
BeagleBone Black Wireless - tdrnd
https://beagleboard.org/blog/2016-09-26-meet-beaglebone-black-wireless/
======
mintplant
The link at the bottom goes to
[https://beagleboard.org/wireless](https://beagleboard.org/wireless) which
isn't working for me, but [https://beagleboard.org/black-
wireless](https://beagleboard.org/black-wireless) works. Mouser lists the
price as $68.75 and element14 as $99.25; neither has any stock yet.

There are hardware design source files on
[https://github.com/beagleboard/beaglebone-black-
wireless](https://github.com/beagleboard/beaglebone-black-wireless), including
a PDF schematic: [https://github.com/beagleboard/beaglebone-black-
wireless/raw...](https://github.com/beagleboard/beaglebone-black-
wireless/raw/master/BeagleBone_Black_Wireless_SCH.pdf) which features a Texas
Instruments WL1835MODGBMOCT WiFi/Bluetooth module:
[https://store.ti.com/WL1835MODGBMOCT.aspx](https://store.ti.com/WL1835MODGBMOCT.aspx)

~~~
faragon
The board SoC quality is very good. However, it can not compete with e.g. the
CHIP SoC board [1], which costs just 9 USD + shipping with similar specs (I
have two CHIP running 24/7 without any additional cooling, running rock solid
-even in summer, at 35-40º C indoor-).

The only thing that would make me consider buying the BeagleBone Black
Wireless is the two built-in microcontrollers ("PRU" processors [2]), for
real-time I/O usage.

[1] [https://getchip.com/](https://getchip.com/)

[2] [http://beagleboard.org/pru](http://beagleboard.org/pru)

P.S. I'm not related to CHIP product, just a happy user :-)

~~~
errantspark
Unfortunately even though I 'bought' a CHIP some 6 months ago I have yet to
actually receive it. It's very easy to source a BBB. Hopefully in the future
thy become more available. Though I fear that will come with an increase in
price.

~~~
morganvachon
I think their fulfillment process has been hit-or-miss. I ordered a CHIP in
December 2015, received it in January 2016. However, my VGA adapter didn't
arrive until late June. Part of the problem is their confusing order process;
peripherals like the VGA adapter were being advertised as shipping in
February/March, which was when I expected mine, but when I inquired about it
via email I was told they had not even started physically building them yet,
and I'd get mine "some time this year".

Still, for $20 total outlay I have something that is between the Raspberry Pi
B+ and 2 in performance, with arguably better expansion (if you value GPIO
over USB), and a few nice extras like a power/reset button and built in
support for LiPo batteries. The downside is that it's based on an Allwinner
chip, and that company is known for being open-source hostile. Supposedly they
are trying to improve, but it does limit the range of operating systems
available for the device.

------
ers35
See also "A BeagleBone on a Chip" for discussion about the Octavo Systems
OSD3358 system-in-package used on this board:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11697719](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11697719)

------
ausjke
Used beaglebone since it's out years ago, it's a great piece of hardware and
kind of kicked off the open-source-software plus open source 32-bit-CPU DIY
hardware movement before everybody else.

Then clone was up everywhere, from RPI to Intel to many small shops in China
etc, even Arduino started to add 32-bit CPU boards, price has remained to be
low so far.

The only concern is that TI is not as active as before on its ARM-chip
business, otherwise Beaglebones could have dominated the market instead of RPI
series.

~~~
joezydeco
Didn't anyone else out there have a PandaBoard?

And TI was probably smart to exit OMAP for phones/tablets when they did. It's
too hard to beat Apple/Samsung/Qualcomm in this space now.

(The Sitara/AM335x on Beagle is just an OMAP without the video DSP)

~~~
rektide
There were a not-insignificant number of companies who tried setting up build
servers &c on PandaBoard & found the units failed fairly quick under any kind
of sustained use. AFAIK BBB, although more limited, best I know remained
reliable.

------
revelation
Interesting that Texas Instruments Raspberry (you know, TI is to BeagleBoard
as Broadcom is to RPi) would use a 3rd party SoC. I guess it still uses a
AM335x internally so it's a tossup for them.

Would have wished they had updated the AM335x to one of the beefier Sitaras,
they are falling somewhat behind if only in clock rate.

~~~
Taniwha
it's not really a new SoC ... it's an AM335x die (the real SoC) packaged along
with dram, the TI power controller chip along with all the decoupling caps ...
what this means is that you can get away with a 4-layer board with components
on just one side for a lot of applications and build it at home in a reflow
oven

------
jmgrosen
See also the BeagleBone Green Wireless: [https://beagleboard.org/green-
wireless](https://beagleboard.org/green-wireless)

------
jwatte
The BeagleBone was great when it first came out. Then the Raspberry Pi came
out, and has a bigger community, higher performance, and lower price. Compared
to the RPi 3, the BBBW seems like ... too little, too late?

~~~
rdtsc
Does RPi have PRU co-processors?

~~~
errantspark
No, you can't for example control RGBW one-wire LED strings with a Raspi. On
the BBB thanks to the PRU you can do so with 0% CPU load.

------
pasbesoin
OT, sort of, but a while back I saw one of these... "Pi-like" boards that had
two Ethernet ports. It also had significantly more horsepower.

I'm wondering what might be recommended choices at this point for someone
looking for an inexpensive, wired MITM / Firewall platform.

P.S. It would be great if it also had decent on-board wireless for e.g. making
a portable hardware firewall device.

~~~
logicallee
seriously? (seriously seriously)? It depends on if you're okay with the
chinese having a backdoor, at the firmware level. (to the tune of
'//gotroot!!' in the source code, and dropping to root.)

if you're okay with it, you have a LOT more options than if you aren't.
perhaps if we start having dedicated routers and networks for the backdoored
insecure stuff they'll start realizing that at the end of the day they're
being pretty fucking obvious.

no comment on other governments stuff. if they're there, at least they aren't
obvious.

