1. The ABCs of the BeagleBoard-xM
Gerald Coley
4/17/2017

2. Find the right ARM® Solution for you
Comprehensive developer ecosystem
32-bit ARM MCU for Safety-Critical Applications
32-bit ARM Cortex™-M3
MCUs
ARM
Cortex-A8 & ARM9™ MPUs
DSP
DSP+ARM
Sitara™
ARM Cortex-A8
& ARM9
C6000™
TMS570
ARM Cortex-R4™
Stellaris®
ARM Cortex-M3
Integra™
DaVinci™
Digital Media processors
Up to 250 DMIPS/ 160 MHz
2 MB Flash, 160 KB RAM
FPU, ECC, Timer/PWM Co-Proc, 12bit ADCs, CAN, EMIF, LIN, SPI, Flexray
Transportation, Motor Control, Certified for use in safety critical (SIL3) systems
$7.00 to $18.00
Up to 80 MHz
Flash 8 KB to 256 KB
USB, ENET MAC+PHY CAN, ADC, PWM, SPI
Connectivity,Security, Motion Control, HMI, Industrial Automation
$1.00 to $8.00
375MHz to >1GHz
Cache, RAM, ROM
USB, CAN, SATA, SPI, PCIe, EMAC
Industrial automation, POS & portable data terminals
$5.00 to $25.00
300MHz to >1Ghz +Accelerator
Cache
RAM, ROM
USB, ENET, PCIe, SATA, SPI
Floating/Fixed Point
Video, Audio, Voice,
Security, Conferencing
$5.00 to $200.00
Development tools
Software support
Responsive design support
MPUs – Microprocessors
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3. Agenda Introduction to BeagleBoard.org Meet the Beagles
BeagleBoard-xM Walkthrough
Qt Demo
Working with the Community
OS and Distro Options
Questions
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4. What’s in the name…Beagle
Bring your own peripherals
Entry-level cost
ARM Cortex-A8 (superscalar)
Graphics and/or DSP accelerated
Linux and open source community
Environment for innovators
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5. Addressing open source community needs
Beagle Community
Personally affordable
Wikis, blogs/RSS, promotion of community activity
> 3,200 participants and growing
Active & technical community
Freedom to innovate
Addressing open source community needs
Open access to hardware documentation
Multiple OS and distribution support, applications
Opportunity to tinker and learn
Free software
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6. Why such an active community?
$149/179 for same core processing as used in more expensive, yet popular, commercial products
Focus on open source, open hardware and DIY
Tens-of-thousands of boards sold exclusively in small quantities
All design, test, web, etc. materials shared
Teaching tool for high-level OS on embedded
Ubuntu, Debian, Angstrom, Gentoo, WinCE, Symbian, QNX, and many others
The BeagleBoard community shares
Over 150 registered projects on BeagleBoard.org
Part of the Google Summer of Code with 6 on-going projects to improve Linux, XBMC, and other open source
Average of around 5 articles or blog posts a day
Over 3,200 English-language mailing list subscribers with additional dedicated mailing lists in Japanese and Portuguese and numerous project oriented mailing lists in dozens of languages
Hundreds of followers on each of Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
Rich ecosystem using the design materials
Compatible or enhanced system-on-module/computer-on-module designs
See
Innovative mobile computers (TouchBook)
Radios (BeagleBrick)
Modular rapid prototyping development systems (Bug2.0)
And many add-ons…
Affordable
Freedom to tinker at all levels
Lots of open starting points
Large and experienced community
Open ecosystem provides real options
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7. Open source, do-it-yourself, and pro developers embracing the BeagleBoard
Firefox
Ubuntu 10.04
Android
Gnome
Angstrom Distribution
Gentoo
WinCE
QNX
Flash
MontaVista MVL6 and Montabello
TimeSys LinuxLink
RidgeRun SDK
ARM DS-5 and ALIP
Halcon machine vision
BeagleBoard video wall (>1080p video) …
FFmpeg BeagleBoard Video Wall
OpenCV
ARM DS-5 for the BeagleBoard
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8. Beagle is Open Source Hardware
Every component used in the design of the BB is available for purchase
Schematics are provided in:
OrCad
Altium
PDF
PCB files are provided in:
Allegro
Gerber
Bills of materials are provided in Excel
Anyone is free to use the design material in their product
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9. Where can I get a Beagle? Digi-Key (World-wide) Mouser (World-wide)
IDA Systems (India)
SparkFun
Special Computing
Watterott Electronic (Germany)
Liquidware
..more online soon (Brazil and China)
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10. Meet the Beagles….. A Tail of Two Beagles
Original Version Rev C
ARM 720MHz
Commonly known as the BeagleBoard Rev C
Launched August of 2008
21,000 shipped
Newest Version -xM
ARM 1GHz
Launched August 2010
Ramping production
2,000 shipped to date
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11. Fast, low power, flexible expansion Rev C
$149
Peripheral I/O
DVI-D video out
SD/MMC
S-Video out
USB 2.0 HS OTG
I2C, I2S, SPI, MMC/SD
JTAG
Stereo in/out
Alternate power
RS-232 serial
OMAP3530 Processor
720MHz Cortex-A8
NEON+VFPv3
16KB/16KB L1$
256KB L2$
430MHz C64x+ DSP
32K/32K L1$
