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Chapter 6: Single board computers
General Embedded Linux
Single board computers require the setup of an operating system. Most boards run the operating from an embedded flash memory (eMMC). A good resource to learn about embedded Linux is Embedded Linux Wiki. There is also an IRC chat channel irc.freenode (#edev) to ask questions.
A good general forum to discuss single board computers is at reddit, such as /r/linuxboards or /r/embeddedlinux.
Raspberry Pi
The Raspberry Pi (RasPi or RPi) is one of the most popular single board computers. The community is interacting at the forum or via the /r/raspberry_pi reddit.
To work with JavaScrpt on a Raspberry Pi you need to install an operating system such as Raspbian - a Linux Debian distribution. You can download Raspbian from here. Also, you need to setup a network connection such as Wifi.
Once you have an OS running, you can follow the steps to install Node.js.
Routers with OpenWRT
OpenWRT is a popular operating system for network routers and also supports running Node.js. And, system-on-chips from network routers are increasingly popular for IoT devices.
Boards such as Tessel 2 come with OpenWRT and Node.js preinstalled. Also, there is the Onion Omega, ArduinoYun, LinkIt Smart and most network routers that run with OpenWRT.
Besides Node.js for OpenWRT, it is possible to run a smaller Node.js version, such as Bundle JXcore for OpenWRT (ARM, mipsel) with memory requirements of only 16Mb+
For the LinkIT board, this gitbook provides a good start. And, some nice tutorials are also available. The LinkIT board is based on an MT7688 with MIPS 24k instruction set.
Beaglebone
Beaglebone comes with BoneScript BoneScript overview. This prepares for JavaScript and IoT development.
Intel Edison/Galileo
The Intel Edison is a computer on a module with a x86 compatible CPU. It has also a number of connectivity solutions out of the box.
To interact with Intel Edison community, a good place to start is the forum Intel Edison. Also, you can find ideas for projects and ask questions at reddit
To setup a board, a number of places are helpful:
- (Howto) Getting started with the board
- (Howto) Blinking LEDs with the Edison
- (Pinout) Interactive Edison Pinout
- (Howto) Setup Intel Edison
- (Howto) Install Git on Edison
- (Images) Download latest Yocto Image
- (Howto) Flash latest Yocto Image
- (Overview) GPIO mapping Mraa and SysFs
- Wifi getting Started
- Tricks for Wifi config
- Breakout friendly Intel Edison
- GPIO Mapping on Intel Edison
- Configure Bluetooth
A good description how to install Node.js comes actually via Pyhton
x86 based boards
The Intel x86 architecture has built-in compatibility with larger x86 desktop PCs or laptops. This can have advantage for embedded projects too.
Upboard
A good video how to install the Ubilinux OS on an Upboard from Windows is here:
For MacOS/Linux users you can use the dd command to copy the files. After you insert a USB disk, you have to unmount it again, e.g. with:
# diskutil umount /dev/disk3
Then, you need to copy a disk image. This can be done with the 'dd' command. Copying disk images takes a while. You can check the progress with http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/11262/how-do-i-know-if-dd-is-still-working
Similar to the video here:
Minnowboard
http://wiki.minnowboard.org/MinnowBoard_Turbot
C.H.I.P
The [CHIP] is an interesting single board computer especially interesting for its price: 9 USD only!
Getting started with the CHIP and JavaScript is fairly simple:
1) connect to the CHIP via USB and terminal progam such as screen (u/p: chip/chip) 2) connect CHIP to WiFi as discussed here 3) install Node Version manager as discussed here 4) install git: sudo apt-get install git-core