Early Notes on Getting an UNO Q to Work

Official Hardware UNO Family UNO Q
1

After one day of thinking my 2 new Uno-Q's were bricked, I spent another day or so getting them to work. To save others some grief, I'll pass on what I've learned.

Since this is an Arduino forum, my first comments are directed to people familiar with "Arduinos" for some time. The Uno-Q development environment (App-Lab) is likely not what you are used to, nor expecting. It is a slow, complex, multi-layer process that hides way more from you than configuration scripts, libraries, and setups. It fundamentally is a full, linux-based system channeling most all your operations through the Qualcomm Dragonwing MCU. The more typical onboard Arduino microcontroller, the STM32U585, looks more like a vestigial appendage placed on board to convince you it can still drive an I2C bus via a QWIIC connector (almost oddly provided), and blink a LED to make users comfortable buying into this new board at nearly 10X the cost of an ESP32 module. Also, for all practical intents and purposes, you must have a working, configured Wifi connection available to bring up the UNO-Q. Do not believe otherwise.

My initial belief bringing up the UNO-Q came from no visible communications under any documented guise, with my laptop - a 7 core intel processor in an HP laptop, 3GHz, 16GB running Windows 11. The published specs on the UNO-Q said it needed a 5V 3A power supply to its USB C PD socket. My laptop provides a single USB C High Speed, 65W connection. I thought this should do the job, and it allowed me to avoid the typical USB A ports, usually limited to 0.8-1.0 Amp output. Upon connection the UNO-Q LEDs and animated matrix came alive but provided no communication via the App-Lab, or through tlc to the arduino-flasher-cli app-- nothing. Also, Device Manager showed no port available. Both of my UNO-Qs showed the same behavior. Multiple USB C cables were tried to no avail. All cables and ports were working (power and communication) with other Arduino boards.

I proceeded to equip the UNO-Q as a standalone processor, with display, keyboard and mouse. Once I brought the UNO-Q up it immediately tried to update over Wifi -- again, and again and again. I was finally able to see linux update, and App-Lab update to 1.28, even though I knew that 2.0 was available. I had to restart and re-load at least twice each time. After establishing the single board computer connection I was able to establish a Wifi connection from the PC to the UNO-Q with a manually loaded App-Lab 1.28. I could not establish a connection via the USB C port.

In the UNO-Q forum messages I learned of the incompatibility with some Apple USB C port. I tried learning more about the USB C PD port connections and protocol-- with all its revised complexities.

I experimentally tried a connection from a USB A port to the UNO-Q with a known good USB A to USB C cable... and I got the App-Lab on my PC to communicate with my UNO-Q without destroying the USB A port by over drawing current from the port! With that connection, I was able to successfully run the arduino-flasher-cli app and update the linux image on the UNO-Q . I suspect the chip used as the USB C PD interface has either some bugs or limitations.

I now had operational connections to the UNO-Q from my PC via Wifi, and USB.

If you come with a "traditional" Arduino point of view, you can load your Arduino apps (like the traditional Blink we know and love-- LED_BUILTIN == 50 [red} by the way) you can delete the .py entry in the App-Lab editor and copy your sketch in the sketch editor, hit RUN, and you can run your old Blink sketch on the STM32U585. There are no instructions as yet for library handling and updating. This product is in its infancy and needs more work. The editor is incomplete, not well documented, and does odd things (like highlight an entire window with control-A instead of just the code).

Remember the basic premise here is you will eventually be working with an advanced signal processor (Qualcomm's Dragonwing) and a different set of libraries (Arduino libs and Bricks) --presently all in their early stages of development. If you stay with the updates, ignore your frustrations, the progressive updates, bugs, and creeping documentation (assuming more to come) there could be some interesting opportunities with the UNO-Q. BUT... that time is NOT now.

Have fun! :slightly_smiling_face:

2

With 32 years in IT, this doesn’t sound like fun to me; it sounds like work. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

3

Another point: If you encounter an update error, and there are a few variations offered, do not let them stop you. Go back to the start of your update or download and repeat the process until it works, I have had to repeat runs/downloads/etc sometimes 3 times. If it asks you to restart the app-Lab and offers a restart button-- ignore the button, shut down the App-Lab and then restart it-- this works better almost always.

