what is the best way to attach a dc motor to the bbb without a cape or motor controler???

Hi JohnnyZ,

I agree, you'll need some additional circuitry, you won't get more than a few mA out of most of these types of boards. It depends on the type of motor (e.g. a small DC hobby type motor may require just a few hundred mA current at a low voltage) and whether you need bidirectional control. Something like L293D as mentioned is a popular method. You don't necessarily need a cape, but you do need some driver (e.g. transistor or mosfet based or maybe even a relay) if not a dedicated controller circuit/board.

To control I/O pins, there are lots of options, depending on the programming language you wish to use. Bonescript is one method you may wish to try, since it is built-in to the default image. Adafruit has Python tutorials. There is a C library for I/O too.

Assuming your DC motor is (say) 6V or 12V and uses just a few hundred mA, then L293D is not a bad choice for experimentation purposes - there are some cheap pre-built boards from China on ebay.

Hi JohnnyZ,

I agree, you'll need some additional circuitry, you won't get more than a few mA out of most of these types of boards. It depends on the type of motor (e.g. a small DC hobby type motor may require just a few hundred mA current at a low voltage) and whether you need bidirectional control. Something like L293D as mentioned is a popular method. You don't necessarily need a cape, but you do need some driver (e.g. transistor or mosfet based or maybe even a relay) if not a dedicated controller circuit/board.

To control I/O pins, there are lots of options, depending on the programming language you wish to use. Bonescript is one method you may wish to try, since it is built-in to the default image. Adafruit has Python tutorials. There is a C library for I/O too.

Assuming your DC motor is (say) 6V or 12V and uses just a few hundred mA, then L293D is not a bad choice for experimentation purposes - there are some cheap pre-built boards from China on ebay.