Beagleboard is a small board, developed by some employees of Texas Instruments, that includes all the capabilities of a laptop in just 3x3 inches. The project aims to produce an inexpensive board that could be used to teach open source hardware and software. Although, Beagleboard doesn't include LCD, keyboard or Wi-Fi module, it has all the hardware necessary to host and control different kind of peripherals. The main reasons to design such a compact board are to reduce the costs, and allow developers to use their own peripherals and do what they want, for example, the USB port can be used to host a hub, so a keyboard, mouse, Bluetooth, cameras, or even a WI-FI connection can be added. The processor inside Beagleboard belongs to the OMAP3 family with ARM Cortex-8 CPU.
Actually, there are two Beagleboard models available in the market: the original Beagleboard (know just as Beagleboard), and the recently released BeagleBoard-xM. The main differences between both boards are:
Actually, there are two Beagleboard models available in the market: the original Beagleboard (know just as Beagleboard), and the recently released BeagleBoard-xM. The main differences between both boards are:
- Beagleboard use an OMAP3530 processor at 600MHz and 256 low-power DDR RAM, while Beagleboard-xM use a OMAP3570 processor that runs at 1GHz and has 512 low-power DDR RAM.
- BeagleBoard has 256MB of flash NAND used to save the bootloader, while BeagleBoard-xM doesn't.
- BeagleBoard-xM boots from a micro SD card.
- BeagleBoard-xM includes 4 USB ports, camera header, and Ethernet port.
- BeagleBoard has a SD/MMC connector, and BeagleBoard-xM includes a micro SD connector.
BeagleBoard features:
BeagleBoard-xM features
Beagleboard works under any Linux distribution for ARM processors. Recently, TI has released an android version for its AM/DM37x EVM that can also be used in Beagleboard. To get started with Linux or Android, you just have to download and install the distribution of your preference into an SD memory from your PC.
BeagleBoard can be used in applications like low-cost Linux PC, game console, Google talk video phone, projector media reader and presenter, web browser for the TV, security camera analyzer, USB traffic monitor, mobile digital television, robotics, etc. Indeed, there are companies that are already using BeagleBoard in their products for example AlwaysInnovating has developed a tablet PC based on BeagleBoard.
BeagleBoard cost about $125.00 and BeagleBoard-xM $149.00. BeagleBoard-xM is shipped with a 4G micro SD card that includes an Angstrom demo loaded on it. This demo features the Midori web browser and a full GUI desktop.
Both boards are distributed by Digi-Key, Mouser, and Sparkfun. However, if you prefer to buy it through another retailer, at Buy section at BeagleBoard.org you will find more options.
If you are more interested in developing your own version of BeagleBoard, you can find schematics, list of materials and documentation at BeagleBoard Hardware Design section. Moreover, you can visit the some of the next websites to get more information:
Both boards are distributed by Digi-Key, Mouser, and Sparkfun. However, if you prefer to buy it through another retailer, at Buy section at BeagleBoard.org you will find more options.
If you are more interested in developing your own version of BeagleBoard, you can find schematics, list of materials and documentation at BeagleBoard Hardware Design section. Moreover, you can visit the some of the next websites to get more information:
- ResourceLinks for the BeagleBoard
- Openismus - Getting Started with theBeagleBoard
- BeagleBoard Beginners
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