~~~
bsder
I upvoted you in spite of your tone, because your statements are not undue.

The AllWinner stuff is concerning because they weren't exactly transparent
about things.

However, the Octavo stuff looks like your bog-standard chips from
BeagleBone/TI just all smashed onto the same substrate. You could decap the
module and see if that's true.

~~~
logicallee
I don't know if the threading makes it less than obvious, but I was simply
answering this question:

>OT, sort of, but a while back I saw one of these... "Pi-like" boards that had
two Ethernet ports. It also had significantly more horsepower. I'm wondering
what might be recommended choices at this point for someone looking for an
inexpensive, wired MITM / Firewall platform.

There are a lot of very interesting, very cheap boards!

------
fulafel
How is the software support for BeagleBone boards? Can I expect to get
automatic kernel updates with security patches?

Traditionally a problem with many boards is that you have to choose between
running a distro kernel with incomplete hardware support but timely security
updates, and running a board specific kernel that can't be safely exposed to
internet-connected environment.

~~~
cvwright
I had a student try to do an independent study research project using the BBB
a couple of years ago. The experience wasn't good. We had a lot of trouble
getting the thing to run with anything except the one kernel version that it
came with. Porting over features from kernel modules done on earlier minor
versions was a huge pain and not at all straightforward.

~~~
xythobuz
This has definitely changed. I'm using the current mainline kernel and it
includes proper configs for the BBB. Works pretty much hassle-free.

~~~
lathiat
Yeah this changed a lot in the last 12 months.

Problem was to support capes (addon boards) especially dynamically and at
runtime wasn't really supported in mainline. They had special cape manager
patches to do it but it wasn't a good solution for upstream.

3 years later or so we finally have good overlay support for this in a
mainline happy and now merged way. They paid to have this work done which is
great, though sadly took a long time.

I forget the guys name that did it but he is clearly a champion of patience.

------
anujdeshpande
This is the perfect example of true Open Source Hardware. None of the other
boards similarly spec'd development boards have been spinned into so many
variants. Not to mention real world consumer products that are based off the
Beaglebone Black schematic.

------
yuhong
As a side note, "DDR3 8Gb 512M*16 1600 MHZ" is now on DRAMeXchange (you have
to login to see it). It is hovering around five dollars per chip. I think the
BeagleBone Black is one of the embedded systems where it is commonly used.

------
dbcurtis
I can't find any info on whether or not the WiFi driver is open source. Anyone
know?

~~~
kersny
This? same family atleast:
[https://github.com/torvalds/linux/tree/master/drivers/net/wi...](https://github.com/torvalds/linux/tree/master/drivers/net/wireless/ti/wl18xx)

------
cryptolect
What's unclear is how the BeagleBone Black Wireless compares to the
SeeedStudio BeagleBone Green Wireless:
[https://beagleboard.org/blog/2016-07-07-seeedstudio-
beaglebo...](https://beagleboard.org/blog/2016-07-07-seeedstudio-beaglebone-
green-wireless/)

It looks like the Green wireless has more USB ports, but aside from that, I'm
not sure why you'd choose the BBB Wireless vs BBG Wireless?

~~~
programmer_man
Probably the HDMI port.

------
stryk
anyone know of any good resources, tutorials, books, etc. for putting the PRUs
to good use? those seem to be the defining feature that separates the BBB from
the other SBCs.

~~~
binarycoffee
I can recommend "Exploring BeagleBone" by Derek Malloy which offers a very
gentle introduction to the PRU with some mildly advanced examples. Also, a
shameless plug with more PRU code examples in case you are interested to use
Rust rather than C for the glue code:
[https://github.com/sbarral/prusst](https://github.com/sbarral/prusst)

------
akanet
I've been running a tor relay on the original beaglebone black for a couple
years now and have been very satisfied. Would have LOVED the wifi model back
then.

~~~
compuguy
Honestly, with it supporting only 2.4 ghz, its uses are limited.

~~~
errantspark
What's wrong with 2.4Ghz?

~~~
wyager
5GHz performance is vastly better in urban areas. There are 26 networks
visible from my apartment (in a small 2-story apartment building), and the
2.4GHz WiFi spectrum effectively has only 3 channels (due to substantial
overlap, only channels 1, 6, and 11 are normally used). So you're sharing a
_lot_ of bandwidth with your neighbors. 5GHz has much better spacing (so less
interference) and more total bandwidth.

~~~
snovv_crash
5GHz also attenuates significantly through walls, so even if your neighbour is
on the same channel you won't be getting as much interference.

------
stephenmm
I like to see this stuff (seems like they should have had this earlier) but to
me the real market shifting is less about performance and much more about
preformance/watt and unit pricing. If you can push the boundaries on those two
areas and still make it easy to hack then I think you have something that
could push innovation to a new level. Still it is great to see this!

------
adityapatadia
In case you need a library for BeagleBone, I have forked bonescript and
written a better one:
[https://github.com/theoctal/octalbonescript](https://github.com/theoctal/octalbonescript)

------
runeks
I would have absolutely loved this if it were 5 GHz wifi. 2.4 GHz wifi in my
apartment is practically useless, with ~40 visible APs from my laptop.

Are dual 5/2 GHz chips that much more expensive?

------
johnchristopher
Why not both wifi and ethernet ?

------
mosselman
How many cores does the CPU have? I can't really figure it out from the stats.

------
monomyth
While it's awesome, where is Beaglebone Blue?

------
Boothroid
No FPGA onboard? (Stifles yawn)

------
vegabook
does it now support 1080p ?

