General advice for Arduino Tian

Hello

I am new to Arduino, and I wish to try electronics with them for school projects. I was initially interested in the Arduino Yun (rev 2) for its wireless capabilities, as well as ability to work as a file server with a built-in card reader. However, at a local store, I came across the older Arduino Tian, which seemed to have slightly better specs and features like bigger memory and ARM processor, and it was on sale for an extra 10-15 dollars of the cost of the Yun.

Now I understand that the Tian is a recently retired product, that it was made by another company, and I might not need all the extras like BLE just yet. However, the specs are still interesting that I am tempted to get it, if I decide to do more things next time. My concern now is whether I will still be able to use the different libraries like Bridge (or is it Ciao?), as I read on another site that it no longer works. He writes "Right out of the box from you guys none of the Bridge functionality to pass data between the micro and linux side works (100% why people would buy this)."

I wish to know from other Tian users whether this is still true or has it been fixed? I also noticed the latest firmware has not been updated since 2016 as well, and the ipk stuff are from 2017. Will this be a problem for simple projects or use at home? Or should I get the Yun and save money and headaches? I would like to get any advice or warnings from other Tian users if it is possible. If there is a site where I could get more detailed info and help, I would appreciate it too.

Thank you.

I think you'll find that almost nobody in the community has experience with the Tian they can use to help you.

The good news is that the Tian uses the same microcontroller as the Zero and the MKR boards, so on that side of things it will have the same good (and steadily improving) level of support. The Linux module is a different model than what it used on the Yun. I don't know how problematic the difference is, but it does worry me.

I don't think either the Tian or the Yun is the right choice for your first board. Start with a Nano, or if you have shields you want to use get an Uno instead. These boards are very easy to use and have the best support. The lower price means you'll feel more free to experiment and take chances and if you do happen to accidentally let out the magic smoke, it won't be as much of a financial disaster.

If you're really set on an ARM, get the MKR ZERO. The price is also quite reasonable and the support is pretty good.