Except the BeagleBone has PRUs, which are two 32 bit microcontrollers on the same silicon that can also access the GPIO peripherals. They share memory with the

Except the BeagleBone has PRUs, which are two 32 bit microcontrollers on the same silicon that can also access the GPIO peripherals. They share memory with the main processor but can be exclusively dedicated to your needs, and so peripheral access can be very fast indeed. Here is someone who has used them to turn the BeagleBone into a 100MHz Logic Analyser: http://theembeddedkitchen.net/beaglelogic-building-a-logic-analyzer-with-the-prus-part-1/449 http://theembeddedkitchen.net/beaglelogic-building-a-logic-a...