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TECHVILLA

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Embedded linux boards

Popular open source boards below $200:

APC Rock -- $79, Via Technologies, 800MHz Cortex-A9 Wondermedia

BeagleBone Black -- $45, BeagleBoard.org, 1GHz Cortex-A8 TI Sitara AM3359

Cosmic+ -- $65, Phytec, 500MHz Cortex-A5 Freescale Vybrid

Cubieboard 2 -- $59, Wang And Tom Development Ltd. (Allwinner), Cortex-A7 dual-core Allwinner A20

MicroZed -- $199, Avnet, Xilinx Cortex-A9/FPGA Zynq-7010

MinnowBoard -- $199, MinnowBoard.org (Intel), 1GHz Intel Atom E640

Odroid-XU -- $149/$169, Odroid Project (Hardkernel), Samsung Exynos 5410 Octa (8-core Big,Little Cortex-A15 and –A7)

PandaBoard -- $182, PandaBoard.org (TI), TI 1.2GHz Cortex-A9 OMAP4460

Raspberry Pi Model B – $35, Raspberry Pi Foundation, Broadcom 700MHz ARM11 BCM2835

Wandboard Quad -- Wandboard.org (Freescale), Freescale 1GHz Cortex-A9 i.MX 6Quad

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What’s so special about Linux?

Multiple choices vs. sole source

Source code freely available

Robust and reliable

Modular, configurable, scalable

Superb support for networking and Internet

No runtime licenses

Large pool of skilled developers

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What is a good Embedded OS?

Modular

Scalable

Configurable

Small footprint

CPU support

Device drivers

Etc.

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Commercial Embedded Linux

AMIRIX Embedded Linux

derived from Debian Coollogic Coollinux

combines Linux and Java for Internet apps Coventive Xlinux

kernel can be as small as 143KB Esfia RedBlue Linux

400K, designed for wireless apps

And many others

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6Open Source Embedded Linux Embedded Debian Project

convert Debian to an embedded OS ETLinux

for PC104 SBC’s uCLinux

for microprocessors that don’t have MM

uLinux (muLinux)

fits on a single floppy

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System on a Chip

System on a Chip

What does System on a Chip (SoC) mean?

A system on a chip (SoC) combines the required electronic circuits of various computer components onto a single, integrated chip (IC).

A SoC is a complete electronic substrate system that may contain analog, digital, mixed-signal or radio frequency functions.

System on a Chip

Its components usually include a graphical processing unit (GPU), a central processing unit (CPU) that may be multi-core, and system memory (RAM).

Because a SoC includes both the hardware and software, it uses less power, has better performance, requires less space and is more reliable than multi-chip systems. Most system-on-chips today come inside mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

System on a Chip

A microcontroller can be programmed to perform certain functions.

A very popular microcontroller is the Arduino Uno.

The difference between a SoC and a microcontroller often times is defined by the amount of random access memory (RAM).

A SoC is capable of running its own operating system.

System on a Chip

The SoC we will use today is the Raspberry Pi B+.

The heart of this credit card sized computer is the Broadcom BCM2835 chipset that contains an ARM CPU and a Videocore 4 graphics processing unit.

The B+ has a 700 Mhz CPU and 512 MB of RAM.

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Technical Specifications:

Broadcom BCM2836 Arm7 Quad Core Processor powered Single Board Computer running at 900MHz

1GB RAM

40pin extended GPIO

4 x USB 2 ports

4 pole Stereo output and Composite video port

Full size HDMI

CSI camera port for connecting the Raspberry Pi camera

DSI display port for connecting the Raspberry Pi touch screen display

Micro SD port for loading your operating system and storing data

Micro USB power source

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Beaglebone black

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Beaglebone introduction

BeagleBone Black is a low-cost, community-supported development platform for developers and hobbyists. Boot Linux in under 10 seconds and get started on development in less than 5 minutes with just a single USB cable.

Processor: AM335x 1GHz ARM® Cortex-A8 512MB DDR3 RAM

4GB 8-bit eMMC on-board flash storage

3D graphics accelerator

NEON floating-point accelerator

2x PRU 32-bit microcontrollers

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Software Compatibility

Debian

Android

Ubuntu

Cloud9 IDE on Node.js w/ BoneScript library

plus much more

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Connectivity

USB client for power & communications

USB host

Ethernet

HDMI

2x 46 pin headers