It’s been an exciting time over the last six months with our first release of Windows 10 IoT Core during //build/ 2015, the first public release in early August 2015, and most recently a new Windows Insider Preview release. Today I’m pleased to share what’s next for Makers on Windows 10 with new support for the DragonBoard 410c and an update for our Arduino partnership – with more to come.

DragonBoard 410c support

At WinHEC 2015 in Shenzhen, we announced with Qualcomm that support for Windows 10 IoT Core on the DragonBoard 410c was coming. The wait is over, and it is available today as a public preview through the Windows Insider Program!

Windows 10 IoT Core now supports the following capabilities of DragonBoard 410c above and beyond what’s already supported on other ARM platforms:

• Onboard WiFi and Bluetooth
• DirectX graphics

We are very excited to add the DragonBoard 410c, which features the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 410 processor to our family of supported Windows 10 IoT Core devices! You can get started here.

DragonBoard 410c

Arduino Partnership

At //build/ 2015 we announced our Windows partnership with Arduino, and Windows became the first Arduino certified OS. We also announced two bridging technologies designed to connect the physical world of Arduino with the Windows ecosystem and computing power – Windows Virtual Shields for Arduino and Windows Remote Arduino.

You can now get the Windows Insider Preview of Windows 10 IoT core with the next four technology investments as part of our Arduino partnership:

1. Windows 10 IoT Core Universal Windows Platform (UWP) support for Arduino Wiring
2. Windows 10 IoT Core Universal Windows Platform support for direct memory mapped UWP Providers
3. Windows Store availability of the Windows Virtual Shields Application
4. Windows Store availability of the Windows Remote Arduino Experience Application

Arduino Wiring

We want to make it easy for you to use existing Arduino Wiring Sketches, libraries, and hardware with Windows 10 IoT Core Universal Windows Apps (UWA) on a Raspberry Pi 2 or other supported board. By creating a new Visual Studio template, supporting NuGet Packages, and platform improvements we’re making it easier than ever to build on Windows 10 IoT Core.

Simply drag-and-drop (or cut-and-paste) your favorite and readily-available Arduino Wiring INO and library files into Visual Studio, connect your hardware over GPIO, SPI, I2C, ADC or PWM to your Raspberry Pi 2 or other supported Windows 10 IoT Core device, and run your code. Visual Studio and Windows will do all the heavy lifting to create a UWA and deploy it on your behalf, and you can also leverage the power of Visual Studio with Windows to debug your Arduino Wiring code.

With Arduino Wiring being supported as an extension to the Universal Windows Platform, you can even create a UWA that combines Arduino Wiring, C# and XAML. This enables you to build great projects with mixed mode programming like the plotter near the end of this video. Try out Arduino Wiring here.

Mixed mode plotter using a Raspberry Pi 2, Windows 10 IoT Core and Arduino Wiring

Windows Virtual Shields for Arduino Application

This technology lets you leverage sensors and actuators on your Windows 10 device from an Arduino over USB, WiFi, and Bluetooth. For example, you can access your Windows 10 Phone accelerometer or your Windows 10 Desktop Screen from an Arduino over WiFi.

The Windows Virtual Shields for Arduino application is now in the Windows Store, and has improved the workflow to get started. The app is all you need on the Windows 10 device. Try it out here.

Windows IoT Core, Raspberry Pi 2 and Windows Phone controlling slot cars

Windows Remote Arduino Experience

This technology lets you develop on your Windows 10 device and access the physical world via an Arduino over USB, WiFi, and Bluetooth. For example, you can program in C# on your Windows 10 Phone and drive a servo connected on your Arduino over Bluetooth.

We also created a Windows app that enables you to explore GPIO, ADC, and PWM functionality without writing any code on your Windows 10 device. The Windows Remote Arduino Experience app is now available in the Windows Store. Give it a try!

High Performance Option for GPIO, SPI, and I2C

You can also get a Windows Insider Preview of a new, performant direct memory mapped driver model. This new memory mapped driver model that is 60-90 times faster than the inbox driver, resulting in GPIO pulse rates of over 4 MHz. If you’re using the Arduino Wiring support described above then you will be able to configure it to use this driver.

We have created UWP providers for the GPIO, SPI, and I2C busses that enable you to leverage the performance improvements of the direct memory mapped driver with only very small changes to your existing code. To learn more click here.

We can’t wait to see what you’ll make.