SanCloud:BeagleBoneEnhanced

This is the official BeagleBone Enhanced Wiki maintained and supported by SanCloud Limited.

If you have any questions or issues with the content on this Wiki, contact [mailto:info@sancloud.co.uk Marc Murphy]

BeagleBone Enhanced Description
The BeagleBone Enhanced is the newest member of the BeagleBoard family. It is a lower-cost, high-expansion focused BeagleBoard using a low cost Sitara XAM3359AZCZ100 Cortex A8 ARM processor from Texas Instruments. It is similar to the Beaglebone,but with some features removed and some features added. The table below gives the high points on the differences between the BeagleBone and BeagleBone Enhanced.



BeagleBone Enhanced Features
The following table lists the key features of the BeagleBone Enhanced.



In the box is (1)BeagleBone Enhanced board.

BeagleBone Enhanced Picture
Here is a picture of the Rev A board.



Here is a picture of the Rev B board.



BeagleBone Enhanced Key Component Locations
Here are the locations of the key components on the Rev A.



BeagleBone Enhanced Connector and Switch Locations
Below is the location of the connectors and switches on the Rev A board.



Below are the locations of the connectors and features of the Rev B board.



Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

 * BeagleBone Enhanced FAQ

List of frequently asked questions concerning the BeagleBone Enhanced. It will be updated as more questions continued to be answered.

Terms of Use
UPDATED INFORMATION

You may use the BeagleBone Enhanced design materials as you choose. There are no licences involved in the usage of the BeagleBone Enhanced design materials. 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. In addition, we will make revisions to the board as we find necessary and we will not continue to make older revisions. This can result in supply and compatibility issues for those using them in a product. When used in a product, the end customer is responsible for its use in their product. BeagleBoard.org does not guarantee that it will work in any particular application or use case. Changes in components used on the production of these boards such as memory devices, may affect operation of the board, either positively or negatively.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org or send a letter to: Creative Commons 171 Second Street, Suite 300 San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

All derivative works released back into the public domain are to be attributed as based on the work created by Gerald Coley of BeagleBoard.org.

For more information, see Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

ALL design materials are Open Source and easily accessible. Everything is provided to build your own board. You can make changes as needed or use it as is. It is your product when you use these materials. Feel free to build the board yourself at your contract manufacturer of choice.

If you have questions on any of this, you can contact [mailto:gerald@beagleboard.org Gerald Coley]

Accessories
For a list of the confirmed working accessories please go to * Accessories Page

Covered there are cables, power supplies, displays,etc. Anything that can be added to the BeagleBone Enhanced.

Optional JTAG
There is no JTAG over USB support on the BeagleBone Enhanced. The BeagleBone Enhanced is different than the BeagleBone. JTAG is an uninstalled option.

To install the JTAG header, all you have to do is install P2 on the back of the board. P2 is a Samtec FTR-110-03-G-D-06 connector and can be purchased from Samtec or any of their distributors.

If you are using Code Composer Studio, you will need a

Cape Support
Beagleboard.org is not the maker of the various capes. Most of them are made and supported by Circuitco under the beagleboardtoys.com name. For information on cape compatibility and support go to BeagleBone Enhanced Capes

Serial Debug Cable
The three pin header behind the RJ45 connector is the serial debug port and has the following pinout

Revision A0
First prototype release version of the board as designed for the Indiegogo campaign. Limited distribution.

Revision B0
Release version of the board as re-designed for the Indiegogo campaign. WiFi module was fitted to the board still keeping the enhanced features of additional sensors, 1GB memory and gigabit networking. The serial debug header was moved to behind the RJ45 connector and the USB expansion port moved to behind USB1 connector.

Tips and Pointers
For boards with on-board antenna it can be easily converted to use the external antenna SMA connector by moving the antenna selection resistor.

Expansion Header Pin Usage
There are several precautions that need to me taken when working with the expansion headers to prevent damage to the board.

ALL VOLTAGE LEVELS ARE 3.3V MAX. APPLICATION OF 5V TO ANY I/O PIN WILL DAMAGE THE PROCESSOR AND VOID THE WARRANTY. ANALOG IN VOLTAGES ARE 1.8V MAX. APPLICATION OF >1.8V TO ANY A/D PIN WILL DAMAGE THE PROCESSOR AND VOID THE WARRANTY.

1) Do not apply any voltages to any I/O pins when the board is not powered on. 2) Do not drive any external signals into the I/O pins until after the SYS_RESETn signal is HI (3.3V). 3) Do not apply any voltages that are generated from external sources until SYS_RESETn signal is HI. 4) If voltages are generated from the VDD_5V signal, those supplies must not become active until after the SYS_RESETn signal is HI. 5) If you are applying signals from other boards into the expansion headers, make sure you power the board up after you power up the BeagleBone Enhanced or make the connections after power is applied on both boards.

In the System Reference Manual you will find reference to Boot Pins. These pins are connected to the expansion header. If you load or terminate these pins to the point it affects their default setting, the board will not boot.

