Beaglebone Black

I received my BeagleBone Black in May 2013.

• Angstrom Linux distribution
• I can't believe they're using metacity/GNOME on something this low-powered
• Google Group for Beagleboard users
• I can run another distro on it (and more easily than on the Pi as this has a more standard ARM chip), but then I'd lose Cloud9 and its lovely interface (see below)
• a friend got the same device from a different batch from Adafruit: his had functioning ssh out of the box, but the bonescript isn't working well. Mine the bonescript worked fine, but I couldn't get ssh working to save my life
• I love that you can connect, power, and boot it entirely over USB: it then behaves as USB storage AND establishes a local network connection over USB so you can see its web server and edit files and run code through a web interface (Cloud9, which is pretty good - complete with vi emulation in the editor if you want it)
• rounded corners means this thing fits in an Altoids tin: small thing, but very handy
• won't boot with a cable connected to the micro-HDMI, although you can connect it later - if I try, I get User-LED-5 lit up, and that's it (this may be exclusive to my BBB: mine has some unusual features ...)
• running the HDMI out through my receiver to a big LCD TV, the screen output was incredibly flaky - kept shaking, or disappearing for anywhere from 2 to 30 seconds at a time
• the HDMI behaviour was better connected directly to a monitor, although still slightly inconsistent
• one host USB connector means you HAVE to use a USB hub if you actually want both a mouse and a keyboard
• I love the idea that it can accept all the "capes" (accessory boards that mount on those headers) for the older BeagleBone (which cost about twice as much)
• Unlike the Pi, the Ethernet connector actually has indicator lights on it: like the Altoids tin it's a small thing, but helpful
• the chip can get quite hot - as when you tell it to do upgrades and it's got an hour's worth of installing to do (again, appears to be unique to my BBB)

GPIO Pin-outs

Pulled two pages from the "System Reference Manual:"

• P8 Pin-outs
• P9 Pin-outs

Flashing the BBB

There are a LOT of Angstrom images out there for the BBB. Mine came with a defective image (no SSH) so I flashed it to the image that was at the time listed as "the latest" on the BBB site (the Angstrom site has a rather different list and offers many more choices). Flashing the BBB requires you do a destructive write to a microSD card:

# dd if=BBB-eMMC-flasher-2013.04.13-DDR3-400MHz.img of=/dev/sdb bs=1M

This process takes about fifteen minutes (that'll depend on the speed of ... well, everything). And make sure you have the right device because you're going to wipe it! Then you put the card into the BBB and turn it on. There's no HDMI out during this process (why not?), so you have to wait for all the LEDs to light up when the process finishes - 45 minutes later. It takes a while: make sure you're using a good power supply.

Log of Flashes

This is primarily for my own records, but may be of assistance to others.

~2013-05-10: Received BBB from Adafruit

Not sure of the version: GUI worked, network-over-USB worked, ssh (dropbear) didn't work, and appeared unfixable. An attempt to update all Angstrom packages on the system leads to overheating and lock-up.

~2013-05-18: Installed passive heatsink

~2013-05-19: flashed with "latest" code from beagleboard.org

This worked completely: GUI, network-over-USB, Cloud9 scripts, ssh server. Unfortunately, Beagleboard has removed this rev from the site so I don't know what version number it was.

~2013-05-24: flashed with 2013.05.20

LEDs indicate activity, but BBB never establishes network-over-USB and GUI is a jumble of colours (but in such a way that it's clear that there's an OS of some sort under there).

~2013-05-28: flashed with 2013.05.27

Behaviour identical to 2013.05.20. (md5sum of .xz verified after the fact.)

2013-06-02: flashed with 2013.04.13-DDR3-400MHz (in the freezer)

I stuffed the BBB in the freezer for this attempt on the theory that overheating was causing the installs to get munged toward the end (I'm desperate here folks). No network-over-USB, but the GUI is drawn properly ... but unusable because GNOME hasn't fully started: no Foot button, no right-, middle-, or left-click menus. The only way in is SSH over the network cable, and that only comes up if the network cable is plugged in at boot (ie. not after boot). Learned a bit about Ångström Linux / opkg package management. Single package installation times run to 2-3 minutes.

2013-06-03

• Trying out stuff from Ångström
• different method for writing the card:

  xz -dkc Angstrom-Cloud9-IDE-eglibc-ipk-v2011.10-core-beaglebone-r0.img.xz > /dev/sdX

• This is NOT a flasher, it runs from the card
• no network-over-USB by default (the URL above appears to have instructions on how to get this working)
• boots with HDMI connected
• network over Ethernet is good
• USB hub and devices work (it's been a problem with other images)
• ssh server is up and running

Flashed with 2013.05.27 (in the freezer). No network-over-USB, but I appear to have a functional desktop - so the freezer helps.

2013-06-17

Freezer-flashed to BBB-eMMC-flasher-2013.06.06.img. Same behaviour I've been seeing: seems to run fine, but, while it draws power from the mini-USB connection, it makes no attempt to appear as USB storage or establish a USB network connection.

2013-06-30

Freezer-flashed to BBB-eMMC-flasher-2013.06.20.img. No network-over-USB, but it's now willing to boot with the micro-HDMI plugged in (which had been a problem before). The HDMI connection is still flaky, with the screen periodically flashing off and back on.

2013-08-14

Freezer-flashed to BBB-eMMC-flasher-2013.07.31.img. No testing yet.

2013-09-21

Purchased a second BBB.

2013-09-22

Used a Dremel to cut an ancient video card heat sink to fit on the new BBB. Flashed the old BBB to Debian: Beagle Board Debian.

How to flash a new image onto your BBB when it tends to overheat: