BeagleBoard XM: Is planning phase over?

[Paul Menzel‏]

Dear BeagleBoard guys,

I found [1] and wonder if you are done designing the board and start
building it?

Thanks,

Paul

[1] http://cgit.openembedded.org/cgit.cgi/openembedded/tree/recipes/u-boot/u-boot-git/beagleboard/0002-beagleboard-add-pinmuxing-for-beagleboard-XM.patch

[Gerald Coley‏]

We have prototypes up and running. We plan to start our preproduction run in about 8 weeks.

Gerald

[Maxim Podbereznyi‏]

Dear Gerald,

where can find a description of the XM board? official info

2010/3/17 Gerald Coley <ger...@beagleboard.org>

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[Gerald Coley‏]

The official information will not be released until we have completed the the pre-production run and have all of the SW checked out. We still have some SW work to be done to verify all of the features are fully operational. The features have already been released previously in Jason's State of the Beagle email.

Gerald

[Jason Kridner‏]

While nothing is yet definitive, a lot of preliminary information is
out there for tracking, including discussions on the IRC channel.
Feel free to join if you want to ask questions there about the
"snapshot" status. I think the State of the Beagle email covered most
of the features.

In the desire to keep things highlighted in the open on issues of a
sensitive nature (not secrets, just things people seem to miss in the
details)....

There is no NAND on the xM board. You can add managed NAND via a
daughterboard using one of the MMC interfaces or other non-volatile
memory using a daughterboard, but the natively supported boot sources
will be Micro-SD, USB, and Serial. By using the Ubuntu disk imager
utility and pre-defined .img files used for board validation, we
expect this to eliminate some support burden. Since the boards will
ship with the validation image installed on a Micro-SD card, we expect
to spend less time talking about if the hardware is working and more
time talking about all the wonderful other software you can put on it
and other hardware you can connect to it. I'd love to see lots of
demo .img files distributed, even with things like PuppyBits that
gives a non-OS-based starting point that some people have requested.

We are going from the 6-in-1 full-size MMC/SD socket that had an 8-bit
data interface that we could never confirm that anyone used to a
standard Micro-SD socket. That socket is now moved to the bottom of
the board. This saves a lot of space, making room for the Ethernet
connector. With only have the single MMC/SD socket and no NAND,
you'll likely want to use one of the 4 USB ports that no longer
require the use of a hub to connect a USB flash drive or USB-to-SD
adapter for removable storage. With no need to have Ethernet, since
that is already there, you can use the other 3 for a keyboard, a
mouse, and a Bluetooth and/or WiFi dongle.

The board got a tiny bit bigger, but the mounting holes stayed in the
same place. The existing EXPANSION and LCD EXPANSION headers will now
be populated with female connectors on the bottom of the board.

The serial port is no longer an IDC header, but instead now a real
DB-9 connector. Also, you'll need a straight-through male-to-female
cable, WITHOUT a NULL modem. By having this configuration, most of
the USB serial adapters can be plugged directly onto the board.

[Seppo Nikkilä‏]

Hi Jason,

I am glad to hear what was done with the expansion connector - fits my
expansion board perfectly and gives good access to all components.
Thanks,

siñ

[Maxim Podbereznyi‏]

Jason,

thank you for so deep description of the XM features. The only secret is the CPU utilized :)

Can you tell if XM will be able to decode h264 video with the resolution at least 720p?

2010/3/18 Seppo Nikkilä <seppo....@innovativeideas.fi>

[h...@computer.org‏]

Which chipset will be used for the internal USB hub?

[Gerald Coley‏]

SMSC LAN9514.

Gerald

[trevj‏]

Has a push-push card interface been considered? This would permit
easier insertion/removal. It would also mean a board within a case
could safely have the card left in during transportation. (Of course
the question then arises, how much should the card protude from the
board to allow for the thickness of a case.)

Thanks for all the great work that's been done and is continuning on
the Beagle Board project. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes
from the State of the Beagle Report!

[Vladimir Pantelic‏]

trevj wrote:
> Has a push-push card interface been considered? This would permit
> easier insertion/removal. It would also mean a board within a case
> could safely have the card left in during transportation. (Of course
> the question then arises, how much should the card protude from the
> board to allow for the thickness of a case.)

come on, we are talking about a board for hackers and hobbyists,
not about a finished product...

[Gerald Coley‏]

We have a push push microSD card on the -xM.

Gerald

[trevj‏]

On Mar 31, 2:40 pm, Gerald Coley <ger...@beagleboard.org> wrote:
> We have a push push microSD card on the -xM.

That's great news! Glad to learn there are others thinking along the
same lines as me.