1}, "2026-02": {"neutral": 2}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 1, "warn": 2}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 1}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 799592512, "item_id": 49974532, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49974532", "by": "tzs", "date": "2026-10-06", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "program it using Arduino", "excerpt": "> To get an accurate base for benchmarks, I decided to calibrate it against a lab-certified thermometer at a friend\u2019s butcher shop, as weirdly as that sounds. His particular thermometer gets checked and calibrated by the state on a schedule (every 3 months) because it sits inside a commercial meat refrigerator and it is required by law. After calibration, my MHO-C401 needed an offset of minus 0.5\u00b0C and plus 4% humidi", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Best-selling Zigbee temperature sensors tested and compared"}, {"id": 783866304, "item_id": 48991644, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48991644", "by": "ninjagoo", "date": "2026-07-21", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "such egregious rules against tinkering", "excerpt": "From Arduino's Terms & Conditions [1], Section 8.2: \"8.2 User shall not: - translate, decompile or reverse-engineer the Platform, or engage in any other activity designed to identify the algorithms and logic of the Platform\u2019s operation, unless expressly allowed by Arduino or by applicable license agreements; or - extract or make copies of the information contained in the Platform (except with respect to Content owned", "context": "", "use_case": "Maker platform", "switched_from": "", "story": "Arduino Launches Plug-and-Play Modules for Long-Range Sensor Projects"}, {"id": 783307216, "item_id": 48956701, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48956701", "by": "jackb4040", "date": "2026-07-18", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "I'm surprised if you could even keep a real project of any scale manageable within the Arduino framework.", "excerpt": "This is so cool, I love seeing more and more epaper projects! I would love some deeper technical blogs like what Eric Migikovsky is doing at Pebble. It was surprising to see Arduino vs ESP-IDF even mentioned as a real decision to be made for a market product. The battery life would obviously be nowhere near optimal, but I'm surprised if you could even keep a real project of any scale manageable within the Arduino fra", "context": "", "use_case": "e-reader firmware framework", "switched_from": "", "story": "Open Book Touch: open-source e-reader"}, {"id": 782430192, "item_id": 48901887, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48901887", "by": "rzzzwilson", "date": "2026-07-13", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The boards are programmed in C++ through the Arduino IDE.", "excerpt": "Another vote for getting into the Arduino world, which includes the ESP32. To learn the basics there's still no better route than getting an Arduino Uno (or clone) starter kit and learning about digital electronics. The boards are programmed in C++ through the Arduino IDE. As you progress you could program larger-memory boards with python. Some people use other languages like Rust. You aren't limited to small AVR mic", "context": "retired software engineer with a microcontroller hobby", "use_case": "microcontroller programming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What hardware hobby would you recommend to a software engineer?"}, {"id": 754348368, "item_id": 47146773, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47146773", "by": "electronW1zard", "date": "2026-02-24", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "You can write code using the Arduino IDE.", "excerpt": "I've used on of these ESP32-S3 watches: https://www.waveshare.com/esp32-s3-touch-amoled-2.06.htm You can write code using the Arduino IDE.", "context": "", "use_case": "coding ESP32 watch", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Programmable Watches with WiFi?"}, {"id": 752043184, "item_id": 47002699, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47002699", "by": "saidinesh5", "date": "2026-02-13", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "One of the first flight controllers he coded was in Arduino..", "excerpt": "He also has a fun YouTube channel: https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTSCOv-lGtMax-oA4Pnq8OTxd4fTucrjQ One of the first flight controllers he coded was in Arduino.. https://github.com/nickrehm/dRehmFlight/tree/master/Versions/dRehmFlight_Teensy_BETA_1.3 He deliberately kept the code in single file and made sure it was still easy to follow.", "context": "", "use_case": "Flight controller firmware", "switched_from": "", "story": "Advanced Aerial Robotics Made Simple"}, {"id": 748830464, "item_id": 46801904, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46801904", "by": "VorpalWay", "date": "2026-01-28", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "My experience is with Aruduino wiring vs Rust with embassy.", "excerpt": "My experience is with Aruduino wiring vs Rust with embassy. And very much from a hobbyist POV. Rust on embedded uses a HAL layer, which is vendor independent (and resolved at compile time, like templates would be in C++). It doesnt cover everything yet, but basics like GPIO, SPI, I2C etc are covered. This avoids the issue of N drivers times M vendor SDKs: I2C drivers can just be written against the HAL, and you insta", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mousefood \u2013 Build embedded terminal UIs for microcontrollers"}, {"id": 745892896, "item_id": 46618306, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46618306", "by": "ptorrone", "date": "2026-01-14", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "arduino has moved away from that", "excerpt": "we are sticking with open source, arduino has moved away from that and sparkfun has an open-source certification revoked due to not being open source.