Unfortunately, there is no way to stop, or bypass the "helpful" automatic updates, nor revert to a previous version.

I found no specific documentation on updating App-Lab on Debian standalone too.

4

The cheapest STM32U585 development board on AliExpress costs around 9 euros and has questionable quality, so I wouldn’t say the price difference is tenfold. You can access it directly from the old Arduino IDE (they added the Uno in the Boards Manager) if Applab isn’t preferred. I’ve encountered fewer problems with Applab than I expected, considering the early stage of its development. Would I buy the board again at this early stage? Yes, I think it’s worth the money.

5

yours came with the QWUIC cable? not mine :frowning:

6

Someone om another thread had to go through an awful lot of trouble to get a LED to blink.

And it seems you must have a UNO-Q to be able to launch AppLab on a PC...

I think that's an important point. This board does NOT appear to be an upgrade to the R4, nor does it seem to be a board suitable for simple beginner projects, despite what might be implied by the "Blink to Think" slogan. As with any bleeding edge early release product, one should expect bugs and problems until the firmware/software matures a bit.

I am still asking myself what would I use this for, and since I can't have a look at the IDE and there have been quite a few reported problems with both the App Lab software and the UNO Q hardware, I am holding off buying one for now.

I was going to ask whether the bricks are compatible with windows but perhaps I should get me coat....

7

It depends on what you mean by this.

You can certainly develop Apps using Arduino App Lab running on a Windows computer. When you run the App, it runs in the Linux machine of the UNO Q board's Dragonwing microprocessor, not on your PC (except in the case where you are using the UNO Q itself as your PC via the board's single-board computer (SBC) mode), so the question of whether the bricks are able to run on a Windows machine is not really relevant.

However, it is maybe an interesting question from a technical standpoint anyway. Each brick may consist of any arbitrary combination of Python code and (optionally) AI model, inside a Docker container. Some bricks will certainly have architecture-specific aspects that a Windows machine will not provide. However, others do not. For example, I am able to use the arduino.app_bricks.web_ui Python module of the "WebUI - HTML" brick in Python scripts that run on my Windows computer, no problem.

8

This has not been my experience. For some reason, everything worked the first time.

The board feels like an Arduino and works as one. I think it's pretty incredible for students to get a webserver blinking an LED without effort.

I see Arduino as a framework, and I feel they just opened a whole new way to play around. It's technically possible to adapt the arduino core for other SBC to work with app lab, which is what happened for microcontrollers.

9

No QWIIC cable, just the connector on the top of the board.

10

Well... I compared it to the US$3.83 for an ESP32 board -- a bit more than10X.

11

This sure does not feel like a traditional Arduino environment to me, and I hope it diverts quickly from it as fast as possible. Linux (a real OS environment), dual processor RPC communication, DSP (Digital Signal Processing), Python co-development with much more complex libraries (Video in and Out, image recognition, and AI support) each can represent a steep learning curve over traditional Arduino norms. These are the new doors opening up, and the reason I will spend time on the learning/debugging curve. The biggest unknown for me concerns the library development, now requiring multiple levels. The libraries created huge value for Arduinos. Compare them to PIC, ST, and any others available in the same timeframe. Frought with incompatibilities, but still adding huge value to the user community.

12

Well, as a hobbyist, I have a Raspberry Pi, an Orange Pi, some Chinese boards (like the Milk-V Duo S) with TPUs, and around 200 microcontrollers — ATtinys, Arduinos, ESP32s (C3, S3, S2, etc.), Picos, NRF52840s, and STM32s. For me, this board makes sense only as it is — an environment like App Lab that exposes the APIs with as little hassle as possible. Even the Wi-Fi connection to the app is a pleasant step. I don’t want another situation where I spend months reading datasheets just to figure out how to do something, like with an unsupported random Chinese TPU. So far, I think the board is great. If it’s overkill for simpler stuff, that’s fine — there are microcontrollers for that. Sometimes, though, you need the Linux side of things too, and that’s where this board fits in with the “bricks” philosophy.

