Github!

Finally got around to posting some code to github... long overdue!
https://github.com/kamaaina/cpp-projects

I2C Library for BBB and Pi

I've been getting numerous requests to share my I2C Library. There are a few other things I'm adding to my github repository before I publish it, but in the meantime, here is the I2C library. Using and/or downloading it means you do so at your own risk.

This is nothing fancy as I only did what I needed to for my projects. This library works on both Raspberry Pi and BeagleBone Black for my Adafruit 128x64 OLED module.

i2c.cpp and i2c.h

Beaglebone Black with 128x64 OLED

I compiled my I2C OLED library on my beaglebone black and with little effort, I was able to get it working. My BBB is running Ubuntu instead of Angstrom (instructions to get that flashed are in a previous post). This code was the same one running on the raspberry pi in my prior posts.

Steps taken were:

1. Download code from github
2. run make
3. run the compiled executable

The I2C class was defaulted to use the address of the OLED so I didn't need to change anything. :)

Here are some images of displaying a BMP on the OLED.

Ubuntu on BeagleBone Black

After playing around with Angstrom, I wanted to try my hand at Ubuntu so I decided to flash my BBB with the Ubuntu wheezy image. The process was relatively painless and I was about to write up what I did, but I came across a post that was very similar to my steps so I'll link that one instead.
http://avedo.net/653/flashing-ubuntu-13-04-or-debian-wheezy-to-the-beaglebone-black-emmc/

Now that I am on familiar ground, I was able to port over my code for the OLED and GPS to the BBB. Though I haven't wired it all up yet, I was able to compile it without issues. I actually waiting for another breadboard that I ordered so I won't have to tear down what I currently have just to test my BBB setup.

Beaglebone Black

I kept reading good things about the Beaglebone Black and wanted to try things out for myself so I ordered one. I recently got it in the mail and it has a pretty cool look to it (though I do like the original beaglebone look better). However, this one is much more powerful and comes at a lower price. Here is a closer look.

Figure 1 - Powered on with stock image

I then wanted to upgrade to the latest image. This platform uses a different flavor of linux called Angstrom. Different commands to do similar things as I'm more familiar with RedHat (rpm based) and Ubuntu (debian based). Nothing too far fetched, so I'm sure the learning curve won't be too steep. Anyway, on to the upgrade.

As there are many blogs about how to do it, I'll just detail out what I did to get mine updated.

1. Download the latest image from here: http://beagleboard.org/latest-images

2. Uncompress the image file. I used 7zip

3. I then got my micro SD card (8GB) and plugged it into my adapter then to the computer.

4. I still had used Win32 Disk Imager since I had it installed from using different images with my Raspberry Pi. You can download it here: here

5. I then powered down the BBB and inserted the micro SD card that has the latest image that Win32 Disk Imager just wrote to it.

6. Hold down the S2 button (located on the opposite side of the RJ-45 jack. Here is an image

Figure 2 - S2 button location

7. Plug in the 5V adapter into the wall. After a few seconds the LED's begin to blink and you can let the S2 button go.

8. To flash the image, it took about 30 minutes. When it is complete, all 4 LEDs will be lit and look something like this:

Figure 3 - Flash complete

9. Disconnect power and remove the micro SD card.

10. Boot up to the new image.