Notes about Black , Green and Pocketbeagle GamePup and TechLab cape learning

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Will Beaglebone ever replace Raspberry Pi for learning about computers ?

In 2014 I joined a makerspace in Sommerville, Ma USA Artisans Asylum near MIT so there were makers from local tech colleges as mentors.
The in house backgrounds were friendly and knowledgeable.
They readily share their knowledge.
I began in 2014 to want a home CNC based on EMC (later LinuxCNC, Machinekit) like the Black Foot CNC

Costs were an obstacle but I could join the makerspace as a volunteer and use the tools available.
On Wednesday night there was and still is a public welcome Circuit Hacking electronics night among other classes.
I learned about Arduino for my first device in three decades since being into PDP-11 computers at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC).
That was the X11 in the 1980’s

I asked where I could replace the large PC with smaller for a smaller CNC and was directed to Beaglebone Black as a better choice than
Raspberry Pi on Arduino.

I bought a Black and plugged it in and have never regretted the decision.
Later in 2016 I attended some Meet Up meetings to learn about 3D printers
and found out about Beaglebone Green used in the Phidias LLC Athena (<-Notes here).

Now in 2019 I want to find a group and take notes on how to make a video game.
I plan to use the new Pocket BeagleBone capes with GamePup as a game controller over Wifi and Bluetooth with off the shelf devices
as I am not into designing and building circuits.
The TechLab is better for learning as it is designed to support e-ale classes already being taught.

I want to start a discussion here about why chose Beaglebone over Raspberry Pi or the inverse choice.

Also, since I am famous for confusing things with too many topics I want to start notations
for collaborating on the GamePup controller.

I have tried to use BBB.io/p for teaching concepts as I learn how to do the stuff I want.
I have already run into problems starting and making changes on my Hackster.io projects that appear
on my BBB.io profile so I have created a Slack and Discord approach to do the notations.

First thing is to get a fix for the Game Pup frame buffer flipped RED and Green colors as was done by others on Adafruit Arduino code.
After that will be adding battery, Wifi, Bluetooth, MP3 and Midi capabilities to the cape.

I play GAMES as you see in the hidden links in this message and am looking for others to become contributors in
this decade (or more) project.

My email is Play at Cool Games dot Net as I am doing business
as Cool Games Network (since 2000) as it has evolved from Event Video Multimedia (since 1990)

Thanks in advance
Lee T. Davy

2

On Thu, 24 Oct 2019 07:19:34 -0700 (PDT), "Lee T. Davy"
<leetdavy.eventvideo-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org> declaimed the
following:

Will Beaglebone ever replace Raspberry Pi for learning about computers ?

  Probably not...

  The Beaglebone series appears optimized for use as embedded Linux
controllers. They provide a large number of binary GPIO, SPI, I2C, multiple
UARTs, along with ANALOG inputs and outputs. They have (at least the BBB)
only one USB port. But they tend toward slower single core processors
(ignoring the cryptic PRUs), small amount of RAM. The stand-alone Cloud-9
environment is the "friendly" interface for programming, favoring
Bonescript via node.js (though Cloud-9 does support Python too).

  The R-Pi was billed as a cheap Linux computer using Python as the
primary programming language for teaching purposes. It really only has a
few binary GPIO, SPI, I2C -- but no analog I/O. Typically four USB ports.
The newer ones have 64-bit quad-core processors (though the normal OS is
just 32-bit for compatibility across the line) and more RAM -- but lack any
coprocessors. Really meant to be used with an HDMI monitor and local
keyboard/mouse.

Compare:
BBAI: 1.5GHz dual Cortex-A15, 1GB ? RAM, 4 PRU, 4 EVE, 2 DSP, 16GB eMMC,
USB2, USB3?, WiFi
                                  $117+
BBB: 1GHz Cortex-A8, 512MB DDR3 RAM, 2 PRU, 4GB eMMC, USB2
                                  $55+
                                  
R-Pi 4B: 1.5GHz quad Cortex-A72, 4GB DDR4 RAM, USB3, WiFi
                                  $55
R-Pi 4B: 1.5GHz quad Cortex-A72, 1GB DDR4 RAM, USB3, WiFi
                                  $35
R-Pi 3B+: 1.4GHz quad Cortex-A53, 1GB DDR2 RAM, USB2, WiFi
                                  $35

  The R-Pi foundation seems to release a new model every 12-18 months,
whereas Beagles appear to be targeted for long-term stability (what did I
read, 10 years production life?)

3

On Thu, 24 Oct 2019 07:19:34 -0700 (PDT), “Lee T. Davy”
<leetdavy.eventvideo-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org> declaimed the
following:

Will Beaglebone ever replace Raspberry Pi for learning about computers ?

Probably not…

The Beaglebone series appears optimized for use as embedded Linux
controllers. They provide a large number of binary GPIO, SPI, I2C, multiple
UARTs, along with ANALOG inputs and outputs. They have (at least the BBB)
only one USB port. But they tend toward slower single core processors
(ignoring the cryptic PRUs), small amount of RAM. The stand-alone Cloud-9
environment is the “friendly” interface for programming, favoring
Bonescript via node.js (though Cloud-9 does support Python too).

The R-Pi was billed as a cheap Linux computer using Python as the
primary programming language for teaching purposes. It really only has a
few binary GPIO, SPI, I2C – but no analog I/O. Typically four USB ports.
The newer ones have 64-bit quad-core processors (though the normal OS is
just 32-bit for compatibility across the line) and more RAM – but lack any
coprocessors. Really meant to be used with an HDMI monitor and local
keyboard/mouse.

Compare:
BBAI: 1.5GHz dual Cortex-A15, 1GB ? RAM, 4 PRU, 4 EVE, 2 DSP, 16GB eMMC,
USB2, USB3?, WiFi
$117+
BBB: 1GHz Cortex-A8, 512MB DDR3 RAM, 2 PRU, 4GB eMMC, USB2
$55+

R-Pi 4B: 1.5GHz quad Cortex-A72, 4GB DDR4 RAM, USB3, WiFi
$55
R-Pi 4B: 1.5GHz quad Cortex-A72, 1GB DDR4 RAM, USB3, WiFi
$35
R-Pi 3B+: 1.4GHz quad Cortex-A53, 1GB DDR2 RAM, USB2, WiFi
$35

The R-Pi foundation seems to release a new model every 12-18 months,
whereas Beagles appear to be targeted for long-term stability (what did I
read, 10 years production life?)

Yes, 10 year production life. This has a big impact on both engineering education as well as use in products.

You mentioned lots of embedded I/O functionality, including on-board ADCs.

Don’t forget about the open hardware aspect and variants optimized for various operating conditions.

Most designs including on-board eMMC for additional reliability and improved out-of-box experience/performance.

Having heterogeneous systems optimized for various embedded tasks is part of Beagle’s identity as well.

The development experience is also very much targeted at embedded, where connecting a keyboard, monitor and mouse is not the anticipated development model.