On Thu, Sep 29, 2016 at 11:39 AM, mzimmers <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi, all - > > I've decided to self-tutor in the area of embedded Linux. (I have embedded > experience, and some Linux experience, but not together). I was thinking of > getting a beaglebone for experimentation. I can't be more specific, because > I don't know what I want to yet, other than learn some new skills. > > I have a few questions, if you please: > > 1. is the beaglebone platform a reasonable choice? > For what ? If you mean cost effective way to self teach embedded Linux. Then yes. > 2. is there a particular model I should favor? > A what ? > 3. in the old days, we needed special devices (like flashers) for > downloading programs. Do I need anything like this to use the board? > > No. You download or create a Linux image yourself. Copy it to sdcard, and either run that or use it to copy files to the eMMC. The questions you're asking are subjective and rather broad. Which honestly most of what you're asking is something you're going to have to determine for yourself. The beaglebone is much like the Raspberry Pi. In that it runs Linux, and is able to communicate with, and have an effect on devices connected externally. So either would work. However, where the beaglebone differs in the shear amount of I/O it's cable of. The hardware is far more open, and the beaglebone though it's amm335x processor has two PRU's( Programmable Real-time Unit ). So where the Raspberry PI may have the advantage with "ease" of use in some cases. The beaglebone is far more flexible( in my opinion ). You can roll your own Linux image, thanks to Robert Nelson's eewiki guide, and customize to your heart content. The PRU's can handle a lot of Real-time tasks as well, without Linux getting in the way. So if you need something deterministic, the PRU's are probably what would be handling that task. All while communicating with Linux through . . . well most likely a set portion of memory in one way or another. The Raspberry PI( rPI 3 in my own case ) is a pretty cool piece of technology to play with. But if you're serious about embedded Linux, with a very open hardware( and software ) model. Then the beaglebone is the place to be. > -- > 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]. > To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/ > msgid/beagleboard/09888cf2-5402-432e-8f72-5c0d74662944%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beagleboard/09888cf2-5402-432e-8f72-5c0d74662944%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > 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]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beagleboard/CALHSORrBCtZWDZA4khym%3D3KpDT3W-Zgy51EUxwsctF8_o%2BB%2BXw%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
