The boot process can be altered by pressing the user button to force booting from an external microSD card or other devices. Regardless of which device or boot media, the BBB/BBW only knows to look for MLO. The MLO file is the first member of the chain that ends with Linux running. As such, a corrupt MLO/u-boot can make the board appear dead unless the debug serial port is examined.

After going through the exercises and building an understanding of the essentials of the BeagleBone, the next step is to build on what you have learned. You can apply this knowledge on your own projects or adapt one of the many open source projects for the BeagleBone. In the course of your project, you will learn more advanced techniques as you encounter hurdles. The theory presented in this book should provide a foundation to help surmount the challenges from your own projects.