Technology Alternative - BeagleBone Black

This post is part of a thread titled "What Technology to Choose for a Physical Interface Project"

BeagleBone Black

• BeagleBone Black Hardware (50):
• 1ghz ARM CPU
• 512mb of Memory
• Storage on Flash Card or USB
• Graphics Accelerator and Floating Point Processor
• Initially developed by Texas Instruments in 2008.  Current device seems to have been released at an RPi competitive price point.
• RPi Software:
• Fully functional Linux implementation with Javascript as primary programming language (though Python is also supported).
• Javascript IDE supports interactive debugging and as such has some similarity to Visual Basic.
• Vast selection of software available to meet development requirements.
• Initial impression is that user community is not as strong as that of the RPi.
• Provides 12bit resolution for Analog to Digital conversion via onboard hardware.  Inputs must be below 1.8v.
• Supports several LCD displays as add-ons, called “capes”.

Notes:
(1) The breadboard provides a voltage divider that uses a variable resistor to deliver a variable voltage for simulating a test measurement.  It is also supporting a tri-colour LED as a status monitor while a test is running.
(2) LCD ‘cape’ shown is one of several options for a User Interface.