[sparkytwd]

It's interesting to see Arduino's success in light of of the alternatives. AVRs are pretty underwhelming chips. It's not that they're particularly user friendly, until recently the environment didn't support auto-detection, forcing users to figure out arcane configuration details.

I think it's heritage from Wiring and Processing explains it's success in the face of cheaper or more powerful platforms. In most cases arduinos are computer glue, not standalone devices. They are a rebirth of the good old LPT days.

Propellers are pretty much exactly opposite, in their own weird little way. Cheap little multicore, and capable in their own way. The challenge with them is going to be taking advantage of their power.

My personal go to these days is the Teensy 3.0. It's compact at less than an inch square, has a built in USB programmer and is powerful enough to not have to worry too much about code limitations. The guy behind it has put a lot of effort into the Arduino toolchain for it.

This year it debuted on our bot as an LED controller for bling, hanging of the I2C bus.