BeagleBone Black Ships With New Linux 3.8 Kernel 64
DeviceGuru writes "BeagleBoard.org has begun shipping its faster, cheaper BeagleBone Black SBC with a new Linux 3.8 kernel, supporting Device Tree technology for more streamlined ARM development. The $45 BeagleBone Black runs Linux or Android on a 1GHz TI Sitara AM3359 SOC, doubles the RAM to 512MB of its predecessor, and adds a micro-HDMI port. The updated kernel gives the BeagleBone Black access to a new Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) display driver architecture, as well as full support for the Device Tree data structure introduced to streamline ARM development in Linux 3.7. The project was hesitant to move up to such a recent kernel, but decided it was time to bite the bullet and support the Device Tree. By doing the hard work of switching to Device Tree now, BeagleBoard.org and its developer community can save a lot of configuration and maintenance headaches down the line, says BeagleBoard.org co-founder Jason Kridner. Fortunately, a modified 3.2 kernel 'coming soon' should provide the necessary bridge from the old cape driver architecture to the new one."
PowerVR (Score:3)
Shame about that PowerVR GPU, I don't see it ever actually being able to take advantage of the newer display architecture. I do like the move towards Device Tree. If it gains traction it might actually be possible to treat ARM boards more like x86 boards, rather than needing the board-specific kernels we have to deal with now.
Re:PowerVR (Score:4, Interesting)
Shame about that PowerVR GPU, I don't see it ever actually being able to take advantage of the newer display architecture. I do like the move towards Device Tree.
For $50 Cubieboard [cubieboard.org] has similar specs but comes with a mail400 gpu instead.
Features
Allwinner A10 SOC
96 pin extended interface
Built-in IR receiver
SATA supported
Supports 2.4GHz wireless keyboard and mouse
Specifications
CPU: 1G ARM cortex-A8 processor, NEON, VFPv3, 256KB L2 cache
GPU: Mali400, OpenGL ES GPU
Memory: 1GB DDR3 @480MHz
Video output: HDMI 1080p Output
Network: 10/100M Ethernet
Internal storage4GB NAND Flash
IO ports: 2 USB Host, 1 micro SD slot, 1 SATA, 1 ir
Extended interfaces: 96 extend pin including I2C, SPI, RGB/LVDS, CSI/TS, FM-IN, ADC, CVBS, VGA, SPDIF-OUT, R-TP
Supports systems: Running Android, Ubuntu and other Linux distributions
Re: (Score:2)
The new PowerVR SGX530 drivers are non-existent for Linux. Totally dependent on DRM
Re: (Score:2)
I was thinking shame about that single core processor. Single-core ARM boards are so last year now.
Damn you, content industry (Score:1, Funny)
MINIX3! (Score:3)
MINIX3 support [minix3.org] coming soon, I hope! Minix is booting on the BeagleBoard-xM, so supporting the BeagleBone Black should not be too much of an issue.
Re: (Score:1)
If you want to fiddle around with MINIX3 and the BBB I have some good new.
starting yesterday we added initial support for the BBB in the master branch.
git clone git://git.minix3.org/minix src
cd src
export BASE_URL=http://www.minix3.org/arm/beaglebone
export FLAG=-DAM335X
export CONSOLE=tty00
you can dd the resulting image to an SD-card!
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The same BeagleBoard-xM, yes. The BeagleBone Black has different specs [beagleboard.org].
I miss Beagle Bros (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Testify.
Re: (Score:2, Offtopic)
I suppose that posting replies on random threads is better than not reading TFA / summary.
We're making progress? No?
Solid and Fun Product (Score:4, Informative)
I have been playing with the BBB for the last 2 weeks and I must say my first impressions are this is awesome but do be prepared to go through some beginning growing pains with 3.8 kernel. Nevertheless, getting opencv working and tracking is always fun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no2l0OuCSIE&list=UUbFdHnmLyG10884-MPgSDoA&index=1 [youtube.com]
It is going to be a bit before the community grows but to help you get started we are trying to get tutorials up as fast as possible...
http://www.phys-x.org/rbots/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=46:beaglebone-black&layout=blog&Itemid=81&layout=default [phys-x.org]
Re: (Score:1)
I have been playing with the BBB for the last 2 weeks and I must say my first impressions are this is awesome ......