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "SparkFun Officially Dropping AdaFruit due to CoC Violation"}, {"id": 744408081, "item_id": 46525505, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46525505", "by": "pjmlp", "date": "2026-01-07", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Arduino, https://docs.arduino.cc/arduino-cloud/guides/arduino-c/", "excerpt": "Some people have the skills to make C++ work on a GBA, https://github.com/GValiente/butano Arduino, https://docs.arduino.cc/arduino-cloud/guides/arduino-c/ Or even ESP32, https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/stable/esp32/api-guides/cplusplus.html Others do not. As for C does not such thing, strangly there are enough examples from TI, Microchip, Atmel that prove otherwise.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "C Is Best"}, {"id": 743012961, "item_id": 46438310, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46438310", "by": "worksonmine", "date": "2025-12-30", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "both of these are hobbyist toys", "excerpt": "To me that sounds like claiming Arduino IDE is a \"crucial extension\". Their website[1] lists a bunch of IDEs where it can be integrated, so I wouldn't call it missing. That said both of these are hobbyist toys to make it more approachable and embedded development was fine long before VSCode, they're in no way \"crucial\". [1]: https://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/integration/ide/index.html#desktop-ides", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "VSCode rebrands as \"The open source AI code editor\""}, {"id": 741791648, "item_id": 46361978, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46361978", "by": "exmadscientist", "date": "2025-12-22", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "now you've got the Arduino IDE around, hope it doesn't break!", "excerpt": "> I don\u2019t understand what point you\u2019re trying to get across. My point is twofold: 1. There are many niches. Your main needs are not the same as my main needs. And my needs are poorly met by existing products, so I want to see something better. (And I do buy chips.) 2. All of this is way, way harder than it needs to be. It could be easy, but it isn't. Everything is possible right now. But I wasn't random when I used t", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "FPGAs Need a New Future"}, {"id": 741456832, "item_id": 46341052, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46341052", "by": "shevy-java", "date": "2025-12-20", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "We also had this recently with arduino.", "excerpt": "I see this more and more used. It seems companies want to fake stuff now, aka claiming to be open source when they are not. DHH also claims he is super open source when in reality he already soul-sent to the big tech bros: https://world.hey.com/dhh/the-o-saasy-license-336c5c8f We also had this recently with arduino. I don't understand why companies try to get that way. To me it is not an open source licence - it is a", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "MIRA \u2013 An open-source persistent AI entity with memory"}, {"id": 741443665, "item_id": 46340229, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46340229", "by": "why-o-why", "date": "2025-12-20", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Do you think arduino is better? lolno.", "excerpt": "Oh, kconifg is great. Do you think arduino is better? lolno. Check out NXP or STM's solution, and kconfig makes way more sense. Again, my opinion. >> You don't allocate a separate thread stack for something you do once an hour - not unless it's a high-criticality task. You don't constantly poll a sensor that consumes 10mA on a device that has 10\u00b5A idle consumption budget. I know. But you said you were TRYING to do th", "context": "", "use_case": "Microcontroller development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Arduino UNO Q bridges high-performance computing with real-time control"}, {"id": 741429520, "item_id": 46339345, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46339345", "by": "OrvalWintermute", "date": "2025-12-20", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "when some elements of the stack have incredibly onerous terms added to them", "excerpt": "We get that, but when some elements of the stack have incredibly onerous terms added to them, the 2nd order and 3rd order Arduinos become license untenable particularly for low-level developers working with minimal docs Am including a few different articles on this because viewpoint diversity is good for this issue https://www.molecularist.com/2025/11/did-qualcomm-kill-arduino-for-good.html https://arstechnica.com/ga", "context": "", "use_case": "Boards and cloud stack", "switched_from": "", "story": "Arduino UNO Q bridges high-performance computing with real-time control"}, {"id": 740650577, "item_id": 46290661, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46290661", "by": "procaryote", "date": "2025-12-16", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "I remember having a harder time setting up a workflow that didn't need me to touch the arduino IDE.", "excerpt": "CMake doesn't spark joy, but it's not something you need to touch constantly. I figured out how to set up a basic cmake file and now I mostly need to touch it to set a project name, add or remove modules etc. It was a while since I used arduino, but I remember having a harder time setting up a workflow that didn't need me to touch the arduino IDE.