Powering the processor via its I/O pins can cause damage to the processor. The expansion headers can be viewed on this Cape Expansion Headers.

Serial Header Usage
Power restrictions on the serial debug header are not an issue. On the board, there is a buffer that prevents damage from occurring by having the connector of the FTDI cable connected to the the header. It is safe to do and will not cause damage to the board when power is not applied to the board.

Extremely Useful Links
BeagleBoard home page BeagleBoard How to Videos Hipster Cricuits Getting Started On BeagleBone Enhanced Adafruit Tutorials This site is well worth a visit. You may even decide to make it your home page! Derek Molloy's Blog GPIO and Device Tree (Derek Molloy) C/C++ Introduction on BeagleBone (Derek Malloy) Hackaday You can also subscribe to this. Should be checked often for the latest cool projects on BeagleBone Enhanced Interent Sharing On Windows 7 Robert P. J. Day's Wiki Linuxonarm Wiki

Expanding the Storage Partition on microSD
If you have installed a Linux distribution on your microSD you can modify the root file system partition. You are then able to utilize all of the space on your microSD card regardless of the size of the default partition of your given image. Follow the instructions found on Expanding File System Partition on a MicroSD.

Note: The instructions on that page are general and are not guaranteed to work on every Linux distribution.

BoneScript
Bonescript is a Node.js library specifically optimized for the Beagle family, featuring familiar Arduino function calls, exported to the browser. The BoneScript library provides several functions useful for interacting with your hardware. The following BoneScript provides a dozen of hardware demos that interact with the BeagleBone Enhanced.

Connecting to the BeagleBone Enhanced: Serial Connection, SSH, or USB
In the following Terminal Shells page, there are instructions on how to connect to the BeagleBone Enhanced through either a serial connection, SSH using an ethernet cable, or SSH to the BeagleBone's built-in IP address over a USB cable.

Creating a uSD card for Extra Storage
MicroSD Card For Extra Storage

HDMI Issues
HDMI Issues..We have several people having issues getting the board to work with various TVs and Displays. RMA returns have shown no issues. If you are having issues a separate support page has been set up at HDMI Issues

WIKI Issues
If you find any issues with any information on this WIKI, please send the information to the discussion forum http://beagleboard.org/Community/Forums.

Software
You can find a list of reported issues and add additional ones by going to Bug Tracker

Hardware
Here are the known Hardware issues:

Debian Beta Image
All boards now ship with the Debian image. The Debian is compatible with all versions of the BeagleBone Enhanced

MachineKit Debian Image with LinuxCNC and Xenomai
Building a CNC machine or 3D printer can be greatly simplified with this customized Linux distribution. http://blog.machinekit.io/p/machinekit_16.html

Android
For instructions on how to get Android onto the board goto Android

FreeBSD
FreeBSD now has official support for BeagleBone Enhanced: Project Page

Nintendo
If you want to turn your BeagleBone Enhanced into a SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) you can check that out at  BeagleSNES This link is provided as a convenience and the software located at this link is not supported by Circuitco or BeagleBoard.org.

Gentoo
This link is provided as a convenience and the software located at this link is not supported by Circuitco or BeagleBoard.org. Gentoo

ArchLinux
This link is provided as a convenience and the software located at this link is not supported by Circuitco or BeagleBoard.org. ArchLinux

LinuxCNC
This link is provided as a convenience and the software located at this link is not supported by Circuitco or BeagleBoard.org. LinuxCNC

Minix
This link is provided as a convenience and the software located at this link is not supported by Circuitco or BeagleBoard.org. Minix

XNU
This link is provided as a convenience and the software located at this link is not supported by Circuitco or BeagleBoard.org. CNU

Asterisk
This link is provided as a convenience and the software located at this link is not supported by Circuitco or BeagleBoard.org. Asterisk (Instructions Asterisk on BeagleBone Black).

TI EZSDK
For information on how to install the latest EZSDK from TI got to EZSDK.

Beaglenmt
The BeagleBone Network Multitool (beaglenmt) is a lightweight, X11-free, networking-centric, and IPv6-ready server distribution targeting the BeagleBone platform. beaglenmt supports the BeagleBone Enhanced hardware platform.

LATEST PRODUCTION FILES (C)
The links below are static links that always point to the latest version of the listed documents. These links can be used by distributors or users to point to the latest documentation. As documents are updated, the links will remain the same, but the actual file will be updated. This insures that you always have the latest documents and your links will always work.

If you have any questions on these files, contact [mailto:info@sancloud.co.uk SanCloud]


 * Schematic (PDF)
 * PCB PDF

Upverter has a version uploaded (unverififed) Upverter BeagleBone Black.

A GitHub repo is available with all revisions of the documentation - https://github.com/SanCloudLtd/BeagleBoneEnhanced

BeagleBone Capes
BeagleBone capes are add on boards that can be connected to the BeagleBone Enhanced to add functionality. These capes are made by a lot of different companies and individuals. A list of capes that are in production are listed at BeagleBone Capes.

