Hi guys,
Will there be any disadvantages to sticking with Angstrom distro as
opposed to the TI SDK for the BeagleBone when it reaches the stores?
For example will I have the same access to low-level hardware, does
perhaps the Angstom release even include the TI SDK on the device?
I'm a little confused over which route to take and what the
differences are. I'm looking for a situation where I can cross-compile
from a more powerful machine, get my programs and their libraries up
and running fast and then an easy route to producing a small finished
image for flashing to multiple devices.
Any advice would be very helpful.
Many thanks
The bone comes with angstrom on the SD card by default, not the TI SDK. I'll leave it to you to draw conclusions from that.
regards,
Koen
Hi guys,
Will there be any disadvantages to sticking with Angstrom distro as
opposed to the TI SDK for the BeagleBone when it reaches the stores?
Features will likely move faster on Angstrom. The TI SDK might give
you some quicker responses on the TI e2e, but isn't likely to have as
much community support. If what you care about is a more
full-featured user-space, then stick to Angstrom.
TI will also release an Android Dev Kit, so if you're really a Linux
novice and looking for a Linux that is less Linux-y, that might be an
option for you.
For example will I have the same access to low-level hardware, does
perhaps the Angstom release even include the TI SDK on the device?
The BSPs are very similar, though the Angstrom one will probably move
ahead more aggressively. They both provide similar exposure to the
low-level hardware.
I'm a little confused over which route to take and what the
differences are. I'm looking for a situation where I can cross-compile
from a more powerful machine, get my programs and their libraries up
and running fast and then an easy route to producing a small finished
image for flashing to multiple devices.
Both enable cross-compilation. If you let it be known what libraries
you need in the SDK, you might be able to encourage people to add
those to OE. The Angstrom SDK will add more components more quickly,
whereas the TI SDK will be a bit more restrained.
Thank you (and Koen) very much for the responses. I'm fairly
experienced with C++, just not Linux and a long time Windows user. I'm
trying to get comfy with Ubuntu on my PC but it's a slow road. I've
found that there's very little outlining information on a lot of Linux
technologies, there's plenty of documentation but it's difficult to
consume without fully understanding the context. I'll have to remember
to write-up any Windows to Linux experiences I may have for the next
Windows user who comes along.
As regards to libraries, I see that there's already support for OpenCV
and Boost, for some projects I'd be interested in then PCL and Wt
would be important libraries.
- PCL 1.3 was just released reducing dependencies, making it smaller
and more portable, with all the kinect and laser devices popping up a
proper point could library would be great for projects. It's fully
NEON optimised.
- Wt, I know Qt is the in thing now it has web capabilities but Wt
remains simple and robust and you can have a HTML5 web app up and
running in minutes with very little prior knowledge.
Cheers
Thank you (and Koen) very much for the responses. I'm fairly
experienced with C++, just not Linux and a long time Windows user. I'm
trying to get comfy with Ubuntu on my PC but it's a slow road. I've
found that there's very little outlining information on a lot of Linux
technologies, there's plenty of documentation but it's difficult to
consume without fully understanding the context. I'll have to remember
to write-up any Windows to Linux experiences I may have for the next
Windows user who comes along.
If Ubuntu is what you are learning, then I'd recommend waiting for an
Ubuntu release for the BeagleBone.
That said, I'm trying to do something nice with JavaScript that will
avoid needing to learn too much Linux at first, but I wouldn't expect
it to be useful for real projects before the Summer.
Ah sorry, to be clear, Ubuntu is my means to an end as OE/Angstrom
don't have Windows cross-compile support out of the box, my primary
focus is on the target devices.
It's great to hear that work is going on, I think this is an area
where a lot of progress is to be made. At the end of the day most of
us develop on large computers and cross-compile for increased speed
and productivity, having a simplified set-up similar to the Angstrom
idea of a designer distribution with a built-in interface, either
connected to a client app or a web-server that can abstract away Linux
specifics and focus just on the code would be a big benefit. Coders
from any background could just pick-up a device, set-up libraries they
wish to use and start writing code, having files transferred to
correct locations automatically for instant deployment and testing.
The cloud9 idea is one step in this direction but I think there's much
more to be done.
The entire idea of high-level languages is to bring back the focus on
design and flow and abstract away from specific low-level code; if
this could be done with Linux for embedded devices suddenly a large
community will have a very powerful tool that they can access right
away. This makes a business case for companies, which brings more
adoption of devices, which brings over further investment of time into
Linux and everyone ends up happy.
I'm not sure if this will address the issues that concerns you. I've only just starting out to learn it but there are others who have quite quickly become productive using it. It's worth a look.
http://qt.nokia.com/products/platform/qt-for-embedded-linux/
Regards
Sid.