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Adafruit: Arduino\u2019s Rules Are \u2018Incompatible With Open Source\u2019"}, {"id": 740483057, "item_id": 46280191, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46280191", "by": "blensor", "date": "2025-12-15", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "much more to my liking than the separate Arduino IDE", "excerpt": "+1 for platformio, I recently switched to it and working in VSCode on the code is much more to my liking than the separate Arduino IDE", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Adafruit: Arduino\u2019s Rules Are \u2018Incompatible With Open Source\u2019"}, {"id": 740402512, "item_id": 46275157, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46275157", "by": "assbuttbuttass", "date": "2025-12-15", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "", "excerpt": "> To \"force\" someone to develop on a Chromebook is like giving someone a bicycle to become a race car driver. Lol, I use a Chromebook for development at work", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Adafruit: Arduino\u2019s Rules Are \u2018Incompatible With Open Source\u2019"}, {"id": 740384113, "item_id": 46274007, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46274007", "by": "analog31", "date": "2025-12-15", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I'm a long time user of the Arduino IDE for third party boards such as the Teensy.", "excerpt": "I'm a long time user of the Arduino IDE for third party boards such as the Teensy. Recently I've switched to Platformio for coding. So I should be satisfied with never needing Arduino's cloud service. But Adafruit points out a problem, which is that the cloud service is the only available option for students using school-issued Chromebooks. I can confirm that a school-issued Chromebook is likely to be set up to lock ", "context": "long-time user", "use_case": "programming Teensy boards", "switched_from": "", "story": "Adafruit: Arduino\u2019s Rules Are \u2018Incompatible With Open Source\u2019"}, {"id": 740369809, "item_id": 46273113, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46273113", "by": "dismalpedigree", "date": "2025-12-15", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "after using arduino ide for over a decade", "excerpt": "I switched to platformio in vscode (and command line) a few months ago after using arduino ide for over a decade. Can\u2019t recommend it enough. Faster startup. Repeatable builds. The abilty to save your image and then flash on many devices. Build time parameters. Also allows access to some functionality that is not possible using arduino build process due to how arduino compiles and processes sketches.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Adafruit: Arduino\u2019s Rules Are \u2018Incompatible With Open Source\u2019"}, {"id": 740358483, "item_id": 46272405, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46272405", "by": "alias_neo", "date": "2025-12-15", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "I wouldn't even consider Arduino anymore.", "excerpt": "Last time I used Arduino was probably the late 2000s, as a kid/teenager,student their prices always felt too high to me, so I moved to \"compatibles\" or \"clones\" for a while. Once ESP8266 and ESP32 came along (with a detour thanks to Raspberry Pi coming along in the 2010s), there was really no need nor desire to use Arduino anymore and like you I forget about them. Maybe they have a place in education, and maybe in in", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Adafruit: Arduino\u2019s Rules Are \u2018Incompatible With Open Source\u2019"}, {"id": 740357120, "item_id": 46272320, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46272320", "by": "MPSimmons", "date": "2025-12-15", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "you don't even need to do that with the right VSCode extensions", "excerpt": "Ever since I got involved with Espressif's ESP32/ESP8266 chips, I haven't even thought about arduinos, except to download the UI, but you don't even need to do that with the right VSCode extensions to make your life better. I do keep meaning to try this though - https://platformio.org/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Adafruit: Arduino\u2019s Rules Are \u2018Incompatible With Open Source\u2019"}, {"id": 740356144, "item_id": 46272259, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46272259", "by": "1718627440", "date": "2025-12-15", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "You can tell the Arduino IDE to use another editor, which is what I did when I used it.", "excerpt": "But targeting the Arduino IDE only means to have a GCC version to compile and some upload program and then set a bunch of variables in platform.txt . It doesn't actually make it any harder to not use the Arduino IDE. > The problem with the IDE is that it doesn't offer a gradual path to more advanced usage. You're pretty much stuck with a single file main project. You can split off functionality into libraries, but th", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Adafruit: Arduino\u2019s Rules Are \u2018Incompatible With Open Source\u2019"}, {"id": 740344688, "item_id": 46271543, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46271543", "by": "finaard", "date": "2025-12-14", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "The problem with the IDE is that it doesn't offer a gradual path to more advanced usage.", "excerpt": "> People also do not like the arduino ide because the days of easy setup and run are gone and a real way of debug is needed in most projects. A surprising amount of embedded SoCs target the Arduino IDE either as the main IDE, or one of the main ones. And for those the setup is still pretty easy for non technical users - \"Download IDE, paste this into the boardmanager, compile the sketch, upload\". That's the main reas", "context": "", "use_case": "Embedded development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Adafruit: Arduino\u2019s Rules Are \u2018Incompatible With Open Source\u2019"}, {"id": 740342528, "item_id": 46271408, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46271408", "by": "RobotToaster", "date": "2025-12-14", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "how Arduino has been enshittifying for