The BeagleBone provides a vehicle for learning embedded devices. Regardless of whether you are a maker looking to embed a computer into your latest project or just interested in learning about embedded programming, the BeagleBone is the board to use. Unlike other low-cost controller boards, the BeagleBone is a fully fledged computer using current mobile technology made accessible for custom projects, prototypes, and learning. The BeagleBone can be programmed in almost any manner that a desktop or laptop Linux system can. Design material is openly available so projects can be independently manufactured.
This book goes through the basics of the BeagleBone boards along with exercises to guide a new user through the process of using the BeagleBone for the first time. It covers unboxing a new BeagleBone and basic configuration of a desktop or a laptop system so that the board can be programmed. For anyone who has previously used a microcontroller or has only programmed desktop systems, this book provides simple exercises using no more resources than what is on the board.
Chapter 1, Introducing the Beagle Boards, introduces you to the idea of the Beagle boards and also serves as a quick guide to the entire family of boards, as each board has unique features that may make one board more suitable than another. It goes on to unboxing your first BeagleBone and verifying whether it is running using a desktop or laptop system. It'll also take you through useful accessories for the BeagleBone.
Chapter 2, Software in the BeagleBone, introduces the software in the BeagleBone. It covers three aspects that include getting around the software that come with the board, getting precanned images onto the board, and building software for the board on the board. As part of this chapter, analogies to desktop software are provided.
Chapter 3, Building an LED Flasher, covers a basic introductory exercise of building a simple LED pattern flasher "product" using the LEDs on the BeagleBone, along with sample solutions. The entire example is doable with just the BeagleBone itself. The only other thing needed is a PC to interact with the board.
Chapter 4, Refining the LED Flasher, builds on the previous chapter and explains how to access the I2C bus. Again, no additional hardware is needed.
Chapter 5, Connecting the BeagleBone to Mobile Devices, looks at options to connect a BeagleBone to a mobile device, such as a phone using Bluetooth. It goes through different methods suitable for different types of mobile devices and the potential pitfalls of each method.
Chapter 6, Recovering from the Mistakes, covers possible mistakes that may cause the board to appear as dead. This chapter explains the process of attempting to recover from such mistakes. It also goes through a quick diagnostic process to determine whether the board is likely to be dead.
Chapter 7, Interfacing with the BeagleBone, takes you through the very basics of connecting simple hardware to the BeagleBone. It covers the basics of how to avoid damaging the board.
Chapter 8, Advanced Software Topics, covers more advanced ways of writing software for the BeagleBone. It provides guidance to help you go beyond what this book will cover.
Chapter 9, Expansion Boards and Options, explains what a cape is and the examples of off-the-shelf things that can be added. It also goes through the process of creating your own cape or even a basic expansion board.
Appendix A, The Boot Process, provides a slightly more detailed look at how a BeagleBone loads software while powering on. This is useful in finding rapid development methods or troubleshooting.
Appendix B, Terms and Definitions, provides background information on select terms used throughout the book for new BeagleBone users. These cover terms used both in this book and terms that may be encountered in the BeagleBone community.
In order to go through this book, you should have a BeagleBone. Both the BeagleBone White and the BeagleBone Black are covered and can be used for the exercises. While the BeagleBone can be programmed in a standalone fashion, this book will focus on programming it through a desktop or a laptop system. As such, a desktop or a laptop running Windows or Linux is recommended. It is possible for a reader to use a Mac OS system, but this book assumes the user is familiar with Mac OS enough to bridge the gap between Mac OS and Windows or Linux. You should have some knowledge of getting around the laptop or desktop system.
If you are not familiar with embedded Linux and would like to learn about it, this book is for you. This book is specifically targeting anyone who wants to use the BeagleBone as the vehicle for their learning; this includes makers who want to use the BeagleBone to control their latest product, or anyone who wants to learn to leverage current mobile technology, or someone who wants to move beyond simple microcontroller boards.
In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.
Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: "For Linux users, ssh [email protected] will log you in to the board."
A block of code is set as follows:
$ ifconfig -a
….
eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 1c:ba:8c:95:18:a0
inet addr:192.168.7.1 Bcast:192.168.7.3 Mask:255.255.255.252
inet6 addr: fe80::1eba:8cff:fe95:18a0/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:21 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:101 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:5280 (5.2 KB) TX bytes:21808 (21.8 KB)
….Any command-line input or output is written as follows:
$ mount | grep sdb /dev/sdb1 on /media/HYBOOT type vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,uid=1000,gid=1000,shortname=mixed,dmask=0077,utf8=1,showexec,flush,uhelper=udisks) $ sudo umount /dev/sdb1
New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: "Enter the IP address in the HostName section."
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The BeagleBone is a sensitive electronic device and may be damaged by improper handling. Proper care should be taken during handling, development, and testing. Read all warnings in this book and in the BeagleBone documentation at http://beagleboard.org/. Specifically, read and understand the SRM (Software Reference Manual). Do not attempt hardware interfacing without understanding limitations and specifications for the board and the associated components. The information in this book is provided on a best effort basis by the author. Software and hardware is constantly updated and, as such, it is possible for conflicting changes after the publication of this book. The author is not responsible for any damages.
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