This is the latest (main) BeagleBoard documentation. If you are looking for stable releases, use the drop-down menu on the bottom-left and select the desired version.

Quick Start Guide

This section provides instructions on how to hook up your board. This beagle requires a 5V > 3A power supply to work properly via either USB Type-C power adapter or a barrel jack power adapter.

Recommended adapters:

  • 5V @ 3A USB C power supply adapter for SBCs.

  • 5V > 3A laptop/mobile adapter with USB-C cable.

All the BeagleBone AI-64 connections ports we will use in this chapter are shown in the figure below.

../../../_images/ports.jpg

Fig. 57 BeagleBone AI-64 connections ports

What’s In the Box

In the box you will find two main items as shown in BeagleBone AI-64 box content.

  • BeagleBone AI-64

  • Instruction card

A USB-C to USB-C cable is not included, but recommended for the tethered scenario and creates a developer experience where the board can be used immediately with no other equipment needed.

../../../_images/bbai64-in-box.jpg

Fig. 58 BeagleBone AI-64 box content

Methods of operation

  1. Tethered to a PC

  2. Standalone development platform in a PC configuration using external peripherals

Main Connection Scenarios

This section describes how to connect and power the board and serves as a slightly more detailed description of the Quick Start Guide included in the box. The board can be configured in several different ways, but we will discuss the two most common scenarios.

  • Tethered to a PC via the USB cable

    • Board is accessed as a storage drive and virtual Ethernet connection.

  • Standalone Desktop

    • Display

    • Keyboard and Mouse

    • External 5V > 3A power supply

Each of these configurations is discussed in general terms in the following sections.

Tethered To A PC

In this configuration, the board is powered by the PC via a single USB cable. The board is accessed either as a USB storage drive or via the browser on the connected PC. You need to use either Firefox or Chrome on the PC, Internet Explorer will not work properly.

../../../_images/usb-tethering.jpg

Fig. 59 Tethered Configuration

At least 5V @ 3A is required to power the board, In most cases the PC may not be able to supply sufficient power for the board unless the connection is made over a Type-C to Type-C cable. You should always use an external 5V > 3A DC power supply connected to the barrel jack if you are unsure that the system can provide the required power or are otherwise using a USB-A to Type-C cable which will always require power from the DC barrel jack.

Connect the Cable to the Board

  1. Connect the type C USB cable to the board as shown in USB Connection to the Board. The connector is on the top side of the board near barrel jack.

../../../_images/usb-c-connection.jpg

Fig. 60 USB Connection to the Board

  1. Connect the USB-A end of the cable to your PC or laptop USB port as shown in the USB Connection to the PC/Laptop below.

../../../_images/usb-a-connection.jpg

Fig. 61 USB Connection to the PC/Laptop

  1. The board will power on and the power LED will be on as shown in Board Power LED below.

../../../_images/power-led.jpg

Fig. 62 Board Power LED

  1. When the board starts to the booting process started by the process of applying power, the LEDs will come on in sequence as shown in Board Boot Status below. It will take a few seconds for the status LEDs to come on, so be patient. The LEDs will be flashing in an erratic manner as it begins to boot the Linux kernel.

../../../_images/led-pattern.jpg

Fig. 63 Board Boot Status

Accessing the Board as a Storage Drive

The board will appear around a USB Storage drive on your PC after thekernel has booted, which will take a round 10 seconds. The kernel on the board needs to boot before the port gets enumerated. Once the board appears as a storage drive, do the following:

  1. Open the USB Drive folder.

  2. Click on the file named start.htm

  3. The file will be opened by your browser on the PC and you should get a display showing the Quick Start Guide.

  4. Your board is now operational! Follow the instructions on your PC screen.

Standalone w/Display and Keyboard/Mouse

In this configuration, the board works more like a PC, totally free from any connection to a PC as shown in Desktop Configuration. It allows you to create your code to make the board do whatever you need it to do. It will however require certain common PC accessories. These accessories and instructions are described in the following section.

../../../_images/desktop-configuration.jpg

Fig. 64 Desktop Configuration

Ethernet cable and M.2 WiFi + Bluetooth card are optional. They can be used if network access required.

Required Accessories

In order to use the board in this configuration, you will need the following accessories:

  • 5V > 3A power supply.

  • Display Port or HDMI monitor.

  • miniDP-DP or active miniDP-HDMI cable (or a recommended miniDP-DP or active miniDP-HDMI adapter https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089GF8M87 has been tested and worked beautifully).

  • USB wired/wireless keyboard and mouse.

  • powered USB HUB (OPTIONAL). The board has only two USB Type-A host ports, so you may need to use a powered USB Hub if you wish to add additional USB devices, such as a USB WiFi adapter.