years", "excerpt": "I feel like the Qualcomm thing has just woken up a lot of people to how Arduino has been enshittifying for years They released their first closed source \"pro\" boards in 2021 https://blog.adafruit.com/2023/07/12/when-open-becomes-opaque-the-changing-face-of-open-source-hardware-companies/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Adafruit: Arduino\u2019s Rules Are \u2018Incompatible With Open Source\u2019"}, {"id": 736670864, "item_id": 46041929, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46041929", "by": "neltnerb", "date": "2025-11-24", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The main reasons I use it are because I don't need to write a makefile, and the integrated serial port.", "excerpt": "Definitely, it's always used GCC under the hood, and also just been the IDE. Arduino (the original AVR boards anyway) have always relied on GCC, and not just that but the entire open source chain that already existed for AVR-GCC. I'm sure they contribute back (I guess \"sure\" is an exaggeration), but it worked pretty darn well already. Arduino, for me, replaced emacs for an IDE. The main reasons I use it are because I", "context": "Works alone on small codebases", "use_case": "microcontroller programming", "switched_from": "Emacs", "story": "Arduino Terms of Service and Privacy Policy update: setting the record straight"}, {"id": 736282720, "item_id": 46017670, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46017670", "by": "1718627440", "date": "2025-11-22", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Which is useful for C++, but far from being non-replaceable.", "excerpt": "Yeah, the software side is basically only an IDE, a build system and a package manager an another system API (basically an alternative to libc). Which is useful for C++, but far from being non-replaceable.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Arduino Terms of Service and Privacy Policy update: setting the record straight"}, {"id": 736281072, "item_id": 46017567, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46017567", "by": "neltnerb", "date": "2025-11-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Arduino was a nice beginner friendly IDE for sure", "excerpt": "I recall AVR-GCC not only working just fine in 2005 but being the official method for compiling code for those chips. I used it before Arduino came out to target the same chips. Arduino was a nice beginner friendly IDE for sure that eliminated the need for make files or reading documentation for GCC, but the existing ecosystem was definitely not closed source.", "context": "", "use_case": "Beginner microcontroller programming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Arduino Terms of Service and Privacy Policy update: setting the record straight"}, {"id": 736254160, "item_id": 46015885, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46015885", "by": "analog31", "date": "2025-11-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I stick with the general Arduino API", "excerpt": "I've played with a lot of boards, including Teensy, Seeed XIAO family, some boards from Adafruit and SparkFun, and one Chinese copy of a Chinese ESP32 board. For my work projects, I use Teensy because it's the screaming-est processor, and I use its computing power. The cost isn't exorbitant since it's typically re-usable unless you want to turn something into a permanent installation. I suggest play with what you've ", "context": "", "use_case": "Microcontroller projects", "switched_from": "", "story": "Arduino Terms of Service and Privacy Policy update: setting the record straight"}, {"id": 736216768, "item_id": 46013548, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46013548", "by": "shevy-java", "date": "2025-11-22", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "To me it reads like a corporate take-over of arduino. That's bad.", "excerpt": "\"Let us be absolutely clear: we have been open-source long before it was fashionable\" This is a VERY bad attempt at self-promo, sorry. Many other open source projects are much older, so \"fashionable\" is a very emotionally laden word. But, even aside from this: what matters is the now and future. You can not refer to a \"glorious past\" if the future just looks bleak and bad. \"The Qualcomm acquisition doesn\u2019t modify how", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Arduino Terms of Service and Privacy Policy update: setting the record straight"}, {"id": 736131168, "item_id": 46008198, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46008198", "by": "lysace", "date": "2025-11-21", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Who does the fork?", "excerpt": "https://github.com/arduino/arduino-ide License: GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 Who does the fork? Paging e.g. Adafruit and Sparkfun.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Arduino published updated terms and conditions: no longer an open commons"}, {"id": 736130656, "item_id": 46008166, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46008166", "by": "cptskippy", "date": "2025-11-21", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "dramatically better than the Arduino.org IDE", "excerpt": "I just made the discovery the other day that there are two Arduino IDEs, the old crusty one maintained by Arduino.org and the new hotness maintained by Arduino.cc. I'd been using the Arduino.org version which had mostly driven me to use PlatformIO and ESPHome. https://www.arduino.cc/en/software/#ide Unfortunately, but perhaps fortuitously, I needed to use a Library only compatible with Arduino 3.0.0 which is incompat", "context": "", "use_case": "Arduino board programming", "switched_from": "Arduino.org IDE", "story": "Arduino published updated terms and conditions: no longer an open commons"}, {"id": 736118642, "item_id": 46007415, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46007415", "by": "qwertox", "date": "2025-11-21", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "the