Beaglebone Hardware Overview Ethernet port onboard LEDC reset Button etc Introduction

Beaglebone Hardware OverviewEthernet port onboard LEDC reset button, etc. introduction

Your first step into the Beaglebone world is to connect it to get a command prompt, and then you can process the file and execute the command. Here you will be able to customize your entire system to meet the needs of your specific project in this article selected from the beaglebone Black Quick Start tutorial .

But before you connect anything, you should get a closer look at the Beaglebone, including its model number and the main parts above. After that, I will provide you with various types of connection methods.

2.1 Two types of Beaglebone

Beaglebone has two models, the earlier model is Beaglebone, the latest model is Beaglebone black short bbb,2.1 shown. Beaglebone and Beaglebone Black have almost no difference in shape, but they are extremely easy to distinguish. Beaglebone uses black lettering on the white background, while Beaglebone black echoes its name-using black lettering. So, see "Whiteboard" is Beaglebone, and "blackboard" is Beaglebone Black. Of course, in most of the book, you can use any of the models, in the model-sensitive location of the author will give a hint.

 

Figure 2.1 Beaglebone main components

When you look closely at the Beaglebone, you should be able to see the various, different shapes of the device. Some devices are very small, while others are relatively large this article is selected from the beaglebone Black Quick Start tutorial .

Of course, the author will not introduce the resistance size to the reader, will only select a few of the iconic devices to introduce, 2.1 shows. Below we will introduce each component in the same way that each number corresponds to a section.

2.2.1 Power Connection Head

The operating voltage required by the Beaglebone is 5V, and the operating current is 500mA DC. The vast majority of 5V DC adapters using 2.1mm inner aperture plugs (2.2) can now be used to drive beaglebone. It is important to specify whether a power adapter is suitable for beaglebone, but this is not necessary, if you accidentally plug the power supply above 5V into the socket, the beaglebone above the Overvoltage protection chip will prevent the board from starting to protect the circuit. Even so, you should make sure that you are connected to the 5V power supply.

 

Figure 2.2 2.1mm DC plug

2.2.2 Ethernet Port

This is a standard rj45ethernet interface that allows you to access the Internet for your project. You can connect it directly to a router, or you can connect it to a computer to share a WiFi network.

2.2.3 Onboard LED

Next to the power connector, an LED is used to indicate whether the Board is powered, as shown in 2.3. In addition, there are 4 LEDs next to the reset button that can be programmed by the user, 2.4.

 

Figure 2.3 Power supply indication

Figure 2.4 Programmable LEDs

By default, the LED 0 will be displayed as "Heartbeat" when the system is running, the LED 1 flashes when the microSD card is accessed, the LED 2 flashes when the CPU is active, and the LED 3 flashes when the onboard flash is accessed (Beaglebone Black only).

2.2.4 Reset button

The reset button is used to restart the board. The most logical way to do this is to trigger a restart operation in the operating system, and a hardware restart may corrupt the file being processed. Of course, if your system is unable to respond to the software commands, it can only be triggered by the reset button.

2.2.5 Expansion Port

The two extensions are labeled P8 and P9, and they allow you to integrate Beaglebone into your project. These extensions can be configured for many different purposes, which are described in chapter 4th.

2.2.6 Boot switch (beaglebone Black only)

While booting Beaglebone black, press and hold the boot switch to command the hardware to boot from the microSD card, not the onboard flash. The boot button can also be used to update the Linux system.

2.2.7 USB Host Port

The Beaglebone is equipped with a USB host port, which is consistent with the USB host port on the normal PC. This makes it easy to connect your mouse, keyboard or WiFi adapter to the Beaglebone. If you think the 1 USB port is not enough, you can also use the USB hub to expand, 2.5 is the author uses a 7-port USB hub.

Figure 2.5 7 port USB HUB

2.2.8 Serial plug J1 (beaglebone Black only)

Although both Beaglebone and Beaglebone black have serial outputs to access the terminals, only Beaglebone black connects them to the serial plug. This design makes it very easy to connect ftdi TTL-232 or breadboard, which allows you to use a text-based terminal via USB This article is selected from the beaglebone Black Quick Start tutorial .

2.2.9 processor

The processor is the basis of all operations, it is the entire board of the brain. The original Beaglebone board uses a 720MHz ARM CORTEX-A8 processor and is equipped with 256MB of DDR2 RAM. The BBB is configured to be a bit higher, with a 1GHz processor and 512MB of DDR3 RAM.

2.2.10 on-board Flash (Beaglebone Black only)

Beaglebone Black on-board flash allows the system to boot without the need to insert a microSD card (Beaglebone must have a microSD card). The size of the Beaglebone black onboard flash is 4GB, which is enough to install many packages.

2.2.11 Mini USB Port

This mini USB port can connect Beaglebone as a device to your computer. The computer can not only power the board through this mini USB port, but also can communicate with the board through it. You can also access the reference information stored in the board through this port, and when you connect it to your computer, it will appear as a storage device, as shown in 2.6.

Figure 2.6 Reference Information

If you use this port to power the board, the processor will reduce the power consumption by reducing the processing speed.

2.2.12 Micro HDMI port (beaglebone Black only)

The micro HDMI port is used to connect beaglebone black to a monitor or TV with a micro HDMI port. If your TV or monitor uses the VGA interface, then you can use the Micro HDMI to VGA adapter to convert the signal, 2.7 is the Micro HDMI adapter used by the author.

 

Figure 2.7 Micro HDMI turn-Off adapter

Micro HDMI is very easy to confuse with mini USB, use time must pay attention to micro HDMI in the Micro SD card slot next.

2.2.13 microSD card slot

Unlike most computers, Beaglebone is not equipped with a hard drive but uses Micor SD as a hard disk to store operating systems, programs, and personal data. On Beaglebone Black, the operating system is stored on the onboard flash (described in 2.2.10) and you can use a microSD card to update the system when needed this article is selected from the beaglebone Black Quick Start tutorial .

Beaglebone Hardware Overview Ethernet port onboard LEDC reset Button etc Introduction