  • M.2 Bluetooth & WiFi module (OPTIONAL). For wireless connections, a USB WiFi adapter or a recommended M.2 WiFi module can provide wireless networking.

Connecting Up the Board

  1. Connect the miniDP to DP or active miniDP to HDMI cable from your BeagleBone AI-64 to your monitor.

../../../_images/monitor-cable.jpg

Fig. 65 Connect miniDP-DP or active miniDP-HDMI cable to BeagleBone AI-64

  1. If you have an Display Port or HDMI monitor with HDMI-HDMI or DP-DP cable you can use adapters as shown in. Display adapters.

../../../_images/display-adapters.jpg

Fig. 66 Display adapters

  1. If you have wired/wireless USB keyboard and mouse such as seen in Keyboard and Mouse below, you need to plug the receiver in the USB host port of the board as shown in Keyboard and Mouse.

../../../_images/mouse-keyboard.jpg

Fig. 67 Keyboard and Mouse

  1. Connect the Ethernet Cable

If you decide you want to connect to your local area network, an Ethernet cable can be used. Connect the Ethernet Cable to the Ethernet port as shown in Ethernet Cable Connection. Any standard 100M Ethernet cable should work.

../../../_images/ethernet-cable.jpg

Fig. 68 Ethernet Cable Connection

  1. The final step is to plug in the DC power supply to the DC power jack as shown in External DC Power below.

../../../_images/barrel-jack.jpg

Fig. 69 External DC Power

  1. The cable needed to connect to your display is a miniDP-DP or active miniDP-HDMI. Connect the miniDP connector end to the board at this time. The connector is on the top side of the board as shown in Connect miniDP to DP or active miniDP to HDMI Cable to the Board below.

../../../_images/miniDP-connector.jpg

Fig. 70 Connect miniDP to DP or active miniDP to HDMI Cable to the Board

The connector is fairly robust, but we suggest that you not use the cable as a leash for your Beagle. Take proper care not to put too much stress on the connector or cable.

  1. Booting the Board

As soon as the power is applied to the board, it will start the booting up process. When the board starts to boot the LEDs will come on. It will take a few seconds for the status LEDs to come on, so be patient. The LEDs will be flashing in an erratic manner as it boots the Linux kernel.

../../../_images/leds.jpg

Fig. 71 BeagleBone AI-64 LEDs

While the four user LEDS can be over written and used as desired, they do have specific meanings in the image that is shipped with the board once the Linux kernel has booted.

  • USR0 is the heartbeat indicator from the Linux kernel.

  • USR1 turns on when the microSD card is being accessed

  • USR2 is an activity indicator. It turns on when the kernel is not in the idle loop.

  • USR3 turns on when the onboard eMMC is being accessed.

  • USR4 is an activity indicator for WiFi.

  1. A Booted System

    1. The board will have a mouse pointer appear on the screen as it enters the Linux boot step. You may have to move the physical mouse to get the mouse pointer to appear. The system can come up in the suspend mode with the monitor in a sleep mode.

    2. After a minute or two a login screen will appear. You do not have to do anything at this point.

    3. After a minute or two the desktop will appear. It should be similar to the one shown in BeagleBone XFCE Desktop Screen. HOWEVER, it will change from one release to the next, so do not expect your system to look exactly like the one in the figure, but it will be very similar.

    4. And at this point you are ready to go! BeagleBone XFCE Desktop Screen shows the desktop after booting.

../../../_images/xfce-desktop.jpg

Fig. 72 BeagleBone XFCE Desktop Screen

Update software

Production boards currently ship with the factory-installed 2022-01-14-8GB image. To upgrade from the software image on your BeagleBone AI-64 to the latest, you don’t need to completely reflash the board. If you do want to reflash it, visit the flashing instructions on the getting started page. Factory Image update (without reflashing)…

1sudo apt update
2sudo apt install --only-upgrade bb-j721e-evm-firmware generic-sys-mods
3sudo apt upgrade

Update U-Boot:

to ensure only tiboot3.bin is in boot0, the pre-production image we tried to do more in boot0, but failed…

1sudo /opt/u-boot/bb-u-boot-beagleboneai64/install-emmc.sh
2sudo /opt/u-boot/bb-u-boot-beagleboneai64/install-microsd.sh
3sudo reboot

Update Kernel and SGX modules:

1sudo apt install bbb.io-kernel-5.10-ti-k3-j721e

Update xfce:

1sudo apt install bbb.io-xfce4-desktop

Update ti-edge-ai 8.2 examples

1sudo apt install ti-edgeai-8.2-base ti-vision-apps-8.2 ti-vision-apps-eaik-firmware-8.2

Cleanup:

1sudo apt autoremove --purge

Next steps