Yes for a $45 computer it is quite the thing.
I cannot tell if the Raspberry-Pi or the Beaglebone Black is best but all I can say is that I am sure glad I live in the future. The teaching community has already done a lot on the R-Pi but the BBB has a head start in the hardware add on world. Fun... stuff.
I am very pleased with the software on the BBB. Both are slow compared to this laptop but hey for $35/$45 they are both astounding.
Linux OR Android? (Score:4, Informative)
Android is Linux. I get sick of people writing that they are two different things. Yes, the userspace is different, but it Linux is a kernel and Android uses it. Android is every bit as much Linux as is the more familiar GNU/Linux distros.
Re: (Score:2)
I didn't know Richard Stallman was so open-minded. I guess it makes sense.
Then again, these kinds of ideas are not well accepted, so it probably only serves to ostracize him.
From my experience, even the amount of rejection you get for suggesting there is no reason why incest should be illegal is appalling.
Re: (Score:1)
So basically, the board runs the Android GNU/Linux distro, and other GNU/Linux distros? That clears it up...
Re: (Score:1)
Do you program using kernel interrupts or access some library? More than likely you are accessing some library. Which is accessing the C library. Which then calls the kernel.
Re: (Score:2)
Has Android started sending acceptable patches up stream then? Or are they still on an unmergeable fork? (Not a troll, I simply don't follow Android that closely any more.)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Yes, actually they do send patches upstream now.
Wikipedia says: "The merge will be complete starting with Kernel 3.8, Google has opened a public code repository that contains their experimental work to re-base Android off Kernel 3.8."
Re: (Score:2)
Who cares? Just you and Stallman really. If you talk to any non-FOSS nerd Linux is that operating system that runs on the PC, and Android is that operating system that runs on a phone. It's completely disingenuous to get your panties in a knot and start listing every possible different users space. It's also confusing to say it will run any userspace on top of the Linux kernel, which may or may not mean that you can get Android running on the thing.
Re:Linux OR Android? (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah if only people would write GNU/Linux... wait, most distros aren't purely made up of a Linux kernel and GNU tools. Um, SomewhatGNU/Linux? NotJustGNU/Linux? OpenAndOrFreeSource/Linux? But what about whichever distro is using the FreeBSD kernel but the same userland as their Linux-based version? FreeBSD isn't just a kernel, it's an entire OS, so what would that be then? NotJustGNU/FreeBSDKernel?
I don't know about the rest of you, but I think saying "Linux" and "Android" is about as clear as it's going to get. To non-geeks it conveys the necessary distinction, and geeks already know (and debate) the distinction. Context is a wonderful thing after all.
Re: (Score:2)
Useless for non-embedded applications (Score:2)
Max resolution: 1280 x 1024 @75Hz
Useless for desktop use or as a media player.
How much does the kernel differ from upstream? (Score:1)
I've been looking at these development boards for a while, and they often seem to lag behind when it comes to the kernel. What's holding them back?
Do the kernels differ significantly from upstream, or is it the binary blobs, or something else? Considering BBB, for example, what's stopping me or someone else from just building a 3.9 kernel with the correct config for ARMv8?
feed to mainline! (Score:1)
While TI is feeding all the stuff to mainline, it would be nice to have to original beaglebone also working on a newer kernel. All my attempts with 3.9 failed unfortunatly as the ethernet was not working properly. And i still needed tons of patches to get this thing to boot with 3.9. Haven't tried 3.10 yet.
Any updated info for this obsolete page?
http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/Sitara_Linux_Upstream_Status
I hope they won't do the same error with the black version and also sticking to this 3.8 version
I assume it would also run Wndows CE, no? (Score:1)