If you have a cape that is in production and can be purchased and you would like it listed, please contact [mailto:support@circuitco.com Circuitco]. More information regarding the Cape Expansion Headers can be found at Cape Expansion Headers.

Most of the current capes will work with the BeagleBone Enhanced at some point. However, the kernel is 3.8 on the BeagleBone Enhanced, so work is required to get the drivers updated for most of the capes to work. Some may not work or may require some hardware changes due to some differences in the design of the BeagleBone Enhanced as described below.

For a list of the ones that are currently identified as compatible and incompatible, go to BeagleBone Black Capes.

Onboard HDMI
The onboard HDMI driver uses the LCD pins. They are still connected to the expansion header, but in some cases, they could cause an LCD cape to have some noise issues unless the cape has a buffer. A buffer should take care of this issue. If you want to use these pins as GPIO pins, you may be limited in speed due to the capacitance caused by the loading of the pins by the HDMI driver. They should function fine in most applications.

Onboard eMMC
The onboard eMMC uses the MMC1 signals. They are also connected to the expansion header. The expectation is that in order to use these signals, the eMMC device on the BeagleBone Enhanced will need to be disabled by activating the reset line to the eMMC device. It is not clear that this will work as you have to write to the eMMC first and tell it to enable the reset. At this point in time, it is not totally clear that the reset line will do the trick. Further investigation is ongoing. This will also require booting from the uSD port. Best option is to not use the MMC1_CLK and MMC1_CMD signals at all and tie them low. Do not use these signals for anything else will trying to use the other eMMC1 lines on the expansion header.

RMA Support
If you feel the board is defective and you want to get it looked at go to RMA Request You will need the serial number. It is located on the expansion header in the form of a white label.

We only accept RMA requests for those boards purchased through authorized BeagleBoard.org distributors or direct from ourselves. You can find a list of authorized distributors on the buy pages at BeagleBoard.org If you purchase a board from an unauthorized distributor, you need to return the board to them for replacement or repair. Shipping to the repair depot is covered by the requester. Return shipping is paid by the repair depot.

Books specifically on BeagleBone

 * BeagleBone Cookbook: Software and Hardware Problems and Solutions
 * Exploring BeagleBone: Tools and Techniques for Building with Embedded Linux examples
 * Bad to the Bone: Crafting Electronics Systems with Beaglebone and BeagleBone Black examples
 * Getting Started with BeagleBone: Linux-Powered Electronic Projects With Python and JavaScript
 * Programming the BeagleBone Black: Getting Started with JavaScript and BoneScript examples
 * Learning BeagleBone Python Programming
 * Learning BeagleBone
 * BeagleBone Home Automation
 * Building a Home Security System with BeagleBone
 * BeagleBone Robotic Projects
 * BeagleBone for Secret Agents
 * BeagleBone for Dummies
 * 30 BeagleBone Black Projects for the Evil Genius
 * The BeagleBone Black Primer
 * Building a BeagleBone Black Super Cluster
 * BeagleBone Black Interfacing: hardware and software
 * Mastering BeagleBone Robotics
 * BeagleBone Black Programming by Example
 * BeagleBone Media Center
 * Android Hardware Interfacing with the BeagleBone Black
 * BeagleBone Essentials
 * Building Network and Servers Using Beaglebone
 * Using Yocto Project with BeagleBone Black
 * BeagleBone Black Programming using Matlab
 * BeagleBone Black Cookbook
 * My BeagleBone Black work notes (Japanese)
 * BeagleBone Robot Development Guide(Chinese Edition)
 * Programming the BeagleBone
 * BeagleBone Home Automation Blueprints

Recommended books on hot topics around BeagleBone

 * Hacking and Penetration Testing with Low Power Devices
 * The Internet of Things: DIY Projects with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and BeagleBone Black
 * Make: JavaScript Robotics: Building NodeBots with Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and BeagleBone
 * Embedded Android: Porting, Extending, and Customizing
 * Embedded Linux Development with the Yocto Project
 * Embedded Linux Systems with the Yocto Project
 * Software Engineering for Embedded Systems: Methods, Practical Techniques, and Applications
 * Beginning NFC: Near Field Communication with Arduino, Android, and PhoneGap
 * Zero to Maker: Learn (Just Enough) to Make (Just About) Anything
 * Designing the Internet of Things
 * Getting Started with Electronic Projects
 * Operating System Design: The Xinu Approach, Second Edition
 * Learning ROS for Robotics Programming - Second Edition
 * Hacking Your LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Kit

Recommended books on Linux

 * Embedded Linux Primer: A Practical Real-World Approach
 * Building Embedded Linux Systems
 * Linux Device Drivers
 * Linux All-in-One For Dummies
 * Embedded Operating Systems: A Practical Approach (Undergraduate Topics in Computer Science)

Recommended books on ARM architecture

 * ARM Assembly Language: Fundamentals and Techniques
 * ARM Architecture Reference Manual - may be available as a free download