Client for other BeagleBone Black and other boards...

[humblehacker]

Hello All,
I am a big fan of the Raspberry Pi for its ease of use, vast user community and price point. However, in recent months (and very likely the near future) a number of other boards have been popping up to serve various niche roles. Most are in a similar price range and offer significant capabilities the Pi can't provide. Beyond the Android offerings who already have a dedicated CFClient build in the works, the builds that come to mind are the Beaglebone Black http://beagleboard.org/Products/BeagleBone%20Black, and the pcDuino http://www.pcduino.com/. Both boards pack enough punch to boot Ubuntu or Android ARM distros and (especially with the BBB) include many more options for utilizing I/O ports for Arduino-esque applications.
So the big question is, "how difficult would it be to port the CFClient to one of these newcomers?" Would it make more sense to port the cfheadless version written for the Pi or would it be possible to simply run the GUI right off of Ubuntu as usual? Also, as both boards have Android ports available, would the current CF Android Client port to the Android ARM version?
I might also add, that the pcDuino seems to be the simplest to get started with, but the possibilities of the $45 BeagleBone Black seem endless. Especially once more developers start getting a hold of it...

Anybody else tried CFClient with other embedded platforms?

[marcus]

Hi,

Since all of the platforms can run Linux it's easy to get the client working. The reasons for the cfheadless are that the Pi isn't powerful enough and you probably want to run something that can be used without any screen or keyboard/mouse. Have a look at how the image was modified and you can do the same for the BeagleBone or any other Linux platform.

[humblehacker]

Hi,

Since all of the platforms can run Linux it's easy to get the client working. The reasons for the cfheadless are that the Pi isn't powerful enough and you probably want to run something that can be used without any screen or keyboard/mouse. Have a look at how the image was modified and you can do the same for the BeagleBone or any other Linux platform.

Indeed I am... Unfortunately, the BBB is much harder to learn than the RPi due to the lack of documentation and node.js-based programming approach. That said, all these factors make it well positioned for things to come...
I'll be sure to post updates on my steps and missteps... One possibility would be to incorporate user, "tbitson"s approach to an Arduino Controller- http://forum.bitcraze.se/memberlist.php ... file&u=473 into an all-in-one controller/client using the BBBs hybrid microcontroller/microPC capabilities...