Introduction to the BeagleBone and demo of a simple project that connects LEDs and a push button switch to a web page. This was presented at the first Pi Masters meetup.

1. Connecting Hardware to the Web
with the BeagleBone
Frank Hunleth
Twitter: @fhunleth
Pi Masters Meetup 11/21/13

2. What!?!?! This isn't a Raspberry Pi?
≠
But, they're both low cost Linux-based ARM platforms
used and supported by many people just like us

3. Nuts & Bolts
●
Fast
–
–
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1 GHz ARM Cortex A8
Two 200 MHz
microcontrollers (super cool!)
Lots of memory
–
–
●
512 MB DRAM
2 GB Flash and MicroSD card
slot
Connects to everything
–
Ethernet, USB, HDMI
–
Tons of I/Os via the 2 46 pin
headers

4. What You “Need”
●
Black vs. white → Get the BeagleBone Black (BBB)
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FTDI cable
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Wired Ethernet*
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4 GB+ MicroSD card
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Memory card reader
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5V power brick

5. Options!
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Which OS?
–
–
Ubuntu Linux - lots of users
–
Buildroot - my favorite
–
●
Angstrom Linux - default
Bare metal - OSs are for wimps
Which language?
–
Javascript (node.js) - most support especially for new users
–
Python - lots of users, but not as popular as on the RPi
–
C/C++ - only option for some features
–
Assembly language - embedded microcontroller programming
–
Erlang - :-)

6. Connecting to the BeagleBone
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Ethernet
–
–
Webserver with docs and helpful links
–
●
ssh (user: root, password: root)
Cloud9 editor at http://beaglebone:3000/
USB cable
–
–
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Just plug the USB cable into your PC for power
BeagleBone shows up as a network adapter
FTDI cable
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Looks like a serial port on your PC (115200 8N1)
–
Super helpful for debugging networking or boot issues

7. Cloud9

8. BoneScript
●
Arduino-like library, but Javascript for Node.js
●
http://beagleboard.org/Support/BoneScript/
pinMode()
digitalWrite()
digitalRead()
analogWrite()
analogRead()
readTextFile()
writeTextFile()

9. Demo Demo Demo

10. Demo Schematic

11. Code Walk-through
●
https://github.com/fhunleth/pimasters-bbb-demo

12. Going Further
BeagleBone capes
– Tons of pre-made daughterboards available
– Custom ones are not that hard to make!
● BeagleBone microcontroller programming
– Real-time logic
– Assembly language (but not too hard)
● Nerves
– My project for using the Erlang programming language to build
embedded systems
– http://nerves-project.org/
●

13. Connecting Hardware to the Web
with the BeagleBone
Frank Hunleth
Twitter: @fhunleth
Pi Masters Meetup 11/21/13