Discover the new Arduino product page!
Today we are updating our website with a new Product Page. It’s been revisited to present you Arduino products within a context of possible applications for your creative projects. If you are beginning to tinker with electronics there’s a series of Entry Level products to make it easier for you to start having fun.
You’ll also find out we retired some products. That means we are not going to produce new official content about them and we are not going to manufacture them anymore in the near future with the same characteristics. But don’t worry, all the documentation we have shared and the forum sections are going to be kept online so you can access them whenever needed.
Why are we retiring some products? Our goal has always been making electronics accessible for anyone, and encourage everybody’s creativity by launching thoroughly tested, supported, and documented products. That’s the reason why we decided to focus our efforts on the most successful boards so that you could have the best experience when using each one of them.
As you may have noticed, we’ve been going through a reorganization of the way we manufacture products at Arduino. We’ve been partnering with market-leading, innovative manufacturers/distributors around the world, like Adafruit and SeeedStudio. The objective is providing locally produced boards to different markets and our partners are not only taking care of manufacturing and distributing the boards, but they also share with us a commitment with the open-source community.
The Arduino project became widespread especially because we invested a lot of energy in nurturing the community, and providing documentation to allow newbies and people with no technical background to tap into the world of interaction design, electronics and coding.
That’s all for now! Check the new page, choose the right board for your project!
July 9th, 2015 at 22:22:18
Retire “USB Serial Light adapter” is an error. Doing this you remove comfort to advanced users. Moreover, this product doesn’t require any maintenance. On the other hand, Arduino Pro needs it.
Retire “Arduino ISP” is an error. Doing this you remove comfort to advanced users. Maintenance, this product doesn’t require any maintenance.
Retire “Arduino LCD Screen”. Doing this you remove comfort and consistence experience to general users. Moreover, this product doesn’t require any maintenance.
I haven’t enough information to judge other retirements, but the end of Arduino Leonardo seems very radical without a reasonable explanation
July 9th, 2015 at 22:27:00
On the other hand, this movement should have served to improve current products in a really easy (and not disturbing) way.
For instance, replacing USB-B connector by a microUSB’s one in Arduino UNO (call it “R4”).
For instance, NOT REMOVING assembled ISCP pins used to (re)program ATmega16U2 (why??, why??).
For instance, removing Tinkerkit connectors from Motor shield (Tinkerkit is dead since a long time, you know, don’t you?), etc, etc
Another missed oportunity.
July 10th, 2015 at 02:10:53
At this point, continuing any of the products requires maintenance. The agreement between Arduino LLC (the folks behind this site) and Arduino SRL (their manufacturing partner in Italy) broke down, forcing Arduino LLC to find new manufacturing partners as well as a new brand (Genuino) that will be used in most of the world. So it’s not just a matter of continuing to make existing products; the new manufacturers have to gear up to make any products that stay in the line. For that to happen, there has to be an expectation that they will sell enough of them to justify the effort.
Retiring the USB/Serial adapter and the ICSP programmer will be inconvenient for a few advanced users. But I’m sure that other companies will continue to offer compatible products. Sparkfun, the designer of the Pro and Pro Mini, still offers USB/Serial adapters.
The LCD Shield was not a big seller, perhaps because other LCD shields are available from many sources (including two of Arduino’s new manufacturing partners, Adafruit and SeeedStudio). The Esplora (which is also being discontinued but not mentioned in earlier comments) never caught on.
Discontinuing the Leonardo is perhaps the most controversial move. Leonardo is useful in applications where Arduino will serve as a USB peripheral. But it’s one extra product to support in a line that is becoming increasingly complex, and it was never even close to being as popular as the Uno. The development software will continue to support it, and we will likely see more products like the Keyboardio (an Arduino At Heart keyboard for computers that is currently on Kickstarter) that are based on the Leonardo design in the future.
July 10th, 2015 at 13:19:31
Removing the Leonardo is a little sad… Leonardo allows easy keyboard, game controller or MIDI controller emulation from the Arduino. At least, the Arduino micro could help as it’s also Mega32U4 based but it’s losing shields compatibility.
On the other hand, the Yún could have been discontinued as it’s quite an “alien” system in the Arduino world, the linux part being very far for the Arduino’s programming libraries.
The same apply to the Arduino pro. If you need permanent mounting, the “modules” arduinos (micro/nano) are a much better form factor and if you need shield compatibility, you also need the headers so a standard arduino is the way to go.
Speaking of it, an Arduino Uno R4 with 3.3V option available, header for the mega 16U2 (we see people using it as a “co-processor”) and a micro (european standard for mobile chargers) or mini (very common for peripherals like cameras) USB connecter what would be less bulky (and more in line with the micro/nano Arduinos)
July 10th, 2015 at 21:02:12
Thanks a lot for your so clear and patient answer, Shirley. Information like this is what should be first offered. Thanks.
I totally agree with Vapula in the need of a UNO “R4” with changes already mentioned by him (in addition to -sorry for my insistence- the deprecation of Tinkerkit connectors in motor shield). I agree with the rest of what Vapula says except that I think Arduino Yun is essential to compete with Raspberrys and similar products.
July 11th, 2015 at 01:52:26
Why remove the Arduino Ethernet? And the Arduino ISP? And the Leonardo? And the Mini? And the Fio? And the USB Host shield? I can understand the Robot, they were $200+. But the rest?
July 11th, 2015 at 01:53:52
And the Arduino Store says the GSM shield is retired.
July 11th, 2015 at 18:16:18
(deleted)
July 12th, 2015 at 01:24:08
the price and processor; (AT32UC3/HDG204* Wireless vs ATWINC1500). I dont know his support plates 32 bits, but the former if possessed Arduino Due compatibility, the new shield has CryptoAuthentication by ATMEL, these would be the biggest differences, I apologize for my bad English
July 12th, 2015 at 12:10:03
It seems Arduino Yún Shield plans have vanished…
July 13th, 2015 at 01:35:47
Osqui, I don’t see the point in “competing” with Raspberry pi :
– Yún version of Linux is much more restricted (Open-WRT instead of a “standard distribution)
– Competition with Raspberry don’t come from Arduino but from Banana Pi, Beagle Bone, …
– Yún don’t compare well with Raspberries and other over the computing power. Last Raspberry is quadcore 900MHz and 1Gb RAM while the Yún is single core 400MHz (both RISC architecture) and 64Mb RAM
On a side note, AFAIK, all Arduinos get programmed using the Arduino IDE and the standard “setup/loop” functions, share the same API, … Except for the linux part of the Yún… These IDE+API are what make Arduino success : they make the programming much more easy than most microcontrolles
This is why I called it an “alien system”…
July 13th, 2015 at 06:55:26
Arduino no longer a European project?
Very disappointing.
July 13th, 2015 at 11:57:59
This is an ambitious decision. Congrats!
I hope in the future arduino.cc will create a special category of Long Term Support Products (at least 5 years). It is not about the price, it can be expensive, it’s about having a *reliable* long term manufacturer. Having LTS products could lead to large enterprise-grade projects with hundreds or maybe thousands of arduino boards.
This kind of ecosystem (manufaturer, integrator, client) could allow us develop realiable platforms. By contast, at this moment manufaturers retire products too soon, before an integrator could get to a second client for the same implementation.
July 13th, 2015 at 19:04:41
Massimo has answered some doubts about the convenience of microUSB connectors or 3,3V in UNO (among other considerations) in this thread of developers mailing list: https://groups.google.com/a/arduino.cc/forum/#!topic/developers/-cUPP8xR4Kc For anyone interested.
October 29th, 2016 at 08:31:11
I just came to purchase a replacement Ethernet shield ( mine got damaged by a power spike) and discovered it is discontinued and there is no other wired product available to replace it, only a wireless shield at 3 times the price.
Incredible! Do you really believe that wireless coverage is universal? Well, it isn’t in my boiler shed and so now I have to convert the whole project to Raspberry PI.
Thanks Arduino and Adios.