A tale of a serial cable

Beagleblog
Finally the BeagleBoard has arrived. Unfortunately custom offices are charging me additional US$ 30. Ripping the package open I am shocked: It's so tiny! On first sight I can't find the OMAP processor. Almost by chance I find the explanation reading through some web site. Following the PoP construction principle (Package on a Package) the memory chip is mounted on the CPU.

A yellow LED shows that the power supply via the USB port is working. For connecting the BeagleBoard with a PC you need an AT/Everex serial cable, which plugs into the pin header of the board and has a RS-232 serial port on the other end. You might have a hard time getting one of these at your local dealer because stuff like this is considered "legacy" these days. So better order one together with your board.

Unfortunately the cable I found at some old-school dealer seems to have a different pinout than required. It just doesn't work whatever pinout or settings in the terminal program Minicom I try (it's 115200,8N1, no flow control for those who know). Luckily my workmate has recycled one that works from an old PC. So upon plugging in the BeagleBoard the TI boot loader appears:
Texas Instruments X-Loader 1.41 Starting OS Bootloader... U-Boot 1.3.3 (Jul 10 2008 - 16:33:09) OMAP3530-GP rev 2, CPU-OPP2 L3-165MHz OMAP3 Beagle Board + LPDDR/NAND DRAM: 128 MB NAND: 256 MiB In: serial Out: serial Err: serial Audio Tone on Speakers ... complete OMAP3 beagleboard.org #
That's US$4.50 down the drain for that alleged Everx cable, but whatever, it's working now. Next step will be to install an actual Linux distribution on the small computer.
Comments
comments powered by DisqusIssue 262/2022
Buy this issue as a PDF
News
-
Kali Linux 2022.3 Released
From the creators of the most popular penetration testing distributions on the planet, comes a new release with some new tools and a community, real-time chat option.
-
The 14" Pinebook Pro Linux Laptop is Shipping
After a considerable delay, the 14" version of the Pinebook Pro laptop is, once again, available for purchase.
-
OpenMandriva Lx ROME Technical Preview Released
OpenMandriva’s rolling release distribution technical preview has been released for testing purposes and adds some of the latest/greatest software into the mix.
-
Linux Mint 21 is Now Available
The latest iteration of Linux Mint, codenamed Vanessa, has been released with a new upgrade tool and other fantastic features.
-
Firefox Adds Long-Anticipated Feature
Firefox 103 has arrived and it now includes a feature users have long awaited…sort of.
-
System76 Refreshes Their Popular Oryx Pro Laptop with a New CPU
The System76 Oryx Pro laptop has been relaunched with a 12th Gen CPU and more powerful graphics options.
-
Elive Has Released a New Beta
The Elive team is proud to announce the latest beta version (3.8.30) of its Enlightenment-centric Linux distribution.
-
Rocky Linux 9 Has Arrived
The latest iteration of Rocky Linux is now available and includes a host of new features and support for new architecture.
-
Slimbook Executive Linux Ultrabook Upgrading Their CPUs
The Spanish-based company, Slimbook, has made available their next generation Slimbook Executive Linux ultrabooks with a 12th Gen Intel Alder Lake CPU.
-
Fedora Linux is Coming to the Raspberry Pi 4
Thanks to significant work in the upstream, the upcoming release of Fedora 37 will introduce support for the Raspberry Pi 4.
Good tip on the details
Mike
Thanks
Best
Oliver
Everex cables
http://jefro.wordpress.com/...eagle-board-development-parts/
but there are many better ones, particularly on Meld (http://meld.mvista.com) and elinux.org (http://elinux.org).
Have fun!