If you sign up here, supposedly Ms will send you a free Intel Galileo dev board.

It's like an Arduino, is pin compatible for Shields etc., but by all accounts it's pretty terrible at basic Arduino stuff (the arduino mode is emulated on top of a linux/windows os). Could be useful for more processing intensive stuff though, and with built in ether net you could serve stuff up straight from the board.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/dn786369

I'm probably missing it, but is there an obvious sign up link?

I've signed in.

How odd - they must have closed it. I signed up yesterday and have an email saying they'll let me know when my board ships. There was a big sign up button in the middle of the page.

Where does www.windowsondevices.com take you?

To the same page with no sign-up button :C

Awww.

By all accounts you're not missing much. For simple things like oscillating a pin high/low, it's around 500 times slower than the arduino :-D

But free stuff :C

Currently got a solar powered Arduino sending temperature data over an nRF24L01 transmitter. Need to sort out a few more sensors around the house. Wanted to run them on button batteries but they take too much power for what I'm doing.

Turns out my boiler can easily accept a custom controller which is good news. Simply a case of removing the mechanical timer, plugging in a connection block and removing a wire then hooking up a relay.

And then BOOM!

And a very cold winter.

Looks like the pulled the program after their servers melted.
http://www.reddit.com/r/arduino/comments/2a036p/intel_galileo/cir2q1x

Oh really? I signed up for it a few days ago. Had an email asking for my address and what I would like to do with it.

Doesn't look it's particularly good anyway, compared to some other boards.

Think it definitely has its uses, but for typical Arduino type stuff it seems fairly pants.

Buy me an Arduino. I bought my mate one for his 30th 3 years ago and he hasn't done anything with it yet.

buy your own, they're only about 7 quid.

£2.48 with USB built in

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/351080751799

Wow, cheap. How much do all the sensors and bits and pieces cost. I guess adding lots of things to it could bump the price up quite a bit. But for that price I might get one (some) anyway.

Looks like that needs soldering. Have to get an iron too.

There's some pre-soldered ones too. Just search on ebay for "arduino nano" sort by price and keep scrolling until you find one.

If you get one with USB built in you don't need a USB/serial adapter to flash it.

Totally depends on what sensors but loads are 99p (from China).

I recommend buying some small cheap breadboards and jumper cables.

CPC are good for cheap leds, resistors, transistors etc.

I might have to look into some of that then.

I had a kit for my birthday that needs soldering so I'll have to get myself an iron anyway. Not sure whether to get a cheap one or spend a bit more on a temperature controlled iron.

Reading a book about the IoT going rogue and killing people.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robopocalypse

Just sayin'

Get an iron with good reviews. A bad iron will make you think you can't solder and put you off doing anything else.