How does the BeagleBone stack up? Black vs Green vs Blue

2016-05-20 | By Maker.io Staff

SeeedStudio have introduced the BeagleBone Green Wireless at the Bay Area Maker Faire 2016. The BeagleBone Green Wireless is a joint effort by BeagleBoard.org and Seeed Studio. Based on the open-source hardware design of BeagleBone Black, the newest BBGW has added two Grove connectors, making it easier to connect to the large family of Grove sensors. It is the first Wi-Fi + Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) board from BeagleBone community.

Luckily I have been given the opportunity to have a play with the wireless board before pre-release and I have been most impressed with the powerful hardware and the added ability to create IoT projects. SeeedStudio have created a simple platform based on the BeagleBone for all users of any ability. With the added wireless function and using a very powerful wireless chip, the TI WiLink 8 allows users to connect to the board directly using a SoftAP mode as well as connecting to your local router at the same time. The board was simple to setup, with just a few simple steps I was up and running in no time at all.

Key Features

The first Wi-Fi + Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) board from BeagleBone community
Built-in 2.4 GHz TI WLinkTM 8 Module with two antenna solution
Onboard chip antenna
IEEE 802.11b/g/n compliant
FCC, IC, ETSI/CE, and TELEC certified
Supports AP+STA mode of communication
Comply with Bluetooth Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP)
Supports MRAA library

Specifications

BeagleBone Black (BBB)	BeagleBone Green (BBG)	BeagleBone Green Wireless (BBGW)
Processor: AM3358 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8	Processor: AM3358 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8	Processor: AM3358 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8
512MB DDR3 RAM	512MB DDR3 RAM	512MB DDR3 RAM
4GB 8-bit eMMc on-board flash storage	4GB 8-bit eMMc on-board flash storage	4GB 8-bit eMMc on-board flash storage
3D graphics accelerator	3D graphics accelerator	3D graphics accelerator
NEON floating-point accelerator	NEON floating-point accelerator	NEON floating-point accelerator
2x PRU 32-bit microcontrollers	2x PRU 32-bit microcontrollers	2x PRU 32-bit microcontrollers
USB Client for power and communication	USB Client for power and communication	USB Client for power and communication
1x USB Host	1x USB Host	4x USB Host
Ethernet	Ethernet	802.11 b/g/n & BLE 4.1
2x 46 pin GPIO headers	2x 46 pin GPIO headers	2x 46 pin GPIO headers
HDMI port	2x Grove connectors	2x Grove connectors

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Figure 1: BBB, BBG and BBGW - Wireless Hardware

SeeedStudio have made the process of connecting to your BBG Wireless board simple by configuring the Wireless module in SoftAP mode which acts as an access point when you power up the board. When you connect to the BBG Wireless access point, this gives you access to the Wi-Fi configuration so you can then connect to your local router for internet connection. The board also comes with two Grove connectors utilizing the Grove eco-system of sensors and actuators without the requirement for any soldering. The two Grove connectors provide UART and I2C communication.

The board is also designed to work with the new Grove Cape 2.0 which expands the I/O pins on the BegleBone Green Wireless providing more interface connections for the Grove modules.

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