SparkFun
Beaglebone Black - Rev C
The Beaglebone Black is a low-cost credit-card-sized development platform with good support from a fast growing community. The Beaglebone Black differs sligh...
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The Beaglebone Black is a low-cost credit-card-sized development platform with good support from a fast growing community. The Beaglebone Black differs slightly from the regular version by providing you with an onboard micro HDMI port, 512MB of DDR3L DRAM, 4GB onboard flash memory, an AM3358 processor at 1GHz, and making JTAG optional with a user supplied header. Ultimately, the Beaglebone Black is still perfect for physical computing and smaller embedded applications.
With plenty of I/O and processing power for real-time analysis provided by the TI Sitara™ AM3358 ARM® Cortex™-A8 processor, Beaglebone Black can be complemented with cape plug-in boards which augment Black’s functionality.They’re called capes because Underdog is a beagle and he wears a cape. Makes sense, right?
At over 3 million Dhrystone operations per second and vector floating point arithmetic operations, Beaglebone Black is capable of not just interfacing to all of your robotics motor drivers, location or pressure sensors and 2D or 3D cameras, but also running OpenCV, OpenNI and other image collection and analysis software to recognize the objects around your robot and the gestures you might make to control it. Through onboard micro HDMI or VGA and LCD expansion boards, it is capable of decoding and displaying multiple video formats utilizing a completely open source software stack and synchronizing playback over Ethernet or USB with other BeagleBoards to create massive video walls. If what you are into is building 3D printers, then Beaglebone Black has the extensive PWM capabilities, the on-chip Ethernet and the 3D rendering and manipulation capabilities all help you eliminate both your underpowered microcontroller-based controller board as well as that PC from your basement.
Note: These are Beaglebone Black Compliant boards made by Element14. Though these may not be made by the good folks at BeagleBoard, each BBB is officially recognized by them and are identical in both form and function. For more information check out BeagleBoard’s Compliant Program.
Features:
- AM3358 1GHz ARM® Cortex-A8 Processor
- 4GB 8-bit eMMC Onboard Flash
- 3D Graphics Accelerator
- NEON Floating-Point Accelerator
- 2x PRU 32-bit Microcontroller
- Connectivity:
- USB Client for power and communications
- USB Host
- Ethernet
- Micro HDMI
- 2x 46-pin Headers
- Software Compatibility
- Angstrom Linux
- Android
- Ubuntu
- Cloud9 IDE on Node.js with BoneScript
- and More…
Includes:
- 1x 3ft USB-A to Mini-B USB Cable
Documents:
Jargon buster
Plain-language definitions for the technical terms used above.
- eMMC
- Embedded MultiMediaCard is built-in flash storage soldered onto a board, similar in purpose to an SD card but integrated. It matters because it holds the operating system and files without needing a separate memory card.
- Flash memory
- Flash memory is non-volatile memory that retains stored data even when power is removed, and can be erased and rewritten in blocks. It lets data such as firmware, settings or saved records persist across power cycles.
- HDMI
- HDMI is a common digital video and audio connection used by computers, media players, and many displays. If a display kit has HDMI input, it is usually much easier to test with a single-board computer because it can act like a normal monitor.
- Headers
- Rows of connector contacts on a fixed pitch (commonly 2.54 mm) used to link a board to a breadboard, jumper wires, or another board. They come as male pin headers and female socket headers; when a module ships with pre-soldered headers it can be used straight away, whereas bare pads require soldering the pins yourself.
- IDE
- Short for Integrated Development Environment, a program used to write, run and manage code. It matters because some learners prefer a traditional coding workspace instead of a guided notebook-style lesson.
- JTAG
- JTAG is a hardware debugging and programming interface used to inspect and control chips at a low level. It matters for advanced development because it can help diagnose firmware problems that are hard to see through normal serial output.
- LCD
- LCD stands for liquid crystal display, a screen technology that uses a backlight and liquid crystals to show images or text. It matters because LCD modules usually need a display driver and enough controller pins or a bus interface to send image data.
- microcontroller
- A microcontroller is a small computer on a single chip that runs a stored program and controls connected inputs and outputs such as buttons, sensors, displays and communication interfaces. In a device built around one, it is the part that executes the code and coordinates the device's behaviour.
- PWM
- Pulse Width Modulation is a way for a digital pin to simulate variable output power by switching on and off very quickly. It matters for controlling things like LED brightness, motor speed, or servo-style signals from a microcontroller pin.
- USB host
- A USB host is the side of a USB connection that controls attached devices, like a computer talking to a keyboard or flash drive. This matters because most microcontroller boards are normally USB devices, so adding USB host support lets them use common USB peripherals.
- VGA
- VGA has two common meanings in electronics: as a resolution it usually refers to a 640 x 480 pixel image, which is modest detail suitable for basic display or inspection rather than high definition; as a connector it refers to the analogue 15-pin video output long used on computers and monitors. Check which sense a listing means.
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