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Exploring BeagleBone: Tools and Techniques for Building with Embedded Linux

This is what is keeping me busy at the moment… (very, very busy!). I have presently drafted 9 of the 14 chapters. This book on the BeagleBone is due for publication in Dec. 2014. A provisional description is available at: http://www.amazon.com/Exploring-BeagleBone-Techniques-Building-Embedded/dp/1118935128/

There is a website to support this book at: www.exploringbeaglebone.com

Derek.

___

[This is a draft description, please see the website for the final description of the content in this book: www.exploringbeaglebone.com]

The BeagleBone is a small, low-cost computing platform that can be adapted for 1000s of electronic applications, such as smart buildings, robot control and environmental sensing. It uses the free Linux operating system, which allows it to do very complex tasks, such as connecting to the Internet, acting as a web server and streaming live video data.

Available books on the topic skirt over the engineering principles, often requiring readers to have the exact same electronics hardware in order to follow their recipe. This approach often only imparts superficial knowledge as, when the design needs to be changed, the reader does not have the necessary skills. Exploring BeagleBone’s aim is that readers will be able to build systems that use any type of electronics, electronic modules or external peripherals. The book caters for beginners, providing all of the engineering skills that they need to transition to being an expert user.

The first part of the book deals with the basics of using the BeagleBone, ensuring the reader can use the platform and that they have all of the necessary electronics, Linux and programming skills in order to build basic embedded Linux applications. The second part deals with the intermediate topics of interfacing, controlling and communicating with almost any type of electronics component or module. The final part of the book looks at how the BeagleBone can be used for advanced applications including: high-speed socket communication, touch screen displays, video streaming, computer vision and real-time interfacing using the BeagleBone’s programmable real-time units.

Chapters will fully integrate the video content on the author’s YouTube channel and his web/blog site. In addition, there will be a full git repository that will structure all of the code, scripts and associated supplementary materials against the chapter structure.

Chapters include:

CH1 Introduction to the BeagleBone
CH2 The BeagleBone Software
CH3 Embedded Linux Primer
CH4 Practical Electronics Primer
CH5 Practical Programming Primer
CH6 Interfacing – Not so Basic Input/Output
CH7 Cross-Platform Development
CH8 Interfacing to BBB Buses
CH9 Interfacing – Applications
CH10 BeagleBone – IoT
CH11 BeagleBone with a Display
CH12 The Seeing and Hearing BeagleBone
CH13 Real-Time Interfacing – The PRU-ICSS

The ideal reader for this book would be a Maker or Engineering Student who has taken on embedded Linux out of a love of technology and a desire to acquire new knowledge.

By molloyd|2014-06-18T22:39:20+01:0018 June 2014|Beaglebone, Blog, General, Main Blog|64 Comments

About the Author: molloyd

Dr Derek Molloy is a Professor in the School of Electronic Engineering at Dublin City University, Ireland. He is known for his expertise in embedded systems, object-oriented programming with embedded systems, and digital and analog electronics. Additionally, Dr. Molloy has authored several resources and guides related to embedded Linux systems and the Raspberry Pi/BeagleBone, including the book "Exploring Raspberry Pi: Interfacing to the Real World with Embedded Linux"

64 Comments

Paul Heller 18 June 2014 at 23:22

Wonderful news, Derek. I have pre-ordered this book.

Paul
- Derek 19 June 2014 at 00:39
  
  Thanks Paul, at least I will sell one copy! Better finish it now… Derek.
Tim 19 June 2014 at 05:31

Nice. Does it have e-book version?
- Derek 19 June 2014 at 19:56
  
  Thanks Tim, I believe so. The book is being prepared to suit an electronic version with all code/resources to be made available via a GitHub public repository. Derek.
John 22 June 2014 at 09:51

Eagerly awaiting publication ! I was a bit lost when I first started on the beaglebone, and it was through your youtube videos that I finally got cross development up and working. If the book is nearly as clear to understand as the videos it will be a huge success.
- Derek 22 June 2014 at 18:34
  
  Thanks John, Derek.
Matthias 27 June 2014 at 07:47

Hi Derek, a book about the beaglbone!? Great! There is nothing really good on the market, in my opinion. I think it will be a huge success. How many pre-orders you got now?
- Derek 27 June 2014 at 21:19
  
  Hi Matthias, I have no idea on pre-orders, thanks for the support! Derek.
Gabriel 3 July 2014 at 18:41

Anyway for an early release versions?
- Derek 3 July 2014 at 23:48
  
  I’m not sure – I assume there will be a sample chapter at some stage! Derek.
Gary Rubin (HopWorks) 3 July 2014 at 22:46

