Frequently Asked Questions

The latest community generated FAQ is at http://elinux.org/BeagleBoardFAQ. Below are some answers to the top questions out of that FAQ.

1. What is the best way to get my question(s) answered?
   • Search the related websites and mailing list to see if anyone has already asked your question and gotten an answer.
   • Visit the IRC channel for interactive support from your fellow community members. Please be patient as this is an all volunteer effort and people might not be paying attention when you type your question. Try at a few different times of the day and be sure to stay logged in to see any responses. Being polite will help you. You don't need to ask if you can ask a question, just ask :). If you have a large amount of text to share, please use a tool like pastebin.
   • If you still cannot get an answer to your question, try posting it to the mailing list. There are many more people there, which means you should be even more polite and brief. Please give background on what you are trying to do as well as all pertinent information about what results you are seeing, but don't make people read your life's story to be able to help you, because they are not likely to answer if they must read a lot of extraneous information. Again, this is an all volunteer effort.
   • If you still aren't getting an answer and you really need support, it is suggested you begin shopping for a commercial operating system vendor that can provide you with system support. Please visit the TI Third Party Network and OMAP Support and Training Resources. Feel free to make queries for paid support on the mailing list as well. If you are ready to begin a design with the OMAP35x, you may also contact TI for help in identifying third party design support, but please remember that the Beagle Board is not a TI-supported product and they may recommend that you purchase the OMAP35x EVM to be able to answer your queries.
2. Why am I not getting output or not able to type into the serial port?
   • Buy the recommended serial adapter.
   • Ensure that you are connecting:
     RX to pin 2
     TX to pin 3, and
     GND to pin 5.
   • Follow the steps outlined by the community FAQ and the system reference manual.
3. Why is there no Ethernet port?
   • Because it can be easily added via USB.
4. How do I connect a keyboard and mouse?
   
   • Be certain that you are using a mini- A to standard-A USB adapter. Mini-B adapters will not work without additional hardware modifications. Recommended peripherals can be found on the product details page.
   • It is also necessary to build support for USB OTG host mode into your kernel.
   • The port can only supply 100mA, so you might need a powered hub for power-hungry keyboards and mice
5. Is BeagleBoard.org Linux only?
   • Beagle Board as such is not associated to Linux only.
   • BeagleBoard.org gives links and pointers (including source) for data related to Beagle. If someone has done good work on Beagle with a propriety OS, we will give links to their site from BeagleBoard.org, it’s left to them if they want to open their source or not.
6. What software can be downloaded directly from BeagleBoard.org?
   • Software is not generally hosted directly on BeagleBoard.org. Instead, a diagnostic kernel is hosted on http://code.google.com/p/beagleboard and pointers are given to projects that provide additional Beagle software via the projects page.
   • The 2.6.22 kernel at http://code.google.com/p/beagleboard is called "diagnostic" because this kernel is just used as reference to check out the board. New development should be done against the linux-omap git tree kernel.