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BeagleBone Black: A 1-GHz computer for $45

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41–50 of 93 posts

Re: BeagleBone Black: A 1-GHz computer for $45

#41

do you have some "motivational" examples of using this kind of board?

I used the original white beaglebone to build something to alert us when the dishes needed doing http://imakethin.gs/blog/the-great-opencv-washing-up-detecto...

nice work :)

Re: BeagleBone Black: A 1-GHz computer for $45

#42
post #4

I got three of these. I need controllers like I need a hole in my head but hey, they are really really cute. A bit of trouble with the release that was on them but downloaded and burned in the latest and they were fine. Sadly no, I have not yet put them on a meter but will when they are near such a setup. Something that sets these apart from the Raspberry Pi are that they full of easy access I/O, and two the Cloud9 I…

What is your recommendation for adding motors and sensors to it? Is there any good usb device controller to quickly start doing robotics?

Re: BeagleBone Black: A 1-GHz computer for $45

#43

The impulse buying tech nerd within me sees a $45 computer with potential for being able to make anything and I am stuck for ideas as to what I could use this for. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Personally, I'm going to use one of them for a sort of NAS box for my backups. The only network access will be via SSH, with key access only, and a "command=" target in the authorized_keys file so that it you can only backup to it and restore files from it -- but not destroy data. Always nice to have a dedicated backup server in case your system gets hacked.

I was going to use a RasPi, but I/O was too slow as it had to shove both the Ethernet and Disk through the same USB controller.

The other thing I'm using these things for (at least the RasPis) is a temporary fix for when someone's computer is busted -- it gets them back online with access to most of their daily routine, while I'm taking time to repair the PC. The BBB might have a bit more performance, so I might add that to the mix too.

Re: BeagleBone Black: A 1-GHz computer for $45

#44
"Carlos Betancourt, a marketing engineer for TI's Sitara processors, described BeagleBone Black as "truly" open source. He noted that open source software is not always as open as it claims to be. "When it comes to hardware, open source means you can buy all these chips and use them for your own design," Betancourt said. "

I'm sorry, but that is NOT open source "when it comes to hardware". It's very cool, it's open source when it comes to software, but open source hardware is a completely different kettle of beagles, and I find it annoying that TI spokespeople would be trying to claim as much. It makes us "hackers" dis-trusting and TI look disengenuous.

Still think it's awesome! Just wish TI marketing would stop hitching a free ride.

EDIT: What is a "marketing engineer"?

Re: BeagleBone Black: A 1-GHz computer for $45

#45

The impulse buying tech nerd within me sees a $45 computer with potential for being able to make anything and I am stuck for ideas as to what I could use this for. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Mount all of your network storage to it, run bittorrent sync client on it, sync all your stuff to everywhere directly from your house / office / both.

Re: BeagleBone Black: A 1-GHz computer for $45

#46
post #4

I got three of these. I need controllers like I need a hole in my head but hey, they are really really cute. A bit of trouble with the release that was on them but downloaded and burned in the latest and they were fine. Sadly no, I have not yet put them on a meter but will when they are near such a setup. Something that sets these apart from the Raspberry Pi are that they full of easy access I/O, and two the Cloud9 I…

I only got one, but I too am working on a remote robot, modifying an old Robie Jr.

I originally was attempting to use an MK802 android stick running ubuntu and interfacing it with an Arduino Micro.

However, for $45, it saves much time and "just works".

Also, like you said, it cannot do 1080p, so if you want that for XBMC get a Pi, but for a robot, this, to me, seems ideal.

Re: BeagleBone Black: A 1-GHz computer for $45

#47
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a power meter by any miracle? The main advantage I see to this over the Raspberry Pi (for my application) is its spartan power usage.

No I don't have a power meter. I know the Black works on a USB 2.0 port of my laptop and my desktop too, so it uses less than 500mA. From my experience working with Ti's stuff, they are often pretty good about power consumption though. My main problem with the Pi is that it is very finicky... plug a USB device in, and it dies/connection drops and all kinds of weird things happen. I have seen none so far on the Black.

I've seen that flakiness as well - thanks for that report that it doesn't happen on the Black.

Re: BeagleBone Black: A 1-GHz computer for $45

#48
post #4

I got three of these. I need controllers like I need a hole in my head but hey, they are really really cute. A bit of trouble with the release that was on them but downloaded and burned in the latest and they were fine. Sadly no, I have not yet put them on a meter but will when they are near such a setup. Something that sets these apart from the Raspberry Pi are that they full of easy access I/O, and two the Cloud9 I…

That Rovio bot looks cool...two questions:

1. Looks like it's been out for a while. If you were getting a similar thing today, would you stick with it or go for something else [1]?

2. When you drop the beaglebone into the Rovio, would you actually be replacing its OEM controller, or just interacting with it over WiFi?

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Rover-App-Controlled-Tank-Night-Vision...

Re: BeagleBone Black: A 1-GHz computer for $45

#49
post #4

I got three of these. I need controllers like I need a hole in my head but hey, they are really really cute. A bit of trouble with the release that was on them but downloaded and burned in the latest and they were fine. Sadly no, I have not yet put them on a meter but will when they are near such a setup. Something that sets these apart from the Raspberry Pi are that they full of easy access I/O, and two the Cloud9 I…

That Rovio bot looks cool...two questions: 1. Looks like it's been out for a while. If you were getting a similar thing today, would you stick with it or go for something else [1]? 2. When you drop the beaglebone into the Rovio, would you actually be replacing its OEM controller, or just interacting with it over WiFi? [1] http://www.amazon.com/Rover-App-Controlled-Tank-Night-Vision...

I used that Rovio bot in a robotics class. I'm no robotics expert (hardly a novice), but this was my experience.

The big hold-up is lack of access to (or maybe pure lack of) encoders on the wheels (we were using the wifi/web interface). It's impossible to move by dead reckoning. This was actually part of our class, to teach us how bad dead reckoning is and then we moved on to CV for tracking and control.

Re: BeagleBone Black: A 1-GHz computer for $45

#50
post #23
post #4

I got three of these. I need controllers like I need a hole in my head but hey, they are really really cute. A bit of trouble with the release that was on them but downloaded and burned in the latest and they were fine. Sadly no, I have not yet put them on a meter but will when they are near such a setup. Something that sets these apart from the Raspberry Pi are that they full of easy access I/O, and two the Cloud9 I…

Happy to see that these powerful little things are getting more affordable. What does those expansion pins do? Can they be used for I/O like button and LED?

Just about every pin on this processor can be used for GPIO. Some pins, like the DDR interface, can only perform one function, but the vast majority can be configured to do one of seven different functions.
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