Beagleboard Demo

[rahulgarg]

Beagleboard runs the same processor and has 128MB RAM like the Pandora.
Here is a demo video of beagleboard running a small 3d demo, running enlightenment desktop and Abiword (on Linux obviously).

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FuVwh_VrIxk

This should tell you the power of the processor and also what the Pandora should be able to do.

(Note : Pandora does not have DVI connection but it does have a TV-out. Beagleboard is more desktop oriented).

DISCLAIMER : I am not in any associated with TI, Pandora or Beagleboard. So dont flame me if you dont like something or if Pandora turns out bad

 

[MWeston]

Thanks for the link. I might not have noticed that for a while.

Delaying the Pandora to squeeze the OMAP3 in was so totally worth it. This chip is just amazing. Just look at how much faster those 3D demos run than my i.MX31 design!

 

[Sphinxter]

Man how hot was that. I just converted and put it on my gp2x and watched it twice, once plugged into the tv. Enlightenment and Abiword, mind blowing. Wrap it up I'll take it. Looks like they dropped a few coins on a fancy box too.

Sort of sets the bloody bar now, doesn't it MWeston?

 

[Hooka]

actually, it's all open source... so it's always got it's benefits for us too

 

[CyruzDraxs]

Anyone know how actually usuable the Beagleboard is for the non-supertechie types at this point? I can easily get Arch Linux running and probably Gentoo at without any trouble--I've been looking at LFS lately, but haven't yet taken the plunge because I've been contemplating getting a Beagleboard and trying to build it into a laptop.

How do you get the OS on it? It doesn't have any connectors to attach an optical drive or anything like that...so do you have to write the OS using a card reader on another computer or something? I'm just wondering if I need any special tools like a ROM programmer or stuff like that.

 

[gaterooze]

It doesn't have any connectors to attach an optical drive or anything like that...

USB?

 

[CyruzDraxs]

Well, yeah...but is the hardware supported enough to USE a USB optical drive? I mean you'd need ARM drivers for whatever USB device it is you are using...and what about the loader? I heard something about X-Loader being used--how does that handle boot-up compared to BIOS, which lets me go into a setup menu and change boot order and such?

 

[Tobriand]

Very nice little demo. Most everything seems to move fairly zippily when loaded. A little bit of lag in the Gnome interface on Ubuntu, but I think that's there on my laptop as well, so not exactly a huge issue as such.

Useful to see. Also makes a good point that the Beagleboard could be quite an effective micro-desktop, which means, in essence, so could Pandora. We all knew that anyway, of course, but it's nice to see evidence which confirms it.

 

[rahulgarg]

Well, yeah...but is the hardware supported enough to USE a USB optical drive? I mean you'd need ARM drivers for whatever USB device it is you are using...and what about the loader? I heard something about X-Loader being used--how does that handle boot-up compared to BIOS, which lets me go into a setup menu and change boot order and such?

There is a switch on the board which controls boot order. You can boot from USB device, SD card or the onboard NAND flash.

http://elinux.org/BeagleBoard#BootRom

 

[TaG]

Also makes a good point that the Beagleboard could be quite an effective micro-desktop, which means, in essence, so could Pandora. We all knew that anyway, of course, but it's nice to see evidence which confirms it.
I was considering getting beagleboard to complement Pandora, use Pandora as portable and for games through tv, beagleboard through a monitor. I'm assuming that I would be able to use many apps across both, but some would be better suited to the different hardware. Mind you, Pandora first, bb when funds allow.

 

[Svartalf]

Anyone know how actually usuable the Beagleboard is for the non-supertechie types at this point? I can easily get Arch Linux running and probably Gentoo at without any trouble--I've been looking at LFS lately, but haven't yet taken the plunge because I've been contemplating getting a Beagleboard and trying to build it into a laptop.

It's still more of a developer toy right at the moment, but based on that demo, it's a bit closer to the normal user than I'd thought it was.