13

@gjb I'm in the same boat. I have a lot of SBC and this one is really special because of App Lab.

14

Major fail, imo. There goes portability. There goes "set it and forget it". Want to run your project you made at home at school or work or anywhere else for that matter?

"Hey, check this out! It does x, y and z, wanna see?"
"Sure!"
"Hang on, can I have your wifi credentials? I just have to...[gets out laptop with IDE on it...opens Arduino IDE...finds sketch...] just a sec...oh, you can't find your password and don't remember it? Oh, well, can I just see your phone a sec, it should be on there...[starts shuffling around looking for that USB-C wire...edits sketch..."

Now the documentation says this:

What kind of environment do I need to run applications running on Linux and Arduino side?
Arduino App Lab comes pre-installed on UNO Q. Connect UNO Q to your computer and easily download Arduino App Lab to start coding. No complicated configuration needed! If you're using UNO Q as a single-board computer (SBC), just connect a dongle with a keyboard, mouse, and monitor — you’ll be up and running in minutes.

So this isn't true? Am I supposed to use a PC or standalone? What's a dongle? Does it come with the Q? It better! Can I just connect it to my phone instead?
More:

Use a USB-C dongle that supports power delivery (PD) and video output. This expands UNO Q’s USB-C port into standard connectors for desktop-like use. Make sure the dongle supports PD, because it is used to power the board itself. Without it, UNO Q will not boot. To add a display, keyboard, mouse or other peripherals, plug your devices to the dongle. We recommend using the 4 GB RAM variant of UNO Q (coming soon!) for standalone setup.

No variants! Call the "variant" a Q2 or something. This is supposed to be a hobby, I'm not Steve Wozniak. Look, if it takes that much text to explain the "dongle", then just package the board with the correct dongle! What's next? I have to install Zadig on my Windows PC to update the drivers for dongle X, too?

And this:

Arduino App Lab also comes natively pre-installed on the UNO Q Debian OS, so you can get started right out of the box

A what? What is a Debian OS? I mean, I know but Joe and Jane Everyday have never used a Linux distro in their lives. Does it have a Windows button to properly sleep it or shut it down, or do we have to open up a terminal and type in stuff? Is the Debian OS just for clicking on an onscreen ON/OFF button to turn an LED on or off that's right in front of me anyway? That doesn't sound "out of the box" to me.

Finally:

UNO Q takes the next step by adding a Linux-capable processor alongside the microcontroller. That means you can run AI models, process images and audio, or connect advanced web applications, all while still controlling your hardware through the STM32 MCU. With App Lab, you can even orchestrate everything in one place, mixing sketches, Python scripts, and AI models.

Really. Wow, sounds really impressive; I mean, it really does. The Arduino Uno R3 (my entry point into the hobby and I'd say almost everyone else's, too) came with Blink preinstalled on it. It was obvious in the IDE example sketch what this did, what pin it did it on and with little effort, was easy to see how this simple but powerful capability would allow us all to use that humble sketch to connect to most anything, especially once Adafruit had the brilliant idea of making and selling the PowerswitchTail, to simplify DC control of AC circuits.

Can I see an example of all the great features of the Q, all at once as described, please? What projects have the engineers of this board made themselves that show off why I would want one? If it's just another homebrew security camera setup, no thanks, I already have both a homebrew solution (Motorola Hubble) and a professional one (cell phone provider Telus's home security cameras). I get night vision, motion detection and cloud storage and retrieval, plus connect from anywhere, easily. I don't want to make my own halfassed version of that just like I don't want to make my own refrigerator.

Arduino, I'm really trying on this one but I'm sorry, this new "Uno" Q does nothing for me but elicit feelings of disappointment I had from other boards that tried to push Linux on me that I really don't want or need like the Yun did - and the Yun sucked. Sorry but it's true.

