In this chapter, we will be learning the basics of setting up an external electronic circuit that you can interface with the BeagleBone board using the general-purpose input/output (GPIO) pins available on it. The chapter will focus on making the reader understand how to wire electronic circuits with an explanation of how they work followed by using the GPIOs available on the BeagleBone board for their operation.

For readers who are from an electronics background, most of what is covered in the first three topics will be familiar but still I suggest you skim through the topics to brush up the basics. Since the book is written in such a way that readers without prior knowledge of electronics also get to understand and work on the projects, these topics have to be included in the chapter.

The contents of the chapter are divided into the following topics: