Device Tree: Supporting Similar Boards – The BeagleBone Example

Linux

Most of the BeagleBone boards from BeagleBoard.org share the same form factor, have the same headers and therefore can accept the same extension boards, also known as capes in the BeagleBoard world. Of course, a careful PCB design was necessary to make this possible. This must have been relatively easy with the early models (BeagleBone […]

Using Device Tree Overlays, example on BeagleBone Cape add-on boards

Linux

BeagleBoard.org BeagleBone Relay Cape

The concept of Device Tree overlays The Device Tree language is a way to describe hardware that is present in a system and cannot be automatically detected. That’s the case of devices directly implemented on a System on a Chip, such as serial ports, Ethernet or Nand flash controllers. That’s also the case of devices […]

Improving usage of device trees

Linux

Using device trees is one of the most complicated and important, and sometimes risky, elements of using a Beagle to make use of add-on hardware. With the addition of the AM5729-based BeagleBone AI to the family of boards sporting BeagleBone headers, the complications have increased, requiring additional considerations with dependencies on different processor pins connected […]

Call for topics for open-source embedded systems education projects

Linux

It’s that time again, time to start gathering project ideas and possible mentors for Google Summer of Code. This year, you can be a student even if you aren’t enrolled in school! That’s got me thinking about the key areas we need to help advance education around open source embedded systems. One of the early […]