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BeagleBone Black: A 1-GHz computer for $45

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

#81

Post by ChuckMcM »

gcb0 wrote: post #17
ChuckMcM wrote: 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…

No. it's not fun to run any code in a browser . especially when you have a full linux distro with ssh and modern text editors, with decent undo, column editing, auto-completion, regexp, etc. never really understood the appeal of the arduino interface or cloud9. Well, for the arduino i can at least try to explain that, same with android, there are so many bad tutorials based on copy/past and boasting those IDE, that l…

Actually having both is a pretty nice. The reason is that it can be intimidating to someone in getting started. The notion of IDE via the web server is also useful for keeping the required software down on a machine you may not control. I was helping kids learn programming at a high school but the school would not give us permission to install putty[1] on the machines, using a browser based dev kit works well in this case.

Once you get someone past the basics and into the 'advanced' mode setting them up with ssh, vim, and screen is a great way to be productive on a linux machine.

[1] Putty in this case being the terminal emulator for PC's which can also talk to serial ports.

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

#82

Post by nooneelse »

derekp7 wrote: post #43
DigitalSea wrote: post #16

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…

Thanks, without your comment I wouldn't have thought to put this on the top of the possible-guts list for a similar project I've been hoping to get to. I was thinking of a little NAS back-up box going out in the back-yard, buried and protected in some nice groundwater-safe enclosure. For a sort of pseudo-off-site backup.

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

#83

Post by derekp7 »

nooneelse wrote: post #82
derekp7 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Thanks, without your comment I wouldn't have thought to put this on the top of the possible-guts list for a similar project I've been hoping to get to. I was thinking of a little NAS back-up box going out in the back-yard, buried and protected in some nice groundwater-safe enclosure. For a sort of pseudo-off-site backup.

Throw a USB wifi module on it, and permanently mount it in your car. Then, at night, when it is in range of your home network, have it rsync your backups to it from a primary backup server. I'm sure that the board itself is low power enough that it won't run down your car battery overnight, not sure about a USB hard drive though (or just configure the drive to auto spin down when not in use).

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

#84

Post by tcdowney »

yajoe wrote: post #74
DigitalSea wrote: post #16

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?

I feel the exact way. I have been inspired to study electrical engineering ever since I read this story from 10 years ago: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/03/01/15/1829244 And the nerd/hacker/enthusiast in me would gladly put down the cash to make it happen. However, I also run into a wall when thinking of what to do with such a device. I'm not inspired by webcam+embedded linux. I don't want home automation. I alr…

Check out sites like https://www.sparkfun.com/, http://www.newark.com/, or https://www.adafruit.com/ if you're looking to purchase modest amounts of sensors, displays, servos, etc. for hobby projects.

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

#85

Post by wyager »

eliasmacpherson wrote: post #35
vardump wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe there's something wrong with your Raspberry Pi, all of mine do over 90 Mbit/s downloads over ethernet without any problems.

he probably means MBps.

Nope, mine don't seem to go higher than around 6MBps (48mbps) on a good day. Edit: That was with one of the first models. My new one seems to hit about 75mbps.

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

#86

Post by wyager »

vardump wrote: post #33
wyager wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the Ethernet PHY connected to the main processor over USB or something faster/more efficient? One of my biggest complaints about the Raspberry Pi is that the Ethernet is capped at a few dozen mbps, presumably due to constraints associated with USB.

Maybe there's something wrong with your Raspberry Pi, all of mine do over 90 Mbit/s downloads over ethernet without any problems.

Using iperf (i.e. pretty ideal conditions) I peak at around 75Mbit/sec on a latest-generation Pi.

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

#87

Post by catenate »

DigitalSea wrote: post #16

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?

I just ordered one from Digi-Key, and intend to try to compile Inferno on it to run in hosted mode. If that works, I'll network it with the Inferno hosted on my home computer, and see if I can get them both to work well with each other. Once I have the two computers up and running, I'll see if I can use the BB Black as my main home computer, and move off my current desktop.

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

#88

Post by Intermernet »

joezydeco wrote: post #70
Intermernet wrote: post #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 s…

You realize the Beagle project is developed by TI, right? I think their marketing has been just superb on this platform, and it's a huge turnaround from the days of $4,000 EVKs for their chips.

Their marketing has, indeed been superb. My issue is with the use of the term open source with regards to hardware that seems not to be. Sorry, it's really just a semantic point, but I find that marketing departments are all too aware of semantics and take advantage of them all the time.

My definition of open source hardware is nicely outlined at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_hardware .

Once again, I think the project is awesome, I think the marketing, despite good, is, well, marketing.

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

#89

Post by shrikant »

llgrrl_ wrote: post #62
shrikant wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can vouch for this. I use a Blackberry wall-wart type charger for my Pi, and it's been rock solid. I only power it down it when I'm off travelling someplace for more than a day. pi@raspberrypi ~ $ uptime 10:58:03 up 17 days, 13:45, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.01, 0.05 pi@raspberrypi ~ $

Of course if you never plug anything in, it will stay up for a long time. The problem arises when there are things being plugged in and out. Many USB devices don't work with the Pi. It's pretty picky. pi@mia ~ $ uptime 15:40:15 up 94 days, 23:03, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.01, 0.05

I have a 1 TB USB HDD plugged in at all times (separately powered though), which acts as my NAS.

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

#90

Post by antihero »

EwanToo wrote: post #31
lemming wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, where do you have it hosted?

Jump networks are the company, but it's in one of the Telehouse buildings in London http://www.jump.net.uk/

Ooh, so can you just mail them one of these and they'll hook it up, and charge you ?? per month?
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