BeagleBoard xM, some newbie questions

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1

Hi everyone!

I'm thinking about buying a couple BeagleBoards for a hobby project
I'm working on. I have a few questions first I would be glad if you
guys could answer:

1. Will an external power adapter be included? I want to run it
standalone, without connection to a host computer. If not, where can I
get one?
2. Are there any cases for it you can recommend? I would like some
solid case, preferably not transparent as the one I have seen on the
web page.
3. Is the board only for development? Am I restricted somehow to use
it "in production" (so far "in production" means I might place it at
some friends' horses :))?
4. How many USB ports are there? Can the host port be used as a normal
port?
5. Will Java work if I install Ubuntu ARM on it?

Thanks in advance!

2

See below.

Gerald

Hi everyone!

I’m thinking about buying a couple BeagleBoards for a hobby project
I’m working on. I have a few questions first I would be glad if you
guys could answer:

  1. Will an external power adapter be included? I want to run it
    standalone, without connection to a host computer. If not, where can I
    get one?

No power adapter is provided. You might look at reading the System Reference Manual, it will help answer some of your questions. However, I don’t know which one you are considering, so pick the one you are interested in. In there will be a description of the power adapter. A description of the power supply is in the SRMs and you can buy thenall over the place.

http://beagleboard.org/hardware/design

  1. Are there any cases for it you can recommend? I would like some
    solid case, preferably not transparent as the one I have seen on the
    web page.

http://www.esawdust.com/product/encl-dh-r1/ has a nice metal one for the BeagleBoard and BeagleBoard-xM. But not the BeagleBone.

  1. Is the board only for development? Am I restricted somehow to use
    it “in production” (so far “in production” means I might place it at
    some friends’ horses :))?

All that means is do not use it in a product that you produce or you will wake up one day and find that the version that worked for you is no longer made because we changed it on the next revsion. We will make changes in fucntions and features form time to time on th evarious boards.

  1. How many USB ports are there?

Well, it depends. Two have two and one has five.

Can the host port be used as a normal
port?

Not sure what that means. Each have at least one client and one host port.

  1. Will Java work if I install Ubuntu ARM on it?

There should be no issue as long as the code works.