Have a question about the Next-Gen BeagleBone? Ask it here!

Hi. The hardware is custom built and it is under prototype production, but the beagle bone platform will definitely be helpful to work on the software side. We need to compile the old hardware libraries on beaglebone.

The key differences are that you'd need an HDMI cape and Memory cape to have the same base functionality with the current Bone, so the new Bone will save you some space and money there. The RAM and CPU clock speed is faster on the new Bone. With the new Bone, you'd need to use a cable to access the serial port or JTAG, whereas the current Bone has them built-in. I think this is a great tradeoff for people looking to deploy these boards into several projects.

The demo I've been showing here at ELC is using an Attic Lapdock. The only special hack required is a USB cable that doesn't short power sine the Lapdock sources power through a port that normally should normally sink it.

Even though TI sponsors the project, it/we doesn't/don't own it. Others sponsor it as well, so it is better to say BeagleBoard.org's BeagleBone using TI's ARM processor.

>Vandana,  Can you tell us anything about the graphics processor?

Same as current Bone.

>Will it decode 1080p video?

Not at 30fps for common codecs. The target isn't video applications, but 720p MPEG4 has been demonstrated using software-only decode. The color space conversion for the display is typically done using the SGX, but other solutions seem possible to eliminate dependencies on binary blobs. Other projects have claimed open source, yet still require binary blobs. I'm not interested in trying to fool you.

>Will it be user programmable?

Only through OpenGL.

>Will it accelerate X11?

It could, but the only integration right now is color space conversion. GUI performance is still pretty good. I suggest checking out GUIs on the current Bone with whatever you are currently using. The fast CPU and NEON compositing functions help a lot. The new Bone will have faster/more RAM to help along with faster CPU clock speed and faster flash storage.

>Will it accelerate image processing libs, like OpenCV?

Not the 3D controller, but NEON does. OpenCV libs ship with the current Bone. Check out http://beagleboard.org/project/stache

>Does it have proprietary binary blobs that

>prevent Linux mainline integration?

You'd have to follow-up with Imagination Tech for the long-term status.

The Next-Gen BeagleBone will support multiple HDMI resolutions!

This will ship late April.

Hi,

A couple of questions, most important (to me) first:

Can you confirm the impact (if any) on the 6 onboard UARTs (esp UARTs 1 thru 5)

Most of my projects use them extensively (Yes, including UART3 that doesnt have TX and RX pins brought out, CTS and RTS pins do have their uses), and in fact one or two projects I'm having to find "innovative" solutions as ideally I'd have 5 or 6 fully operational serial ports [And yes, proper serial ports are needed for a lot of these for various reasons, including timing precision and an "RF Hostile" environment]. The 6 (4 fully operational) serial ports is one of the major reasons I prefer the bone to the Pi.

Will all the pins still all be brought out the way they are on the current Bone ?

Is there any audio onboard, Or do we still need the audio cape for that ?

Will the current bone still be avaliable once production of the new bone ramps up ? (This will be important to me depending on the implications of the new bone on the UARTs)

And finally, what is the colour of the board ? I know there's a new "bright" colour coming, but is it going to be avaliable in two colours, or is the new "bright" colour the only option ? I quite like the white of the current bone. The unzipping pic suggests dark green. That would be so...common , and certainly isnt "bright" [and more seriously probably harder to read the legends on the board]

Best Regards

Iain

Iain

And just one more question.

Is the PRUSS present on the new 'bone ?

you've all already asked most of my questions, so I'll just add...

gerbers ?