Hi Derek! How often do you hear this? “I am your biggest fan!!” hehehe. I’m sure ALL your followers are your biggest fans. Especially since you really opened up the hardware to a lot of view points and applications. I am buying the book right now, and hoping there is going to be a hardcover, AND a book signing in my area. =D

OK, with the posterior-kissing out of the way, I wanted to know what your take was on the switch to Debian with the BeagleBone Black revision C. I know that a lot of your tutorials have been Angstrom-based, and I had to jump through some hoops and install packages on Debian to get to places you have gotten to. Will you be revising your tutorials to include a Debian approach? If you do, you should reach out to the public for contributions. I for one would be happy to be one of those lucky people.

I am not sure why I latched onto Debian, but it has been a real work horse for me with the Raspberry Pi AND the BBB, as well as multi-core Intel platforms.

Thank you Derek for your time and considerable contributions!

Gary Rubin of HopWorks
- Derek 3 July 2014 at 23:53
  
  Thanks Gary for your kind words!
  
  The book focuses on Debian – I think it is a great change from Angstrom which has not been receiving the same level of support of late. The cross-development work is much smoother in Debian as is USB Bluetooth and Wi-Fi support etc.
  
  Hopefully I’ll get back to updating my blog entries and videos after the book is drafted. I have a lot of great material to cover!
  
  Thanks again, Derek.
Karen Creighton 4 July 2014 at 18:32

Looking forward to your book! (and very grateful for your sharing your expertise here.)
oh 7 July 2014 at 00:02

you need to have gpioctl
Ashwin 9 July 2014 at 07:22

Your Site has been the biggest resource for me to learn a lot of things. I am eagerly waiting for your book. I thank you for sharing all the information on this site which helped a newbie like me to learn a lot of things.

Migration to Debian is a bit of a shocker to me, because most of the things I learned on Beaglebone was on Angstrom. I did try installing Debian on by BBB and I can’t get ADC working like it used to on Angstrom.
echo BB-ADC > /sys/devices/bone_capemgr.*/slots , this gives Permission denied error. Same error even if I run that command with sudo. Can you please help. Thanks in advance!!!
José 21 July 2014 at 19:36

I look forward to this book. Grateful for your work/contribution in the RaspberryPi BBB workspace. If there is anyway to setup a work-in-progress version a la manning.com’s MEAP, and packtpub.com’s “read as it is written” programs that would be truly awesome, I think you would have lots of takers. It seems to help the publisher’s too as you end up w/ 100’s (1000’s perhaps) of proofreaders/code testers.
Andy 3 August 2014 at 05:37

I get a lot of help from your website, that is so glad you will public your book in the future, I believe it will help a lot of engineer.
Anyway, I am behind you!
Daniele Cremonini 3 August 2014 at 14:03

Hi Derek,
I’d like to know what will be the programming languages covered in your book, I hope Java or C/C++ but I’ll buy your book anyway.
Thank you for your outstanding work.
- Derek 3 August 2014 at 15:47
  
  Hi Daniele, It is heavily focused on C/C++ (with some discussion on all languages, including shell scripts) examining some of the more complex issues in C/C++ (e.g. threading, sockets, callback functions, wrapper classes etc.). Qt features strongly on the UI side. Hope you enjoy it — it has been a challenge to get everything down (Linux, Electronics and Programming) on paper in 500-550 pages!… Derek.
Matthew 14 August 2014 at 21:59

Thanks for all the great content and contributions. Pre-ordered the book and hope it doesn’t kill you to get it out. Best of luck and much success with it.
Matt
- Derek 15 August 2014 at 02:14
  
  Thanks Matt, Derek.
Eden 15 August 2014 at 22:46

Eagerly awaiting your book! Thank you so much for sharing you knowledge. I was completely lost on getting started with cross compiling and such until I found your site. Keep doing great work!
Lucas 2 September 2014 at 13:02

Hi Dr Molloy,

I am an Electronis Engineering stundent looking to start working with the Beaglebone. I am not from Ireland, but I am in Dublin for the next month. Is there a place where I can buy a beaglebone black board in a shop in Dublin? The only place I found online is Radionics, but they are out of stock.