Arduino IDE has been replaced with PlatformIO in VS Code", "excerpt": "Do tinkerers still use Arduino? I have a couple of boards here, but since I moved to ESP32, I never used them again. The last usages I gave an Arduino board was for it to serve as a programmer for my ESP2688. And the Arduino IDE has been replaced with PlatformIO in VS Code.", "context": "", "use_case": "microcontroller development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Arduino published updated terms and conditions: no longer an open commons"}, {"id": 735806033, "item_id": 45987877, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45987877", "by": "andoando", "date": "2025-11-19", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "esp32 can use the same Arduino library.", "excerpt": "Getting started is really easy. https://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/integration/ide/vscode.html And esp32 can use the same Arduino library.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Death of Arduino?"}, {"id": 735805584, "item_id": 45987849, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45987849", "by": "analog31", "date": "2025-11-19", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I believe the original humble board, and bare bones IDE, still deserve a place", "excerpt": "When talking among engineers about Arduino, I find that it always requires a bit of explanation, because there's Arduino, but then there's Arduino. \"Arduino\" is the name of the original, humble little microcontroller board. It's a brand name for a series of boards ranging from simple and cheap, to quite elaborate. It's a ecosystem of firmware development tools and libraries that revolve around the Arduino API, that h", "context": "microprocessor developer since 1984", "use_case": "hobbyist microcontroller development", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Death of Arduino?"}, {"id": 735798896, "item_id": 45987431, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45987431", "by": "ahepp", "date": "2025-11-19", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "", "excerpt": "iirc the Arduino term is \"cores\", which implement the HAL for a different family of boards. Been a while since I looked deeper at it https://docs.arduino.cc/learn/starting-guide/cores/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Death of Arduino?"}, {"id": 735797792, "item_id": 45987362, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45987362", "by": "0x457", "date": "2025-11-19", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Arduino is inconsequential to industry as whole or even to hobbyist using it.", "excerpt": "Early Arduino were all AVR 8-bit, at the time it was already on the way out. There were no shifts in industry to those chips. People who got Arduino, either: - blinked some LEDs and forgotten about it - switched to esp32 and/or stm32 - esp32 and esp8266 move is funny because people started buying esp8266 to add Wi-Fi to their arduinos and then realized that they can just throw away arduino all together. - switched to", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Death of Arduino?"}, {"id": 735782784, "item_id": 45986424, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45986424", "by": "giantg2", "date": "2025-11-19", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "since there are tons of tutorials using the Arduino one", "excerpt": "I'll give it a try. Even if it is better, that's might not help noobs since there are tons of tutorials using the Arduino one. That could change over time though.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Death of Arduino?"}, {"id": 735777200, "item_id": 45986075, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45986075", "by": "dekhn", "date": "2025-11-19", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Arduino and related technologies have revolutionzed scientific instrument making.", "excerpt": "Arduino and related technologies have revolutionzed scientific instrument making. Things that were either \"too hard\" or \"too expensive\" are now straightforward for hobbyist and non-technical scientists. For example, I build automated microscopes as a hobby and I use arduino products (well, used- now I use ESP32 with micropython, but that still depends on the Arduino API) and it's been tremendous for building high spe", "context": "hobbyist building automated microscopes", "use_case": "automated microscopes and lab instruments", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Death of Arduino?"}, {"id": 735774816, "item_id": 45985926, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45985926", "by": "jcgrillo", "date": "2025-11-19", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "never really got into their whole IDE experience", "excerpt": "Yeah I personally never really bought into Arduino. I got their Uno back whenever it came out but never really got into their whole IDE experience. Latest projects are on esp32 using embassy which so far has been going great. Interested to check out rp2040 or rp2350 at some point maybe.. There are tons of interesting, easy options out there now", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Death of Arduino?"}, {"id": 735764353, "item_id": 45985272, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45985272", "by": "mort96", "date": "2025-11-19", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "Less newbie friendly than the Arduino interface", "excerpt": "Espressif has a pretty good Arduino compatibility layer for the ESP32 series. So you can follow Arduino tutorials and almost everything will \"just work\". This what I use for quick and dirty projects. For more \"serious\" things, you have the ESP-IDF, which is a pretty good C-style interface to all sorts of hardware features. Less newbie friendly than the Arduino interface, but gives you more control. And it can be used", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Death of Arduino?"}]}