

Year of the Beagle - ChuckMcM
http://beagleboard.org/blog/2014-12-14-year-of-the-beagle/

======
delinka
Off-topic browser usability rant:

Web developers & designers: Please _STOP_ messing around with how my browser
works. In this case, I want to open a link in a new tab, so I Cmd-Click[0]
only to have my request ignored with the new page in the current tab ... but
then I _do_ get a new tab with the original article loaded into it. This might
be fine for your experimentation, but it's not fine to force your incompatible
UX onto my browser.

Other things that I've seen lately that are detestable:

\- prevent me from zooming on mobile

\- similarly, covering your actual content with an ever-present menu or
heading (and I can't zoom to get around it)

\- change the operation of the "back" keyboard shortcut to navigate articles
on your site rather than the actual history in my browser

There are other things that are annoying, too, but they all boil down to some
web site developer deciding to repurpose my browser's UI to their site. Please
stop.

[0] Google Chrome 39.0.2171.95 (64-bit) on OS X 10.10.1

~~~
TD-Linux
That's what's going on? I thought it was just a bug in Firefox Nightly or
something.

BTW a normal click also does the thing of opening the new link in the current
tab and spawning a new tab with the original page.

~~~
delluminatus
It's for Google Analytics tracking of links. The links in the page use
Javascript:

    
    
      <a onclick="goTracked(&quot;link-external&quot;, &quot;http://octopart.com/bb-bblk-000-circuitco+electronics-26478322&quot;);" class="external" href="#http://octopart.com/bb-bblk-000-circuitco+electronics-26478322" target="_blank">BeagleBone Black is readily available all over the world</a>
    

then the Javascript function in question:

    
    
      function goTracked(action, link) {
        ga('send', 'event', 'exit', action, link);
        setTimeout('document.location = "' + link + '"', 100);
      }
    

So, if you try to Cmd-Click a link to open it in a new tab (or middle-click,
which is my preferred method), the target of the link is opened in a new tab.
But the link's "href" target is just a fragment, so it opens the article in
the new tab. 100 ms later, the current tab is redirected to the "actual" link
target.

------
mrsteveman1
I absolutely love my beaglebone, aside from some issues with the Linux drivers
for the USB host port, it's been very reliable and useful.

To date, I've used my beaglebone to

\- stream live video of my baby kittens from the window well they were born in
outdoors (their mom was a feral cat, I used the video stream to keep track of
them until they could be rescued and brought inside)

\- transparently encrypt USB drives using the client+host ports [1]

\- use the onboard hardware RNG and some custom python[2] to supply entropy to
other boxes on the local network

\- use it as an offline environment to perform sensitive PGP and CA signing
operations

And I'm toying with the idea of building some kind of open source network/USB
connected hardware security module system with the BeagleBone as the reference
platform to run it on.

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8713155](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8713155)

[2] [https://github.com/infincia/netrng](https://github.com/infincia/netrng)

~~~
bootload
_"... I absolutely love my beaglebone, aside from some issues with the Linux
drivers for the USB host port ..."_

How did you go installing Linux? What distro? Have you got wifi working?

~~~
ChuckMcM
I grab the latest ubunutu of the elinux.org site, and Wifi works out of the
box (with a generic Wifi USB device). You need to edit /etc/network/interfaces
and make sure that you auto wlan0 and provide WPA passwords and what not.

~~~
stefanix
Do your research on what Wifi devices to use. Many don't work and others are
unstable causing agony and frustration like a thousand burning suns. After all
you rely on drivers that compile perfectly on ARM.

This one works well: TP-LINK TL-WN722N

------
technomancy
I've been hugely impressed with what the BeagleBone offers; it's really a
shame it frequently gets overshadowed by "that other board from the UK". Apart
from just having a vastly superior array of I/O options (including analog in,
which is really important for sensor arrays) the fact that the design is fully
OSS is really encouraging. I hope the community around it continues to grow.

~~~
TD-Linux
However, the GPU on the beaglebone is much more closed and undocumented than
the one on the Broadcom chip.

------
cpswan
It would be even more successful if it was possible to actually buy the
boards.

