The Beaglebone is a better choice than say, Raspberry Pi, since Linux is somewhat locked-down on the R Pi, which puts limits what you can do with it.
On the Beaglebone, there are multiple variations of Linux that are supported, and you are free to compile your own kernel variations and load and run them, also. I would make sure you got something like a Rev C BeagleBone Black, with the 4G on board memory. The earlier B and A versions only have 2GB on board memory. To get going, you will also need a quality (2 Amp recommended) 5 Volt power supply to power through the "barrel connector." (Wall wart.) example: https://www.adafruit.com/products/276 A few uSD memory cards, preferably at least 8 GB in size, A method of writing those uSD cards (USB Adapter) from a host PC or Linux computer. Example: https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-External-Memory-Reader-FCREADMICRO3/dp/B00DFVZOCA/ref=sr_1_1 A USB to serial adapter cable, so you can directly access the command line on the Beaglebone from a PC or Linux host computer. Example: https://www.adafruit.com/products/70 or http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/FTDI/TTL-232R-3V3/ A book like: Exploring BeagleBone: Tools and Techniques for Building with Embedded Linux by Derek Molloy or BeagleBone Cookbook: Software and Hardware Problems and Solutions by Mark A. Yoder and Jason Kridner --- Graham ================================= On Thursday, September 29, 2016 at 1:39:10 PM UTC-5, mzimmers wrote: > > Hi, all - > > I've decided to self-tutor in the area of embedded Linux. (I have embedded > experience, and some Linux experience, but not together). I was thinking of > getting a beaglebone for experimentation. I can't be more specific, because > I don't know what I want to yet, other than learn some new skills. > > I have a few questions, if you please: > > 1. is the beaglebone platform a reasonable choice? > 2. is there a particular model I should favor? > 3. in the old days, we needed special devices (like flashers) for > downloading programs. Do I need anything like this to use the board? > > Thanks. > -- For more options, visit http://beagleboard.org/discuss --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BeagleBoard" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to beagleboard+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beagleboard/b9804b87-02e2-4041-92ab-1255b07b3a6b%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