48K L1D
32K L2
PowerVR SGX GPU
64K on-chip RAM
POP Memory
256MB LPDDR RAM
256MB NAND flash
3.1”
USB Powered
2W maximum consumption
OMAP is small % of that
Many adapter options
Car, wall, battery, solar, …
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12. And more… Peripheral I/O DVI-D video out SD/MMC S-Video out
USB HS on-the-go
I2C, I2S, SPI, MMC/SD
JTAG
Stereo in/out
Alternate power
RS-232 serial
Other Features
4 LEDs
USR0
USR1
PMU_STAT
PWR
2 buttons
USER
RESET
4 boot sources
SD/MMC
NAND flash
USB
Serial
3.1”
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13. xM means Extra MHz and Extra MB
BeagleBoard–xM
2,000 Dhrystone MIPS performance with ARM® Cortex™-A8
512MB POP memory enabling
Native builds of Ubuntu and other distros
More multitasking with complex apps like Firefox or OpenOffice.org
Robust expansion with more direct connectivity without external hubs;
On-board Ethernet
Five USB 2.0 ports
USB-powered board via low power processor integration
xM means Extra MHz and Extra MB
$179
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14. BeagleBoard-xM details
Laptop-like performance
Desktop-style USB peripherals and embedded style expansion
3.35”**
DM3730 processor (AM37x-compatibile)
1GHz superscaler ARM® Cortex ™-A8
More than 2,000 Dhrystone MIPS
Up to 20 Million polygons per sec graphics
512KB L2$
512MB LPDDR RAM
HD video capable C64x+™ DSP core
LCD Expansion
I2C, I2S, SPI, MMC/SD Expansion
DVI-D
Camera Header
S-Video
JTAG
4-port USB 2.0 Hub
Stereo Out
Stereo In
10/100 Ethernet
USB 2.0 HS OTG
Alternate Power
RS-232 Serial
microSD Slot
DM3730
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15. BeagleBoard-xM details
Ships with 4GB uSD card with diagnostic Linux load
No desktop
Wiki Diagnostic page
Diagnostic image (Ships with board)
Full desktop Angstrom demo image
Source code w/Build instructions
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16. Use your BeagleBoard like a desktop
Stereo in SD
Power
DVI-D
USB
Stereo out
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17. Take your BeagleBoard anywhere & crank code on the go
Serial Port
Power over USB
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18. Expand your BeagleBoard
USB
SD 16GB
Stereo out
Power
USRP
Turn innovations into mass-produced products to share with the world
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Photo by Philip Balister 18 18

19. BeagleBoard-xM Demo Boot the -xM
A short demo walkthrough of the Beagle in action
Production BeagleBoard-xM version
Setup:
Connect the LCD monitor (Projector) using HDMI-to-DVI-D cable
Connect your keyboard and mouse to the board
Insert your SD card (comes inserted from the box)
Connect the power
Watch it boot
Watch the blinking LEDs
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20. BeagleBoard-xM Demo TI Matrix GUI
Web browser with HTML code served up from the board
Written in Qt
Includes ability to launch apps
Show Me
Click 3D Graphics
Click Chameleon
Close window
Select Main
Select Exit
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21. BeagleBoard-xM Demo Gnome Desktop
Just one of the desktop options as part of the Angstrom Distribution
Menu bar at top gives list of installed programs
Add other applications using ‘opkg’
Show Me Applications
Click Applications
Scroll down the Menu
Close window
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22. BeagleBoard-xM Demo System Monitor
Monitors the system performance
Displays CPU loading
Show Me System Monitor
Select Applications
Select System Tools
Select System Monitor
Select Resources Tab
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23. BeagleBoard-xM Demo Frequency Scaling
Monitors the system performance
Gnome Media Player
Show Me Freq Scaling
Select 1GHz Icon
Select 600MHz
Select 600 MHz Icon
Select 1GHz
Close window all windows
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24. BeagleBoard-xM Demo GNOME MPlayer
GNOME Multimedia player
Comes standard in Desktop Image
Big Buck Bunny is an open source project from the Peach Open Movie Project.
Show Me GNOME MPlayer
Select BigBuck Icon
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25. The Linux command-line
There is a shortcut on the desktop to open a terminal
Can also use an external debug port over the serial port
Show Me Terminal
Select Applications
Select Terminal
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26. Thanks to Gregg Lebovitz of ICS
GUI building with Qt
Qt C++ framework is just one option for creating graphical applications, but it is fast, flexible, cross-platform and well-supported by an open source community
Thanks to Gregg Lebovitz of ICS
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27. Qt architecture
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28. Qt Creator http://qt.nokia.com
Integrated development environment
Runs on Windows, Mac, or Linux
Designer for your GUIs
C++ editor and debugger
Build your GUI on your PC, then move it over to the BeagleBoard to add I/O, etc.