I got one early on, and I would have more, but every time I've looked since
they've been out of stock. A big part of the RPi success story is that they
figured out early on that supply chain would be a problem and got the right
partners involved to deal with that.

~~~
ChuckMcM
So are you outside the US? I have bought all of mine from Digikey, they
currently have 787 in stock ([http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/BB-
BBLK-000/BB-BBLK...](http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/BB-BBLK-000/BB-
BBLK-000-REVC-ND/4842211)) so presumably if I ordered today I'd have it in 3
days (priority mail)(Mouser has over 1200, Element 14/Farnell has eight
thousand)

[1] [http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/CircuitCo/BB-
BBLK-000/?q...](http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/CircuitCo/BB-
BBLK-000/?qs=%2fha2pyFadugh6wNMONnDuAbTwbrIHVw4R%2f%252bth5Q2M%2fX2Gs60muroNw%3d%3d)
[2]
[http://www.element14.com/community/community/designcenter/si...](http://www.element14.com/community/community/designcenter/single-
board-computers/next-gen_beaglebone?ICID=hp-bbb-sideban)

~~~
mng2
They were definitely out of stock this summer, when I was looking at updating
my BB project to BBB.

------
sriram_sun
Working under pressure to build a prototype for a device, I ran into the
BeagleBone around Dec. 2012. I was really impressed with the fact that they
open sourced all details related to the board. TI has provided extensive
documentation for the AM335x processors.

Sweet spot - I think TI hit the tinkerer sweet spot with the BeagleBone, which
was smaller and less powerful than its predecessor, the Beagle Board. The open
nature of the board itself adds considerable value as it can be used as a
reference design.

Ease of modification - For my project, we just replaced the HDMI and audio
connectors with an extra Ethernet and a few micro-USB connectors and rolled
out our own custom board... all in the span of a few months.

Ease of use - They need some work here for the average tinkerer who might not
be familiar with the Armstrong Linux distribution. However, that just worked
perfectly for me. For anyone interested, the Open Embedded Core or the Yocto
project would be better resources to look at. Debian and Arch have Beaglebone
focused distributions too. I would recommend against developing code on the
Beaglebone itself.

So for someone looking to create a customized "device" of any kind, this would
be a great choice. Also, I sell myself out by the hour doing this kind of
stuff :). I would be happy to help/consult with anyone if interested.

~~~
codehero
USB is still problematic on Linux. In particular the musb is completely
unstable when "babble" is detected. You have to use the right kind of USB hub
(or modify the cable) to keep power from backfeeding into the BBB. It seems
your experience is different from mine.

~~~
rstoner
We've had the same experience on BBBs re: powering USB devices. Using a
powered dlink hub helps to resolve it (of the 10+ brands we've tried).

------
tmuir
I am confused by this article. I had always been under the impression that
Beaglebones were not approved for use in commercial products. I'm almost
positive that I've read that in their documentation. But here is the creator
of the project happily pointing to companies using what I assume are off the
shelf boards in their products.

What gives?

~~~
forgottenpass
What sort of approval would you need to use COTS in a commercial product?

Do you mean this:

 _We do not encourage the use of the board that we manufacture under the
BeagleBoard.org logo in commercial products. We are not able to schedule parts
and arrange for production for orders that we cannot see. Meeting demand is
difficult as a result._

------
ChuckMcM
I've got several Beaglebone Black boards and find them a wonderful way to drop
a computer into something. My next challenge is to build a custom board with
their design.

------
Fuzzwah
The way outbound links are handled on that page is really strange....

------
alexalex
Thank you, Beagle!

And a big thank you to TI, for this project. I hope that if TI views their
involvement in BeagleX as successful, they can extend what went right with
this project into other product lines (open design files, reasonable pricing,
accessible documentation, accessible IDEs/compilers, transparency with design
decisions, and a true sense of community). My company has begun transitioning
to Nordic for RF and it feels like dealing with a startup (Nordic) vs. an
incumbent (TI).

The ability to run android on BBB is a wonderful advantage of the BBB vs
RasPi. The Beaglebone was my introduction to exploring embedded android and it
was perfect for it. The community is smaller than the RasPi but it is very
strong. I hope there are more tools supporting the BBB as a point of entry
into android.

------
kidgorgeous
why couldn't the guy just mention Raspberry Pi in the article? Why did he have
to refer to it as "that other board". Comments like this disturb me when I
hear them coming from the hacker community, which is supposed to have a
foundation of openness and selfless sacrifice. If something is considered a
valuable asset to the community, give props where props are due. Don't say
"that other board" just because you don't want to give Raspberry Pi any more
market share. Market share and competition should have no place for discussion
in the open source community.

