I guess I should mention why, at least to me, it does matter. We use the Beagle in coursework on campus, teaching students how to develop real time systems. We first started out with the XM, and a set of peripherals. However, right as we were ready to gear up for the course, the XM peripherals became unavailable. So we switched to the bone, which was being supported at the time. But then as the class was rolling out, after we had designed the course to run with the BB Blacks, the Blacks disappeared from inventory (not to repeat that at all..) So we had to downgrade to the whites. But about the same time, access to the Angstrom distribution essentially vanished for a while as well. So we were somewhat stuck. This year things went smoother, as everything was available. But the challenge is, to do the course, we've got probably $400-$500 worth of equipment per student enrolled in the course. That's about $25-30K in equipment that needs to be amortized out over multiple years.
So I guess, that's why I'm a bit concerned about incompatible formats being developed. On Wednesday, May 20, 2015 at 10:43:53 AM UTC-5, William Hermans wrote: > Also, we're talking 10 years down the road here. Whose to say what will > happen by then. Take a look at the MSP430 line of MCUs for example. I do > not know the exact history of the MCU line, but it became popular, and it > is still with us . . . refreshes have been made, changes / variations have > been made. Now we have many different classes of MSP430 MCUs for different > use cases. > > Lately TI even "extended" the MSP430 line by mixing in the M4F processor . > For "high end applications". Is it truly an MSP430 though ? Here, I think > the more important question should be: "Does it even matter ?" > > On Wed, May 20, 2015 at 8:30 AM, William Hermans <[email protected] > <javascript:>> wrote: > >> *That's a real problem if the interface doesn't stay compatible in the >>> future. When I look at Arduino, capes are compatible with previous >>> versions. Same goes with the Raspberry Pi. Version 1 to version 2 adds >>> features, but generally keeps compatibility between them. With the >>> Beagle's, each version has had a radically different form factor and >>> support. White's started with an extra header, removed for the blacks, >>> breaking some capes.* >>> >> >> But we're not talking about an Arduino, or an rPI. We're talking about: >> >> a) a beagleBOARD class of system >> b) Then trying to compare it to the beagleBONE class of system. >> >> They're not the same. Also, if cape compatibility is the true motivation >> for this discussion. See this as an opportunity, not a hindrance. >> >> On Wed, May 20, 2015 at 8:04 AM, Gerald Coley <[email protected] >> <javascript:>> wrote: >> >>> BeagleBone Black needed to be cheap. something had to go. Rest of the >>> expansion signals are the same and those signals are still there on the >>> board.. >>> >>> I disagree that the changes were radical. I fact, we lowered the cost >>> and added features. >>> >>> If we change to another processor, the pin muxing changes. To comply >>> with your desire to keep them all the same, you have just made my case. >>> >>> Gerald >>> >>> >>> On Wed, May 20, 2015 at 9:42 AM, Walter Schilling <[email protected] >>> <javascript:>> wrote: >>> >>>> That's a real problem if the interface doesn't stay compatible in the >>>> future. When I look at Arduino, capes are compatible with previous >>>> versions. Same goes with the Raspberry Pi. Version 1 to version 2 adds >>>> features, but generally keeps compatibility between them. With the >>>> Beagle's, each version has had a radically different form factor and >>>> support. White's started with an extra header, removed for the blacks, >>>> breaking some capes. >>>> >>>> On Tuesday, May 19, 2015 at 9:30:37 AM UTC-5, RobertCNelson wrote: >>>> >>>>> On Tue, May 19, 2015 at 9:24 AM, Philip <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>> > On Tuesday, May 19, 2015 at 10:14:20 AM UTC-4, Gerald wrote: >>>>> >> >>>>> >> If I knew that, I would have mentioned that. I would say maybe late >>>>> >> September. We hope to have a few beta boards in about 6 weeks. >>>>> Jason is >>>>> >> handling who gets those boards. Right now, we are going back into >>>>> layout to >>>>> >> fix yet another TI "feature". >>>>> >> >>>>> > >>>>> > Will the cape interface stay the same? >>>>> >>>>> Nope, and don't mention stuff like that, we don't want to give Gerald >>>>> a heart attack.. >>>>> >>>>> Regards, >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> Robert Nelson >>>>> https://rcn-ee.com/ >>>>> >>>> -- >>>> For more options, visit http://beagleboard.org/discuss >>>> --- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "BeagleBoard" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>> an email to [email protected] <javascript:>. >>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Gerald >>> >>> [email protected] <javascript:> >>> http://beagleboard.org/ >>> http://circuitco.com/support/ >>> >>> -- >>> For more options, visit http://beagleboard.org/discuss >>> --- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "BeagleBoard" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected] <javascript:>. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>> >> >> > -- For more options, visit http://beagleboard.org/discuss --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BeagleBoard" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
