Getting Started with the Pocket Beagle Board

The Pocket Beagle Board is a tiny, yet powerful single-board computer that's perfect for makers, hobbyists, and enthusiasts. It's based on the BeagleBone Black design.

To get started with the Pocket Beagle Board, you'll need to assemble it, which is a straightforward process that requires a few simple tools. The board comes with a pre-soldered USB cable.

The first step is to insert the microSD card, which provides the operating system and storage for your projects. You can use a standard microSD card, but make sure it's at least 8GB in size.

Once you've inserted the microSD card, you can power on the board using a USB cable or a battery. The board has a built-in USB OTG port, which allows you to connect peripherals like keyboards, mice, and cameras.

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The BeagleBone team has made it incredibly easy to configure hardware settings on your Pocket Beagle Board. Thanks to the "U-Boot Overlays" system, you can enable any GPIO, PWM, I2C, or SPI pins with ease.

The "cape-universal" feature takes this a step further, allowing the latest Debian OS to "just work" with any hardware settings. This means you can focus on developing your projects without worrying about tedious hardware configurations.

The Beagleboard wiki provides a wealth of information on using U-Boot Overlays, including a detailed guide on how to get started. You can check it out at https://elinux.org/Beagleboard:BeagleBoneBlack_Debian#U-Boot_Overlays.

To take full advantage of your Pocket Beagle Board's hardware capabilities, be sure to explore the U-Boot Overlays system and the cape-universal feature.

The PocketBeagle is a tiny but powerful open source Linux computer, measuring just 35mm X 55mm and weighing 10.7g. It's a key-fob-sized computer that's perfect for IoT or Smart Sensor Applications.

The PocketBeagle features 72 expansion pin headers with power and battery I/Os, high-speed USB, 8 analog inputs, 44 digital I/Os and numerous digital interface peripherals. This makes it very useful as a controller.

Here are some key technical specifications of the PocketBeagle:

The PocketBeagle has two headers that provide access to I/O functions. These headers are different from the BeagleBone's headers, so BeagleBone "capes" won't work with the PocketBeagle.

The PocketBeagle pinout diagram is color coded, with power and system pins labeled in red. This diagram may seem confusing at first, since each pin has up to three different functions shown.

Each pin on the PocketBeagle has up to eight different functions, which can be overwhelming. Most pins actually support 8 functions, so more obscure functions have been omitted from the diagram.

The diagram is color coded, with specific functions labeled in different colors. Power and system pins are labeled in red, GPIO (general-purpose I/O) pins are white, and USB pins are blue.

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BeagleBoard.org Single Board Computers are built using the OSD335x Based System in Package, which is a unique technology that allows for a compact design.

These computers are completely open source hardware, providing users with access to the source schematics, hardware layout, and comprehensive technical documentation.

The BeagleBone and PocketBeagle products are two examples of BeagleBoard.org Single Board Computers that have key differentiators from other boards available on the market.

They provide standard hardware interfaces and headers, making it easy to access the features of the powerful Texas Instruments Sitara AM335x SoC.

The PocketBeagle is a tiny but powerful open source Linux computer that has 44 digital I/O pins, 8 analog inputs, and supports multiple serial I/O protocols.

It's built around a System-In-Package (SIP) device that has multiple dies and components in one package, specifically the Octavo Systems OSD3358-SM, which combines the TI 3358 Sitara processor, 512MB of RAM, power management, and EEPROM.

The PocketBeagle uses a micro-SD card for storage, unlike the BeagleBone, which has 4GB on-board flash.

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The PocketBeagle has 8 analog input pins. Six of them take an input from 0 to 1.8V, while two take an input from 0 to 3.3V.

Be careful not to overload the input. Inputs 5 through 7 require special handling.

You can read the analog input value from the file system, which ranges from 0 to 4095. Change the number in voltage0 to select the input.

A light sensor, such as a CdS photocell in a voltage divider, can be hooked up to provide a voltage to an analog input. I've done this with a light sensor, and it worked great!

The reference voltages come from header pins P1_17 (analog ground) and P1_18 (analog reference 1.8V). More light on the sensor produces a higher voltage, yielding a higher value from the input.

The PocketBeagle supports two SPI ports and two I2C ports, making it a great device for controlling chips and other devices.

These serial protocols are popular for their ability to connect multiple devices to a single port. The PocketBeagle's I2C ports can be used to connect devices like the cheap I2C accelerometer board shown in the photo.

To connect an I2C device, simply wire the power, ground, SCL (clock), and SDA (data) between the device and the PocketBeagle's I2C1 port. This can be done using the header P2 pins 13, 15, 9, and 11.

Probing for I2C devices with i2cdetect will show that the device uses a specific address, in the case of the accelerometer board, address 68.

Connecting to the PocketBeagle's serial console is a must-have skill for any tinkerer. If anything goes wrong with the boot or networking, you'll need to look at the serial console to debug the problem.

The easiest solution is a UART Click board, which gives you a serial connection over USB. You can then connect with "screen" or other terminal software: screen /dev/cu.usbserial* 115200.

Plugging a UART click board into the PocketBeagle gives access to the serial console. This is a great option if you want a direct connection.

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You can also use a FTDI serial adapter such as the Adafruit FTDI Friend. If you've worked with the BeagleBone, you may have one of these already.

You'll need three wires to hook it up to the PocketBeagle; it won't plug in directly as with the BeagleBone. Just connect ground, Rx and Tx between the PocketBeagle and the adapter (making sure to cross Rx to Tx).

The PocketBeagle is a tiny but powerful Linux computer that's perfect for projects that require a lot of I/O pins. It has 44 digital I/O pins and 8 analog inputs.

The processor is an Octavo Systems OSD3358 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8, which is also used in the BeagleBone. This processor includes 512MB of DDR3 RAM integrated into the package.

The PocketBeagle has two 200-MHz programmable real-time units (PRUs), which allow for low-latency, real-time functions. Additionally, it has an ARM Cortex-M3 and integrated power management.

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The PocketBeagle is built around a System-In-Package (SIP) device that has multiple dies and components in one package. This SIP device is the Octavo Systems OSD3358-SM, which combines the TI 3358 Sitara processor, 512MB of RAM, power management, and EEPROM.

Here are the technical specifications of the PocketBeagle:

The PocketBeagle measures 55.0mm x 35.0mm x 5.0mm and weighs 10.7g.

The PocketBeagle board doesn't have a built-in Ethernet port, so you'll need to find an alternative way to connect it to the Internet.

You can use a WiFi adapter plugged into USB, which I found to be the easiest option. This is a great solution if you have a WiFi network available.

Alternatively, you can try sharing your host computer's Ethernet, but I found this to be more difficult to get working.

Adding an Ethernet interface to the PocketBeagle using the expansion headers is another option, but it requires some extra setup.