~~~
Scramblejams
I don't think he was seriously trying to conceal the competition -- everybody
knows what he means (and has already bought an RPi if they were interested). I
read it as a teasing form of friendly rivalry. And you can't go create a low-
buck board designed to sell in the 6 or 7 figures without inevitably comparing
yourself to the RPi. When it comes to getting hackery Linux computers into
people's homes, the RPi is the gold standard, and comparisons are inevitable
whether you're a competitive person or not.

------
proee
"that board isn't open hardware: there aren't open source layout files or open
source editable schematics and the components in the bill of materials aren't
readily available"

This is talking about Arduino of course, and I do wish they would stop using
the word "open-source" if they don't bother to document the hardware they
"open."

Throwing a half-documented Eagle file over the wall doesn't count.

If they really want to open-source the design of the arduino, they'd publish
an official Bill-of-Materials for the project.

Edit: They'd also include official gerber files

~~~
hugs
I have a crazy theory: There is no such thing as open source hardware. It's a
myth. If a project has any electronics, there's a closed bit in there
somewhere. Even if there are published layout files, the chip is still closed.
Can anyone fab their own chip? Same goes for BeagleBone, which drives demand
for (closed) TI-based ARM chips.

~~~
proee
This is true, but given the Arduino does not publish Official gerber and BOM,
there's zero chance to recreate the hardware without guessing/reverse
engineering. The specs are not version controlled for public consumption.

So the arduino "platform" is not open in that you/I do not have an offical
specification to work from.

~~~
asynchronous13
I really can't figure out what would satisfy you regarding Arduino. I found a
full schematic (pdf) in a few seconds of searching. It has all part numbers
labeled.
[http://arduino.cc/en/uploads/Main/Arduino_Uno_Rev3-schematic...](http://arduino.cc/en/uploads/Main/Arduino_Uno_Rev3-schematic.pdf)

A simple google search for "arduino bill of materials" found several hits from
text, to json, to Excel formats.

If the schematic was only available as pdf, I could understand the complaint
that it is not an editable format. There's also Eagle files of schematic and
board layout. From that one can make gerbers in a few minutes. Or modify and
make something completely different. But in a different comment you said that
Eagle files don't count? Why is it that the specific thing you request doesn't
count?

~~~
proee
The eagle schematic doesn't not have all the mfg part numbers listed. Lots
have to be reverse engineered - a good example is the pushbutton switch.

Edit: Also, if you read the first page of their schematic they pretty much say
don't use this schematic as a legit source. So if it's open source, my
question is where is the "real" source. Answer: they don't publish it. It's
locked up internally in the company under a private repo.

~~~
asynchronous13
On the schematic on the arduino.cc website, the pushbutton switch is labeled
"TS42031-160R-TR-7260". A quick google search leads to Omron as the switch
manufacturer. Even so, picking a simple button switch from digikey with the
right footprint is a trivial task.

[http://arduino.cc/en/uploads/Main/Arduino_Uno_Rev3-schematic...](http://arduino.cc/en/uploads/Main/Arduino_Uno_Rev3-schematic.pdf)

The first page of the schematic has a standard disclaimer. It's not different
than the standard disclaimer at the top of every open source software source
file. (Hardware version: "Reference designs are provided AS IS and WITH ALL
FAULTS ....", Software version: "THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT
WARRANTY OF ANY KIND ...")

In the world of electronics, it is normal to label a resistor simply as "10k".
Is the resistor from Panasonic? Vishay? Yageo? Is it thin film? carbon?
ceramic? It doesn't matter and I don't want to see all that info on a
schematic.

The real source is right there on the website. I've personally used their
reference designs to make arduino-compatible boards, so I'm positive that all
the information is available.

I'm still at a loss as to why you believe that Arduino is not _real_ open
source? Is it just because they didn't put a BOM on the website alongside the
schematic?

------
mkramlich
I once chose the BeagleBoard for a startup's product prototype. It had just
the right hardware features, ran Linux, part price ok (esp since only needed
1-3 at most, on near term horizon), plus the "not tested/blessed for
commercial public embedded projects" was not a showstopper for a demo
prototype. If I had a similar need today I'd prob choose the RaspPi, due to
combo of lower price and bigger community. But RaspPi had not been out back
then.

------
ausjke
Beagle owner here, I owned quite a few revisions.

You can stack up to 4 caps to make it a product quickly.

However I'd prefer a SODIMM module for volume production instead of the
connectors used on BBB.