QUOTE

How do you get the OS on it? It doesn't have any connectors to attach an optical drive or anything like that...so do you have to write the OS using a card reader on another computer or something? I'm just wondering if I need any special tools like a ROM programmer or stuff like that.


Considering that USB works nicely, it is likely that it is possible to have a bootable external CD drive- PATA/SATA aren't everything. It also happens to have a BOOTABLE SDHC slot, just like Pandora and the eeePC happen to have...

 

[mindlord]

That video is extremely promising. I was really impressed with how fast things were loading under Enlightenment. It would've been nice to see firefox load the beagleboard homepage though.

I didn't expect Ubuntu to be very fast, the Gnome interface has quite a bit of overhead. But even with my low expectations I was pretty impressed with how fast things were going on 128MB of RAM. That LCD was running at a fairly high resolution as well, I'm guessing 1024x768. So, video memory bandwidth didn't seem to be a problem at all.

Seeing this video makes me want one, I have an old laptop with a bad HD controller that screams to have one of those jammed into it.

 

[Julius]

Seeing this video makes me want one, I have an old laptop with a bad HD controller that screams to have one of those jammed into it.

Hmm a bit OT: how would you interface the original keyboard and screen of the old laptop to the bboard?


Nice demo, too bad you can't see the framerate of the 3D demos due to the bad resolution of the vid.
Looks promising though since it seems to render them at 640x480, or maybe even 800x600.

 

[mindlord]

Hmm a bit OT: how would you interface the original keyboard and screen of the old laptop to the bboard?

A buddy of mine took a 15" laptop LCD screen and wired a regular 15 pin monitor connector to the appropriate lines so he could connect it to an old pentium 2 or 3 mobo. Then he stuffed the whole mess into an aluminum briefcase with micro ATX power supply (the PSU was also directly wired to the LCD for power), HD, CD-ROM, marble mouse, and roll-up keyboard. It's quite a beast, but it does work. He used it for LAN parties back in the day.

I imagine that I could do something similar with this Lappy, and a mini USB keyboard. Or maybe rewire the existing keyboard to a usb keyboard's interface. I dunno, I bet it could be done with some creative soldering.

 

[javaJake]

That's pretty awesome. The way everyone's been saying "Ubuntu might be available", only to see this... well, let's just say pre-orders couldn't come sooner.

 

[CyruzDraxs]

You can get an LVDS-to-DVI conversion board for about $50 and with enough searching you can find a laptop-style USB keyboard that you could take the controller board out of. I already have one like that with broken keys that I plan on using for just that.

 

[MagicPants]

So from a software point of view what's the difference between a Beagle Board and a Pandora? or any other OMAP3530 device? Could a Beagle Board run most of the Pandora software?

Seems like the differences will be with the sound, bluetooth / wifi chips.

 

[FRZ]

Beagleboard runs the same processor and has 128MB RAM like the Pandora.
Here is a demo video of beagleboard running a small 3d demo, running enlightenment desktop and Abiword (on Linux obviously).

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FuVwh_VrIxk

This should tell you the power of the processor and also what the Pandora should be able to do.

(Note : Pandora does not have DVI connection but it does have a TV-out. Beagleboard is more desktop oriented).

DISCLAIMER : I am not in any associated with TI, Pandora or Beagleboard. So dont flame me if you dont like something or if Pandora turns out bad

If the Pandora uses the same cpu as the Beagleboard then, will be able to run those same os shown demoed here on the Pandora? If yes then, all we are really waiting for is the hardware to be completed.

 

[Firefox]

Wow, it's really great to see that! I bet something more lightweight than Gnome (XFCE, say) would really fly! B)

 

[rahulgarg]

Thanks for the link. I might not have noticed that for a while.

Delaying the Pandora to squeeze the OMAP3 in was so totally worth it. This chip is just amazing. Just look at how much faster those 3D demos run than my i.MX31 design!

Hmm btw have u looked at other Freescale processors? One that looks particularly interesting is MPC5121e : 400mhz PowerPC, a RISC coprocessor and PowerVR MBX Lite.

http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/p...ab=In-Depth_Tab