Hi Beagle users,
A little about me before I explain my question. I’m an experienced electrical engineer with a heavy background in micro processor implementation and programming as well as PCB layout for high speed digital design. I’m fluent in C and C# and open to learning other languages. I am, however, totally new to SoC (and embedded Linux OS) concepts outside a basic knowledge of computer system architecture. I am currently at the stage of working out if the Beagle bone black is the correct starting point for me.
My interest in the Beagle Bone is for product development with a view to commercialization. This will require a re-design of the board architecture into my own PCB design and I am attracted to the BBB as it is fully open source and the processors are available commercially (unlike the RPI).
So, my question is. If I simply cloned and populated a PCB, matching the circuit diagram of the BBB and plugged an SD card in (with OS flashed on), would it work. Or is additional software required to be loaded onto the SoC device? If so, is this bios / boot loader available?
Additionally, if I develop a program to run on Rasbian. How easy would it be to port it onto a BBB OS (such as Debian)?
Tanks for any assistance you can offer.
Regards,
Sam Rhodes
If you copy it exactly and build it correctly it should work. People do this all the time. I would expect SW to have to be added to support whatever you put on the board to fit your application.
There is no SW loaded onto the SOC. All code for the SOC is loaded from an external source, eMMC or SD in this case.
Gerald
Hi Beagle users,
A little about me before I explain my question. I'm an experienced
electrical engineer with a heavy background in micro processor
implementation and programming as well as PCB layout for high speed digital
design. I'm fluent in C and C# and open to learning other languages. I am,
however, totally new to SoC (and embedded Linux OS) concepts outside a
basic knowledge of computer system architecture. I am currently at the
stage of working out if the Beagle bone black is the correct starting point
for me.
My interest in the Beagle Bone is for product development with a view to
commercialization. This will require a re-design of the board architecture
into my own PCB design and I am attracted to the BBB as it is fully open
source and the processors are available commercially (unlike the RPI).
So, my question is. If I simply cloned and populated a PCB, matching the
circuit diagram of the BBB and plugged an SD card in (with OS flashed on),
would it work. Or is additional software required to be loaded onto the SoC
device? If so, is this bios / boot loader available?
Everything is available, but there is a minor amount of content that
isn't in the schematic/pcb design files. There is an EEPROM that
contains board ID information, and if you're using the standard
software, your board won't boot properly unless you load appropriate
contents into this EEPROM. If you're not familiar with Linux on ARM,
the boot sequence is:
* SoC ROM contents
* MLO (Memory LOader), part of uBoot
* uBoot
* Linux kernel
* Normal linux boot
There is source available for everything you need, and you can modify
the uBoot loader if you want to leave off the EEPROM.
Additionally, if I develop a program to run on Rasbian. How easy would it
be to port it onto a BBB OS (such as Debian)?
Assuming you're not doing anything really hardware specific, you should
be able to directly port code from Raspbian to Debian on the 'Bone or
most any other platform. Anything accessing hardware drivers will need
to be reviewed for the new target.