Angstrom Linux distribution has the compiler and libraries ready to build Qt apps natively on your BeagleBoard
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29. Qt Demos Show Me Qt Select Applications Select Terminal Type qtdemo
Descriptions not compiled in here
Lots of different GUI tools
Many other programming tools, like networking, IPC, 3D, database, …
Show Me Qt
Select Applications
Select Terminal
Type qtdemo
Select Graphics View
Select Ported Asteroids
Select Launch
Close and select Back Select Desktop
Select Screenshot
Close all windows
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30. Working With The Community Order of resources
Search beagleboard.org, eLinux.org, the mailing list archive, and IRC logs
Read and search BBSRM_latest.pdf
Check the link
Search the web
Try something
Gives you some perspective on what to ask
Ask on IRC and be patient/polite
Don’t disrupt everyone
Mailing list
Individual developers will go away if load isn’t shared
If you can help, please do!
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31. Working With The Community How to ask for help http://catb
Know the on-line resources
Know the on-line community
Know the manual
Listen to the answers
Share the answers you find
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32. Working With The Community The community perspective
Earn respect by saying what you’ve done and how you’ve tried to find an answer
Where did you search?
What did you try on the board?
You aren’t entitled to an answer
Show that you are willing to work for it and the community will feel you are a part of it
Impatience implies that your time is more valuable than others in the community
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33. Working With The Community Chat, mail, forums, blogs, and wikis!
All exist because they all solve different problems
Chat allows you to know someone’s listening or #beagle on irc.freenode.net
Great for beginner questions and rapid coordination
Mail allows you to reach almost anyone
Brings larger group into the conversation
Provides you with a personal log in your inbox
Forums helps get the threads organized (minimal activity to avoid disrupting community critical mass)
Blogs provide emphasis, filtering, and timeliness and
Wikis enable inputs to become documentation and
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34. Working With The Community Order of resources Chat on IRC
#beagle: discussion of the BeagleBoard
#gst-ti: discussion of GStreamer with TI DSP components
#ubuntu-arm: discussion of Ubuntu on ARM processors
#rowboat: discussion of Android on OMAP & Sitara devices
#linux-omap: discussion of OMAP Linux kernel
IRC clients
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35. Working With The Community Baseline tools and software http://beagleboard.org/resources
Hardware verification procedure (
GPL x-load, u-boot, Linux kernel, and demo distro for validation
Code images, procedure, and sources are provided to verify the board functionality
GPL ARM GNU compiler collection (GCC)
Code Sourcery version 2009q1 is the latest supported by TI
Runs on Linux/Windows and generates ARMv7/Thumb2
Angstrom version is utilized in ESC training and demo image on xM
Access to C6000 with compilers and open source software
Free TI C6000 compiler for non-commercial use
x86-Linux hosted (ARM hosted version in evaluation)
GPL GCC compiler in progress (
C6Run (DSPEasy) project to simplify development model
BSD/GPL DSP/Link interface software
Free 3D graphics libraries (OpenGLES 2.0)
Free production audio/video codecs for the DSP
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36. OS and Distro Options Angstrom and Open Embedded http://www
Angstrom is what we are running today
OE = metadata and bitbake = build tool
Used by RidgeRun, Mentor Graphics, MontaVista, WindRiver, and many others
Builds many distributions besides Angstrom
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37. OS and Distro Options Ubuntu https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/Beagle
Most popular Linux distribution
Has support for the BeagleBoard
Netbook, server, and network installers
Builds all packages natively
Boots of the uSD card
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38. OS and Distro Options Android http://arowboat.org
Uses most of the Linux kernel, but own versions of user-space applications
Runs applications within a virtual machine
At least half-a-dozen companies provide commercial support for Android on the BeagleBoard
Rowboat is the one endorsed by TI
0xdroid (0x1ab) and Embinux are also interesting and free
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39. OS and Distro Options MeeGo http://wiki. meego
The combination of Moblin and Maemo
Maemo was the first of the two and started on OMAP processors
Good support on the BeagleBoard with demonstrations directly from the Linux Foundation
Initially focused on Internet Tablets and Netbooks
Very interesting for automotive infotainment
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40. OS and Distro Options Gentoo https://www. slashorg
Builds every package from source
The Linux distribution the BeagleBoard.org web server runs
Builds ARM applications both natively and cross
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41. OS and Distro Options QNX http://www. qnx
See Foundary27
Not Linux, but Posix compliant and real-time
Great for time critical and high reliability applications
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42. OS and Distro Options Symbian http://developer.symbian.org/wiki/index.php/BeagleBoard_Quick_Start
Most popular smart phone operating system
Initial open source release was on the BeagleBoard
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43. OS and Distro Options WinCE http://beagleboard.org/esc
Real-time
Advanced GUI and code tools
Lots of code libraries available
Low-cost entry through “Spark”
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44. Questions? Thank you! g-coley1@ti.com gerald@beagleboard.org
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