I'm assuming you are not taking the cost of the Beaglebones themselves into consideration as the 2 would be them most expensive parts of this project. Here are three ways of connecting 2 BBB together there are tradeoffs with each approach.
1) (not expensive, not the simplest) Connect the 2 boards via a UART channel; this will provide point to point communication between the two. Your software on each will have to handle all the communication details and functionality to receive commands and send files over UART. There is probably code out there to do some of this but you have to integrate it together for your application. Once cable between the two boards and you still have your ethernet port available for external connection. This is my least favorite option. 2) (Simple, not least expensive) Connect the two with a cheap ethernet switch. This allows you to use built in command line functions to control and copy files (ssh, scp). You can get a pretty inexpensive 5 port switch, which will maintain the ability to communicate to both BBBs. TP-Link 5-Port Fast Ethernet Unmanaged Switch | Plug and Play | Desktop (TL-SF1005D) <https://smile.amazon.com/TP-Link-Ethernet-Unmanaged-Desktop-TL-SF1005D/dp/B000FNFSPY/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1510413599&sr=1-4&keywords=ethernet+switch> or Brash Networks 5-Port 10/100 Mbps Full Duplex Desktop Unmanaged Fast Ethernet Switch BN-FE105 <https://smile.amazon.com/Brash-Networks-Unmanaged-Ethernet-BN-FE105/dp/B0728HB9MC/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1510413599&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=ethernet+switch&psc=1> are a couple of ethernet switches that are under $10. You could remove the boards from their enclosure if it makes it easier to repackage. While not the least expensive it's really not that expensive either. 3) (Simple, not expensive) You could also connect both with an ethernet crossover cable. This would eliminate the need of a switch at the expense of losing the ability to connect to them externally via ethernet. You do have the USB ports to connect to them I suppose. This would allow you to use ssh/scp while eliminating the cost of the switch; simple to connect, inexpensive to implement. Buhbo 1 ft CAT5e Crossover Cable UTP, Gray Wire with Green Boot <https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01L2LSOD0/ref=sspa_dk_detail_2?psc=1> Adam On Friday, November 10, 2017 at 7:30:35 AM UTC-8, M Pitman wrote: > > I have a need to connect two Beaglebone Blacks together. One will act as > a desktop computer that will send commands to the second one. The second > Beaglebone will process the command, create a file and send that file back > to the first Beaglebone. The two Beaglebones will be in one container and > may or may not be connected to a separate computer. > > Does anyone know a simple and inexpensive way to accomplish this? > > Thanks, > > Mike Pitman > -- 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/86faa925-a35c-4670-ae04-224f136ea104%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
