BBB-workshop

Getting Started

• To have network access on the Black using just the USB wire, follow these steps. On the Black do:

    # /sbin/route add default gw 192.168.7.1
    # echo nameserver 8.8.8.8 | sudo tee -a /etc/resolv.conf
  

  On the Linux host (except Fedora) from which you want to route:

    # sudo iptables -A POSTROUTING -t nat -j MASQUERADE
    # sudo echo 1 | sudo tee /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward > /dev/null
  

  On a Fedora machine instead of above two intsructions:

    1) Open Firewall settings.  
    2) Select zone as public.  
    3) In the side tab panel select masquerading  
    4) Enable Masquerade zones.  
  

  Now on the BBB:

    # ping google.com
  

  Have tested this on Angstrom, but should work on Ubuntu, etc. too.

• BBB doesn't have a RTC(Real Time Clock). To set network time

    # ntpdate -b -s -u pool.ntp.org  
  

• Transferring files in between host machine and BeagleBone Black

    # sftp root@192.168.7.2
  

Common used commands with ftp are mput, mget, exit. You can also use cd and ls to move through remote filesystem. Another similar command is scp which is handy if you want to transfer files by in a script.

Python

• Setup network access

• Get pip

    # opkg update
    # opkg install python-pip
  

  You can now use pip to install your favourite python packages

• Setting up Adafruit_BBIO

    # git clone git://github.com/adafruit/adafruit-beaglebone-io-python.git
    # opkg update && opkg install python-distutils python-smbus
    # cd adafruit-beaglebone-io-python
    # python setup.py install
  

• You can now try out the blink.py demo

    # python blink.py
  

OpenCV

• OpenCV 2.4.2 comes preinstalled with the Angstrom image.

• Current version of the Angstrom doesn't have python-opencv package by default. To install use:

    # opkg install http://dominion.thruhere.net/koen/angstrom/python-opencv_2.4.2-r3.10_armv7a-vfp-neon.ipk
  

• Capture image using a camera connected to the Black.

    # python capture.py
  

Arduino code

• Setting up Userspace Arduino

    # git clone http://github.com/prpplague/Userspace-Arduino.git
    # cd Userspace-Arduino/arduino-makefile/examples
  

• To compile any of the examples, cd to the directory

    # cd BlinkUserspace
    # make
    # cd build-userspace
    # ./BlinkUserspace.elf
  

  Look at the USR LED pins on the Black to see a blinking led (USR LED 3)

Links for more information about above demos

• Userspace Arduino wiki
• Adafruit BBIO

Links for information about BeagleBone Black in general

If you are stuck someplace, your first port of call ought to be the mailing list archives( high chances that someone has faced that problem before). If that doesn't yield anything, you can surely find help on the IRC channel.

• Mailing list: Google Group
• IRC Channel #beagle on Freenode : VERY active and helpful.
• List of available capes
• Google+ Community Page
• List of projects done with Beagle*