So, from Massimo's presentation at Maker Faire this weekend, the word is out that the Arduino Due is to finally be released on the 22nd of October for US $49. The board will run @ 84 Mhz based on Atmel's ARM-Cortex M3-processor based MCU (32-bit) SAM3X8E. In addition, it appears Uno/Mega shields will be compatible with the Due too because the form factor has been maintained.
That's pretty exciting for me as it is, especially given that some intensive applications (e.g. real-time camera imaging/recognition) can become convenient now.
But my question is: What about compatibility of libraries/code? -- will they mostly transition seamlessly too? If not, then for any of the enormous number of existing libraries and code to be ported to the new ARM 32-bit MCU of the Arduino Due, what kinds of things will users/library-creators need to do on the software side?
Since I have no experience with ARM microcontrollers or the architectural differences, I am wondering what factors might be involved.
By the way, here is the one-hour video of the Maker Faire presentation by Massimo Banzi & Alf-Egil Bogen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TZQt9lTAOU