Thank you
Gerard 2 September 2014 at 15:05

The BeagleLogic project highlighted the marvel of those magic little PRUSS. Can’t wait to read chapter 13!
honker yang 8 September 2014 at 12:35

Hi Dr Molloy , I am a student from China Harbin and I am very like your video about BBB which help me a lot .at last,I am very glad to look forward to your new book about BBB ,thanks.
Gabriel Chow 9 September 2014 at 03:53

Pre-Ordered on Amazon!
Jan 12 September 2014 at 05:48

Hi Derek,

What is the Linux distro being used for examples in the book (Angstrom, Ubuntu)?
Looking forward to learn from it.

Jan
- Derek 13 September 2014 at 19:44
  
  Hi Jan, it is Debian throughout. Kind regards, Derek.
Johann 17 September 2014 at 16:34

Hi Derek,

I want to install a Beagle Bone Black on my sailing yacht, making use of the CAN cpabilities of the bone. Unfortunately it is difficult to get related information. Will there be any in your book????

Prectical example of circuitry and programming????

Kind Regards
Johann (I’m in Balbriggan)
- Derek 19 September 2014 at 12:28
  
  Hi Johann,
  
  Greetings neighbour! I had a look at CAN Bus on the BBB, but it was too specific for the book and it required external driver circuitry. The best way to get CAN Bus working is to use the TowerTech TT3201 CAN Cape: http://www.towertech.it/en/products/hardware/tt3201-can-cape/ They have an image that can be loaded onto the BBB that works well.
  
  Hope that helps,
  
  Derek.
Sounak 18 September 2014 at 06:19

Sir,

I have been a great follower of your blogs and tutorials on Beaglebone Black. I would love to purchase your book as soon as possible. So it is my request that when you release this book please make it available in India.

Regards
Sounak Ranjan Das
- Derek 19 September 2014 at 12:20
  
  Thanks Sounak Ranjan Das, I would hope so. There are plans for an electronic version too. Derek.
Andy Bushnell 19 September 2014 at 02:23

I’m glad to hear you will have Debian and PRU-ICSS in the book. Is there a compiler for that?

Andy
- Derek 19 September 2014 at 03:03
  
  Hi Andy, Yes, I set up a full PRU C compiler project example. However, I really focus on writing the assembly language code instead, as it is actually somewhat more straightforward (there are only 45 assembly language instructions). I provide a set of simple examples (LED flash, button press) and more complex examples (generating PWM, sine waves, and driving a low-cost ultrasonic distance sensor). Kind regards, Derek.
Jorge 1 October 2014 at 00:17

Great news, I have been reading your notes and watching your videos and are great. Looking forward to have your book, I am sure it will be a success!!

Jorge
Mihir 2 October 2014 at 18:02

Hope to see the book in Indian markets as well.
Sounak Das 21 October 2014 at 10:32

Hello Sir,

Being inspired by your work I have started a new blog. I have learned a lot from your videos and tutorials. I am just sharing my learning experiences in my blog. I am new to this. So if there is any mistake kindly comment. If you find it good please share it. I know you are busy now, but still it is my humble request.

The link to my blog is: http://noobtechiespeaks.blogspot.in/

Regards
Sounak Ranjan Das
Chris 27 November 2014 at 15:37

From someone who has used Linux somewhat extensively in the past *or at least I thought*, who now feels like a complete rookie I am awaiting your book! I am very surprised at how user space works, the device tree as well. The overlays for the device tree are a unique concept. Hopefully your book will touch on all these and more! Thanks btw for your excellent blog, without it I would undoubtedly have spent many more hours scratching my head!

Eagerly awaiting your book,
Chris
Tom 2 December 2014 at 02:48

Pre-ordered a copy here too Derek. Can’t wait to read through it and enhance my learning. Thanks for all you’ve done for the BB/BBB community, and I hope your book sells out!

(But not before I get my copy…)
Ram 4 December 2014 at 20:21

Derek.. I have pre-ordered the book. I am waiting with my BBB to start having some fun once I get the book.. Thanks for your effort
Ram
Tom 13 December 2014 at 16:26

Kindle version is up on Amazon.com. I had pre-ordered the written version, but went ahead and bought the Kindle version too–because I couldn’t wait…lol. I also see the code on the GitHub site too. Excellent!

After perusing the Kindle version for only a few moments so far, I think this is an amazing work here Derek. Outstanding! Thank you so much for writing this.
Andy Bushnell 31 December 2014 at 15:51

Hi,
I got a notice from Amazon saying they didn’t know when your book would ship and asked if wanted to confirm my order. Which I did. But I bet you lost some book sales. I got a notice the next day with a date which I think is in about a week from now. So that’s good. But I think Amazon screwed up.

I hope there is some good PRU stuff in your book.

