Chapter 5. Beyond the Basics
5.0 Introduction
In Chapter 1, you learned how to set up BeagleBone Black, and Chapter 2, Chapter 3, and Chapter 4 showed how to interface to the physical world. Chapter 6 through the remainder of the book moves into some more exciting advanced topics, and this chapter gets you ready for them.
The recipes in this chapter assume that you are running Linux on your host computer (Recipe 5.2) and are comfortable with using Linux. We continue to assume that you are logged in as root
on your Bone.
5.1 Running Your Bone Standalone
Problem
You want to use BeagleBone Black as a desktop computer with keyboard, mouse, and an HDMI display.
Solution
The Bone comes with USB and a microHDMI output. All you need to do is connect your keyboard, mouse, and HDMI display to it.
To make this recipe, you will need:
-
Standard HDMI cable and female HDMI-to-male microHDMI adapter (see “Miscellaneous”), or
-
MicroHDMI-to-HDMI adapter cable (see “Miscellaneous”)
-
HDMI monitor (see “Miscellaneous”)
-
USB keyboard and mouse
-
Powered USB hub (see “Miscellaneous”)
Note
The microHDMI adapter is nice because it allows you to use a regular HDMI cable with the Bone. However, it will block other ports and can damage the Bone if you aren’t careful. The microHDMI-to-HDMI cable won’t have these problems.
Tip
You can also use an HDMI-to-DVI cable (“Miscellaneous”) and use your Bone with a DVI-D display.
The adapter looks something like Figure 5-1.
Figure 5-1. Female HDMI-to-male ...
Get BeagleBone Cookbook now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.