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You typically pay a premium for Beagleboards for the IO features (though at a glance this particular board doesn't look particularly interesting) If you want a
by geokon 3y ago
You typically pay a premium for Beagleboards for the IO features (though at a glance this particular board doesn't look particularly interesting)
If you want an open RPi equivalent, I'd look more at LibreComputer boards. Cheap and open
- dragontamer 3y agoWell, we're paying a premium for Beagleboards because they're lower volume and that's pretty much it. Volume is king for prices in the computer world. But... you get better IO yes, but also more importantly IMO, more open hardware designs. Ex: I'm pretty confident in being able to get an AM355x TI chip and (with enough effort on a PCB CAD tool) creating my own Beaglebone Black/Green. (Note that OSHPark offers 6-layer boards which should be good enough to route-out impedance controlled DDR to a BGA chip like the AM355x series... though it'd be tight). BeagleBone AI and BeaglePlay have upped the complexity so I'm not sure if they'd fit on 6-layers, but they're open-enough designs that if I were to create a custom 8-layer or 10-layer run, it probably is doable.
- geokon 3y agoif you want to make your own boards I'd suggest looking at the Breadbee https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36470660 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36470660 https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/04/14/breadbee-tiny-embedded-linux-sbc-mstar-msc313e-camera-soc/ https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/04/14/breadbee-tiny-embedd... It's outside my area of expertise.. But I don't think making your own Beagleboard would be easy as you say.. At least I've not seen it done. Have you done that?
- dragontamer 3y agoNo, but I'm getting close to the point where I'll attempt it. OSD335x is the SiP version with integrated DDR RAM, removing the most difficult part of PCB design (ie: impedance matched / delay matched DDR). It's more expensive than a raw AM3558 from TI, but it'd be my first step. Then when I want to try the more difficult DDR routing, it's available and Beaglebone Black/green serves as reference designs for me to study.
- squarefoot 3y ago> LibreComputer boards. Cheap and open True. Unfortunately they're impossible to purchase outside of Amazon or at any EU shop that supports PayPal.
- geokon 3y agoYeah, they weirdly don't even have a Taobao shop.. so can't be bought in China as far as I can tell. It's a bit strange