BeagleBone Black Ships With New Linux 3.8 Kernel

DeviceGuru writes "BeagleBoard.org has begun shipping its faster, cheaper BeagleBone Black SBC with a new Linux 3.8 kernel, supporting Device Tree technology for more streamlined ARM development. The $45 BeagleBone Black runs Linux or Android on a 1GHz TI Sitara AM3359 SOC, doubles the RAM to 512MB of its predecessor, and adds a micro-HDMI port. The updated kernel gives the BeagleBone Black access to a new Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) display driver architecture, as well as full support for the Device Tree data structure introduced to streamline ARM development in Linux 3.7. The project was hesitant to move up to such a recent kernel, but decided it was time to bite the bullet and support the Device Tree. By doing the hard work of switching to Device Tree now, BeagleBoard.org and its developer community can save a lot of configuration and maintenance headaches down the line, says BeagleBoard.org co-founder Jason Kridner. Fortunately, a modified 3.2 kernel 'coming soon' should provide the necessary bridge from the old cape driver architecture to the new one."

Comments

I miss Beagle Bros

[jfdavis668]

Every time I see news about this, I keep thinking it says Beagle Bros. I miss their great software and funny documentation.

Re:PowerVR

[Anonymous Coward]

Shame about that PowerVR GPU, I don't see it ever actually being able to take advantage of the newer display architecture. I do like the move towards Device Tree.

For $50 Cubieboard has similar specs but comes with a mail400 gpu instead.

Features
        Allwinner A10 SOC
        96 pin extended interface
        Built-in IR receiver
        SATA supported
        Supports 2.4GHz wireless keyboard and mouse

Specifications
        CPU: 1G ARM cortex-A8 processor, NEON, VFPv3, 256KB L2 cache
        GPU: Mali400, OpenGL ES GPU
        Memory: 1GB DDR3 @480MHz
        Video output: HDMI 1080p Output
        Network: 10/100M Ethernet
        Internal storage4GB NAND Flash
        IO ports: 2 USB Host, 1 micro SD slot, 1 SATA, 1 ir
        Extended interfaces: 96 extend pin including I2C, SPI, RGB/LVDS, CSI/TS, FM-IN, ADC, CVBS, VGA, SPDIF-OUT, R-TP
        Supports systems: Running Android, Ubuntu and other Linux distributions

Solid and Fun Product

[Anonymous Coward]

I have been playing with the BBB for the last 2 weeks and I must say my first impressions are this is awesome but do be prepared to go through some beginning growing pains with 3.8 kernel. Nevertheless, getting opencv working and tracking is always fun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no2l0OuCSIE&list=UUbFdHnmLyG10884-MPgSDoA&index=1

It is going to be a bit before the community grows but to help you get started we are trying to get tutorials up as fast as possible...
http://www.phys-x.org/rbots/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=46:beaglebone-black&layout=blog&Itemid=81&layout=default

Linux OR Android?

[dreamchaser]

Android is Linux. I get sick of people writing that they are two different things. Yes, the userspace is different, but it Linux is a kernel and Android uses it. Android is every bit as much Linux as is the more familiar GNU/Linux distros.

Re:Linux OR Android?

[CoolGopher]

Yeah if only people would write GNU/Linux... wait, most distros aren't purely made up of a Linux kernel and GNU tools. Um, SomewhatGNU/Linux? NotJustGNU/Linux? OpenAndOrFreeSource/Linux? But what about whichever distro is using the FreeBSD kernel but the same userland as their Linux-based version? FreeBSD isn't just a kernel, it's an entire OS, so what would that be then? NotJustGNU/FreeBSDKernel?

I don't know about the rest of you, but I think saying "Linux" and "Android" is about as clear as it's going to get. To non-geeks it conveys the necessary distinction, and geeks already know (and debate) the distinction. Context is a wonderful thing after all.