Andy
Cyril H. 3 February 2015 at 11:36

Hi Derek,

I would like to thank you so much for this great book I just received last week.
I’m also a great follower of your blogs and tutorials on Beaglebone.
TOP PERFORMANCE
Greetings from FRANCE
MERCI
- Derek 3 February 2015 at 23:16
  
  Thanks Cyril. I appreciate your support! Out of interest, did you manage to buy the book from Amazon.fr? I have heard that there were issues (e.g., announced delivery dates of December 2015). Derek.
  - Cyril H. 4 February 2015 at 08:43
    
    Hi Derek,
    
    Yes form Amazon.fr, there was no issue !!
    I ordered the book on January 6 and I received it on January 29.
    I just checked at amazon.fr, the book will be available February 8 again 🙂
    I appreciate the time and work you spend to create such Book and Tutorials
    Thanks you very much
    Hope we will hear from you soon
Mahesh 6 February 2015 at 08:37

Sir
I want to interface camera and WIFI simultaneously .
How can we do that?
Oscar Gomez 9 February 2015 at 07:29

I need to understand how to generate interruptions with beaglebone black to attend to other tasks in a program from time to time sampling .
You could guide me on that plz. Thank this tutorial is amazing
Atakan 16 February 2015 at 23:34

Hi Derek,

I am following your tutorials from youtube and thanks for them.

I have TI choronos development watch. I plug RF receiver to my beagle bone revA5 and dmesg | tty show me that module is ttyACM0.
and after I can easly power it on with echo -en ‘\xFF\x07\x03’ > /dev/ttyACM0

But ı could not receive any data from module .
How can ı receive data from Module?
Rod 17 February 2015 at 01:42

Hi Derek,

I really appreciate this book, I’ve only just finished chapter 4 & learnt a lot already, FlipFlops etc. Even the oscillopscope, which I’ve never used before. i expect when I eventually finish I should have a thorough understanding of using the BBB. Thanks.

Regards
Heinz Lenk 2 March 2015 at 09:36

Hi Derek,

the program makeLEDs.cpp does not compile in my beaglebone.
I get the message:

root@beaglebone:/home/debian/Uebungen/makeLEDOOP# ./build
Exploring BeagleBone – Building the makeLEDs application
/usr/lib/gcc/arm-linux-gnueabihf/4.6/../../../arm-linux-gnueabihf/crt1.o: In function _start': (.text+0x30): undefined reference tomain’
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
Finished
root@beaglebone:/home/debian/Uebungen/makeLEDOOP#

I got this message with a copy of your example on GitHub and after I tediously typed and debugged the example in your book.
I changed the keyboard layout to German. Could this be the cause?

I am novice to LINUX and c++ so I have no clue where to look.

The debian LINUX was fresh installed (sometimes the boot hangs setting up the ethernet-something, which only solution is flashing LINUX anew.

With Regard
Andy 20 March 2015 at 23:36

Time to turn on the Blog again now that the book is out. Unless you have another one up your sleeve?
- Derek 21 March 2015 at 01:51
  
  Hi Andy, No more books up my sleeve, not for quite a while! I am putting the derekmolloy.ie website back together after hackers took control using a backdoor in one of my plugins — they did quite a bit of damage. I hope to start posting again once I have upgraded everything. I have been adding a lot of content to the book website chapter web pages, which are accessible to all, but I think I better start cross-posting to tidy it all up. I’m starting to play with kernel code development, but it’s going to take me a while to get my head around it all. Stay tuned! Derek.
Gary Rubin 7 April 2015 at 22:53

I ordered this book yesterday from Amazon and will have it in my hands tomorrow. I am using two BeagleBone Blacks (Revision C) and hope your book covers this version. I also hope to see examples based on Debian Linux.

If not however, I am SURE it will still be a cherished and well-used part of my physical real-life references. I am excited Derek to have your work in my library, and I thank you for all your incite, advice, and contributions. You are a magnificent professor of this type of technology! Reading your work has me wanting to move to Dublin and take your classes!!