15

To be fair, if running it form a PC, this does say that he UNO Q needs to be connected to the PC and then AppLab downloaded which implies that you need the Q connected before you can run AppLab, but the language is less than clear. AppLab can be run stand-alone from the UNO Q itself by connecting a keyboard, mouse and monitor via a "dongle", or, it can be downloaded and run on the PC. Since the PC USB port is not likely to supply adequate power, I think one might still need the "dongle" and PSU to run it that way. However, these are the two options for running AppLab.

IHMO an app should never just hang or fail to open just because a piece of hardware is not connected. It should at least inform you that something needs to be connected, which is not what is happening currently on the PC that I am typing this on. It just opens with a blank window.

Its curious that the word "dongle" has been used when what is actually meant is a "dock", one of those mutli-port devices that allows you to connect an external keyboard, mouse and monitor to a laptop via its USB-C port. Technically, I suppose that these can still be considered a "dongle" at a stretch and perhaps two terms do overlap, but "dongle" is a rather generic term that can refer to lots of different USB connected devices. And no, one doesn't come with the UNO Q so if you don't have one then it needs to be purchased as an extra item along with a suitable PD capable power supply if one does not already come with it, all naturally at extra cost. If it came with one, the price, I think would make it look very uncompetitive to other SBCs.

While its true many, particularly beginners, may not yet have heard of Debian OS, many will be aware that it is a Linux distribution that forms the basis for a number of other Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, Mint and MX Linux. While standard Debian Linux for the PC does has a shutdown button, according to one YouTuber, it is not possible to shut down Linux on the UNO Q to save power and to just run the STM MCU. As I understand it, AppLab fires up automatically when you log in to it in stand-alone mode, that is, provided nothing goes wrong. Otherwise, in the event, I expect that terminal commands may well be needed to get things going again which might be unfamiliar to someone without a Linux background.

https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2025/arduino-uno-q-weird-hybrid-sbc

But then, I guess you wouldn't buy a UNO Q if you just wanted MCU features. The UNO Q is a completely different beast and I think the association with the "UNO" name is a bit of a mis-nomer. I suppose that the idea was to allude to the classic UNO board format.

These days, most devices, when connected to a Windows computer, trigger an automatic download of the drivers. On a Mac or Linux, you may need to check whether the hardware is actually supported and possibly install a "dongle" driver manually. Since I don't have one, I don't know whether the UNO Q itself needs a driver or whether AppLab just recognises it.

The primary target audience seems to be robotics, but I guess only time will tell what other projects and ideas emerge. I did think that the UNO Q more closely resembles the now retired Yun (MCU+Linux), rather than a classic UNO or a UNO R4. The Q, of course, has a more powerful chipset with AI. I too would like to have a closer look at one, but other than curiosity, I am struggling to find a reason to buy one.

16

You can use it whichever way you prefer, or both.

It is more commonly referred to as a "USB-C hub". This is actually a bit more than the traditional USB hub, which only expand a single USB port into multiple, since in this case the hardware also acts as an adapter for the connectors of the other data transfer protocols supported by USB-C: most commonly HDMI.

Here is an example on the Arduino Store:

However, this is a standard and common computer peripheral that you will find for sale anywhere that you would shop for such things.

No.

That would significantly increase the price of the UNO Q.

Some people will have no interest in using the board in the completely optional SBC mode.

Some people already own a suitable USB-C hub.

Some people will prefer to purchase the model of USB-C hub that meets their specific requirements and budget constraints.

No.

They would be wise to make the effort to learn if they plan to use a Linux single board computer for a project.

Keep in mind that Arduino boards are not a turnkey consumer product. They are a tool for learning about embedded systems and creating things.

The UNO Q has a microprocessor. Unlike a microcontroller where, in some cases we may just have our program alone running on the "bare metal", when you use a microprocessor, you need an operating system to do anything.

That is a vague ask, but you might enjoy this video:

Here are some projects created by people at Arduino:

You could certainly use it for such an application, but I can't imaging what might have given you the impression that it would be limited to such. It is like assuming the UNO R3 is "just an LED blinking setup".

It seems a bit odd to feel disappointment in something you've never used, and seem to not have researched much.

