BeagleBone is an exciting small board that brings to life your electronics and software projects. Its affordability and ease of use make it popular among hardware enthusiasts and programmers. The following articles help you to use this powerful board.
Preparing your beaglebone
When your BeagleBone arrives, it comes in a box with everything you need. Grab your BeagleBone and the mini USB cable that comes with it; Then plug your BeagleBone into your computer. In less than 10 seconds, your BeagleBone will be fully ready to use.
Accessing Your BeagleBone with Your Web Browser
With BeagleBone connected to your computer and with the drivers installed, open this URL in your web browser: http://192.68.7.2. If everything is working, then you should see a new web page with a green box at the top that says that your board is connected! That web page is being hosted by your BeagleBone.
Now you can have some fun exploring the menu, which has lots of information and examples about Bonescript.
When someone is not working on your BeagleBone, measuring the voltage around your circuit can be a good start to detect the problem. For example, why not have LED lighting? Probably not enough voltage is being supplied for this. If you know that about 1.8V is needed to light the LED, and your multimeter reading is a low value, the problem may be a weak battery. You can also use a multimeter to test it.
To measure voltage, you must connect your multimeter in parallel to the component you want to measure, such as a battery, an LED, or a resistor. After setting the mode to V (which is indicated by a dash with three dots below for DC), connect the positive side of your component to the red probe (which must be connected to a socket with V), Which is where the current is coming from. Connect the black probe (which must be connected to the COM socket) to the negative side.
Placing the multimeter in parallel means placing each probe along the feet of the component you want to measure.
Keep in mind that the COM probe is only a reference point for your measurement, which means that if you connected the probe in the reverse order as previously described, the multimeter will display the same voltage with a negative value. In addition, you can measure voltage with more than one component in series. If the first component has a voltage drop of 3V and the next has a voltage drop of 5V, then the value you see on the display is the sum of both. In this example, the value would be 8V.
There are cap plug-in boards that you can plug on top of the BeagleBone computer to add extended capabilities in a simpler way. Caps give you quick access to some easy-to-use systems such as LCD screens, GPS modules, and motor controllers. Some of these are introduced here; If you are interested in checking out the vast list of cape, then visit Beagleboard: BeagleBoneCape.
Some hats are not compatible with both the original BeagleBone and BeagleBone Black. Always ask or ask the manufacturer before making a purchase.
Beaglebone Proto Cape
The Beaglebone Proto Cape is a simple cape that fits above your beaglebone. It includes a throw-hold solder point and two 46-pin headers that connect directly to the beaglebone. Its simplicity and reach make it a great workspace for making prototypes after the breadboard stage.
Some proto caps, such as those from the Tiger KG, also display additional useful circuitry such as LEDs and switches.
2BeagleBone Power Cape
You can use the power cap to supply power flexibly. When the power cap is plugged into your BeagleBone, if the BeagleBone is not being fed by another source (such as a USB cable), the Power Cape supplies the necessary power through its lithium battery. Conversely, if 4.5 V or higher DC power is available from other sources, the lithium battery recharges even if the beaglebone is turned off.
The Power Cape offers two interesting features: an onboard power monitor (INA219), which allows you to monitor the battery’s voltage and current supply; A scheduling feature that enables you to designate your BeagleBone to turn on. You can start feeding your BeagleBone by turning off the battery at a certain time, which can be interesting for automation projects.
3BeagleBone Motor Cape
Motor capacities make the whole deal of using motors very easy and simple. Because BeagleBone’s GPIO pins can drive a maximum current of 6 millimeters (mA), they do not have the kick to drive powerful motors without any external help.
Using a motor cape, you can drive up to eight DC brush motors at 500 DC per motor – quite a power-up!
Sellers of this cape sell it with NXT connectors or screw terminal blocks. The latter type is usually the easiest to work with in most standard electrical projects.