Thank you again sir!
- Derek 7 April 2015 at 23:00
  
  Hi Gary, thanks for your support and kind words! You will be pleased to hear that the book is focused on Debian on the BeagleBone Black. I hope that you enjoy working through the book — please check http://www.exploringbeaglebone.com for all of the support materials. Enjoy, Derek.
  - Gary Rubin 7 April 2015 at 23:59
    
    That is great to hear! I have a stack of SSD’s (Intel 160gb) and a SATA to USB3 (I realize the USB 2 limitation) that I am excited to use one of for the Debian OS. Going to the suggested site now. The BBB is a fantastic addition to any embedded bench. Take care. 🙂
  - Gary Rubin 8 April 2015 at 00:21
    
    Hey Derek, I’m sure there are many that would like to know… is there a fan site or a forum you moderate on? I would be surprised actually, as I’m sure you are a very busy man. I am sure, also, that there are many repetitive questions that would be hard to get to, but I have only one nagging one… What would be good hardware to look at that mounts all the this stuff for experimentation? My current favorite BBB rig is a powered 7 port USB2 hub, a beefy 5vdc 3amp PSU, a 160gb SSD, camera (Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920), FAVI Mini Wireless Keyboard with Mouse Touchpad – Black (FE01-BL), Edimax EW-7811Un 150 Mbps Wireless 11n Nano Size USB Adapter, lots of velco cut-to-fit, and recently, Adafruit HDMI 5″ Inches 800×480 Display Backpack Screen. I would love to find a small aluminum erector-set-like framework to mount all this on a project-to-project basis. Ahem, sorry. This is something I would love to post in a forum you moderate. Thanks again, and cheers!
    - Derek 8 April 2015 at 12:45
      
      Hi Gary — Great setup! I think that the Google+ community (https://plus.google.com/communities/109063557165602177414) is the best place for you to post on this as it supports photos etc. Have you looked at the Vex robotics kits (http://www.vexrobotics.com/vex/products/accessories/structure?ref=home) It is not cheap, but it is good quality and very modular. Hope that helps, Derek.
      - Gary Rubin 8 April 2015 at 18:45
        
        Thank you for the links Derek. I did not know about Vex Robotics. I have been looking at Makeblock components since yesterday. They are not cheap either, so I grabbed what I can as far as CAD objects so I can plan my parts purchase carefully. Certainly a step up from using sectioned peg board and plastic containers. Your book will show up at my door any moment. I CAN’T WAIT! Thanks again Derek! Have a great day!!
      - Gary Rubin 8 April 2015 at 22:31
        
        Just an additional comment, since I never offered anything here about your book yet. I received it about an hour ago and decided to lookup things that have interested me with the BeagleBone. I found almost everything I was ever curious about, and it looks to be very well written. Suggestions for testing and prototyping hardware, electical theory, formulas even. BeagleBone enthusiasts, both simple and hard core, are going to love this book of yours. I plan to explore it cover to cover, and hope you plan to write more.
        
        Again, thank you sir! I hope you have a book signing in my part of the world (Arizona, USA, the Great Southwest). I will be there! Take care!
      - Derek 9 April 2015 at 00:51
        
        Thanks Gary.
kasea 24 September 2016 at 15:01

Hi Derek,

I have your book for over a year and I am really enjoy reading it even though I am quite new to embedded system. I guess beagle bone black would be a perfect platform to start with especially with your book! Recently I came across to the last chapter-13, and following the example from the web on “High-Speed Analog to Digital Conversion (ADC) using the PRU-ICSS”, everything going well until I started to execute the ./pruadc. The program stuck after “EBBclock PRU1 program now running (495) and nothing happen onward on the terminal. I have to hit ctrl+c to exit from the program.I am not sure what is going on. There is no “leave a comment” in that particular webpage so I posted my question here. Your feedback would be much appreciated. Cheers
Pedro Restrepo 26 October 2016 at 19:08

Dear Prof. Molloy,

Do you have any updates on your BBB book examples? For instance, the latest Debian images make Chapter 8 indications on the setting UARTs obsolete. Thank you
Franklin 13 March 2020 at 17:18

A very good book.

Wish to read and experiment all you stuff.

( i will do that one day)

God bless you and your family.
Pavel 8 September 2020 at 11:24

debian@beaglebone:~/exploringbb/chp05/syscall$ g++ syscall.cpp -o syscall
syscall.cpp: In function ‘int main()’:
syscall.cpp:22:10: error: ‘syscall’ was not declared in this scope
tid = syscall(SYS_gettid); // make a system call to get the process id
^~~~~~~
syscall.cpp:22:10: note: suggested alternative: ‘swscanf’
tid = syscall(SYS_gettid); // make a system call to get the process id
^~~~~~~
swscanf
syscall.cpp:25:38: error: ‘getpid’ was not declared in this scope
cout << "The Current PID is: " << getpid() << endl;
^~~~~~
syscall.cpp:25:38: note: suggested alternative: ‘getpt’
cout << "The Current PID is: " << getpid() << endl;
^~~~~~
getpt
debian@beaglebone:~/exploringbb/chp05/syscall$