Well… I have been using linux since the first ‘linux fest’ in Durham in 1996-ish. I was able to install linux back then and get it working with network and GDI and this and that in short order.
My experience with the RaspPi was similar… I could/can get things working by jumping through a hoop or two… I have alwasy been able to find an answer to my issues with RaspPi in a timely way.
My experience with the BBB is atypical of my other experiences with Linux. For one… a simple update… opkg -t /home/root/tmp upgrade… killed it. Really??? Wifi is a hastle in an OFTB experiance, and the date time setting simply crashed that feature and while I can run NTLM manually etc… there is not clear and easy to find documentation on these issues or and such with Angstrom.
It appears that using Angstrom/BBB is a task for someone who wants to figure out how to make the hammer be a hammer instead of using the hammer to hit nails.
I was/am drawn to the BBB for its hardware features that the RaspPI is short on… but in the end the RaspPI wins in a real world sense as it is a more friendly and mature system.
Avoid the BBB if you are actually wanting the board to do a specific task, like control a servo, provide sound, update without dying, have an convenient and clear method to recover the system with a new image, or even get the thing to display on most common monitors/displays.
The BBB while promising, has missed the mark of usability… and thus is not ready for anyone but those willing to help the system reach maturity for it’s purpose… and that is to be a functioning SBC (single board computer).