The BeagleBoard is a low-cost development board with computer-like capabilities due to its powerful microprocessor. The processor powering BeagleBoard provides several features that enable creation of a new generation of embedded devices delivering state of the art graphics and processing capabilities while conserving battery power.
These features include:
- >DM3730 Microprocessor based on ARM Cortex-A8 running at 1GHz
- >A C64x DSP running at 720MHz, which enables programming of signal processing algorithms. These algorithms use a standardized programming interface thanks to Texas Instruments CodecEngine
- >512MB of on-board RAM
- >SD/MMC Card slot which can be used as OS file system, file storage and more
- >USB Host port which gives the option to connect a full set of peripherals using a hub
- (Keyboard, mouse, external hard drive, etc.)
- >Expansion header which can be multiplexed: I2C, SPI, UART, GPIO, SD/MMC
- >Typical power consumption: 2W (at 5V)
All those features have to be managed by an operating system in order to use them in an efficient way. The Beagleboard can run various operating systems such as Windows CE, Linux, Linux Embedded, ROS, etc.
The best option for BB is Linux, mainly because there is an active project supporting BB which includes working drivers for the features listed above, a good toolchain (GCC based) and many common packages ready to build and install into BB. Linux also has the benefit of being open source, as a result of which there is an active developer community and a large number of hobbyists using this platform.
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