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Regarded somewhat with disdain, the hobbyist existed on the other side of a great divide from the professional electronic engineer. One pottered about with a collection of low level, sometimes antique, components, while the other designed at the cutting edge using the latest technology. Today, things have changed considerably and it is products aimed at the hobbyist end of the business which are driving some of the latest developments by professional engineers. What has caused this apparent 'flip flop'? The Raspberry Pi has changed many people's perceptions but, before that, Arduino was quietly establishing a fan base. Both of these formats – and others such as Gumstix at one end and BeagleBoards at the other – are taking advantage of masses of processing power being made available in small packages at reasonable price points. Not only that, most come with an operating system pre-loaded. All of a sudden, everyone can get their hands on an ARM Cortex-A8 based board for not much more than spare change. Even if these devices aren't being used in a product – and there are some which take that route – they are helping designers to create proofs of concept and to embark on the first steps of prototyping. And microcontroller manufacturers have spotted the trend. Instead of providing their evaluation boards in proprietary formats and allowing engineers to do little more than turn LEDs on and off, companies like Freescale are embracing the Arduino format – and the expansion capabilities it brings. The revolution, if we want to call it that, is opening the doors to people with good ideas – whether they are hobbyists or engineers looking to get their next project off the ground. And there's nothing wrong with that. For more on hobbyist based development, click here (...) Author profile: Glenn Jarrett is head of electronics marketing for RS Components