If you aren't interested in a board that uses Linux, that is perfectly fine. There are plenty of other exclusively microcontroller-based boards to use for your projects.

From the level of interest we see here on the forum and elsewhere on the Internet, it is clear that there is significant interest in the community in general though. So maybe it is good that it is available for those who want it.

Certainly. However, in case anyone misses the detail in your original post, I think it is worth noting that this is not the designed behavior. Arduino App Lab is designed to clearly communicate that, in the case where it is running on a PC, it is waiting for a connection to the UNO Q before proceeding.

17

Great thoughts in your post; however, I'm going to argue that it's uncompetitive to NOT offer a dongle or dock that is required, especially one that isn't easily found in the dollar store next to the generic wall adapters.

Raspberry Pi offers boards with and without I think. I think most folks at least the first time around the Qblock would want one assured to work. I know Amazon sells kits for Rasp Pi that include the wall adapter that's needed and if it has to meet a certain spec as the Rasp Pi and apparently the Q do, the wise consumer would see the value in the included accessory through the slightly higher price.

18

Please note that the USB-C hub is not required to use the UNO Q board.

I think that anyone who has access to a suitable computer will find that running Arduino App Lab on their computer, interfacing from there to the UNO Q via a USB cable or the network, will provide a superior experience for project development work, since the average computer has better performance than an SBC optimized for use in embedded systems applications. A USB C hub not required in any way for this usage.

In this case, you would only need a USB C hub if you wanted to connect computer peripherals (e.g., HDMI monitor, webcam, game controller) to the board for use by your project (not for the purposes of running the development environment on the board).

I think your idea of offering a kit option, which includes a USB-C hub along with the board, is reasonable. However, keep in mind that a kit is typically expected to be a complete package, and this would not be that. A complete SBC kit would require also providing a monitor, mouse, and keyboard.

The Raspberry Pi is different in that it can not be used at all without an SD card. And a high quality SD card is required, whereas there is a plague of horrible quality and fake SD cards on the market. Likewise, for the RPi models that are powered via a classic USB micro connection, the common power supplies the average person already had on hand don't provide sufficient current for the RPi's relatively demanding power needs. Therefore, the purchase of a high quality power supply was also typically essential to have success with the product. So providing all the essential components, verified to be sufficient for the task, in a kit makes perfect sense for the RPi.

Conversely, the UNO Q has on-board non-volatile memory, so there is no need for an SD card. A computer or a phone charger can serve as a sufficient power supply for the board, so there is no need to purchase a power supply. And most people already own a suitable USB cable. So the UNO Q board alone is everything you need for essential functionality.

19

A question about the microcontroller libraries. I noticed that when you click to add a library, the listing also includes libraries that doesn't seem to be compatible with zephyr and the compiler complains with an error. Is there somewhere a list what works and what doesn't?

20

Hi @gjb. The library developer indicates architectural support via the architecture property of the library 's library.properties metadata file. This is a comma-separated list of architecture IDs. The wildcard * may also be specified.

The architecture ID of the UNO Q board is zephyr. So if you see something like this in a library's metadata:

architectures=avr,samd,zephyr

then you can have good confidence that the library developer has verified compatibility with the UNO Q.

If you see this:

architectures=*

Then the library developer believes that the library should be compatible with any architecture, due to not using any architecture-specific code. In this case, it is not certain that the library developer has actually verified compatibility with the UNO Q.

If you see something like this:

architectures=avr

then there is no indication of compatibility. However, you will also find that some libraries with an explicit architecture list don't actually contain any architecture-specific code. In this case, it is may be that the library developer either wants to be very conservative and only promise compatibility with the architectures for which they have actually verified compatibility. Or they may have done it as a defensive mechanism against being expected to support the incredible diversity of boards in the Arduino ecosystem (some of which do not align with the standardized Arduino core API that would generally be assumed to be non-architecture specific).

You can filter the list of Library Manager libraries by architecture via the checkboxes in the panel on the left side of the Arduino Library Reference homepage:

https://docs.arduino.cc/libraries/

likewise with the 3rd party arduinolibraries.info site:

You will note that neither has an entry for zephyr.