Thanks Didier for what you shared. I forwarded these messages to my
friend and he wrote back what I've copied below.
Regards,
Paul
www.TurboControl.com
*************
Looks OK to me.
Note the SGX GPU on the BeagleBone also has closed-source drivers,
although it's possible to run without GPU acceleration using full
open-source code (which is what all the current images do, getting the
GPU working is proceeding, but likely won't be easy until switching to a
3.14 kernel and an alternate desktop).
But overall, the AM3358 used on the BeagleBone is *FAR* better
documented and much more available than the Broadcom part used on the 'Pi.
On 11/01/2014 08:44 AM, Didier Juges [ts-7000] wrote:
> You can add the following to the list :)
>
> The RPi Ethernet is actually routed from the CPU through the USB port. That
> has a tendency to make it unstable (disconnect for no reason). For some
> applications, that may be a problem. Some people have used it as an NTP
> server without problem though.
>
> The RPi is running an ARM 11 core, which is getting old but the most
> significant difference between the RPi and the BBB is that the RPi is a
> completely closed architecture. The specs for the processor and GPU are
> unavailable to mere mortals and you cannot design a RPi compatible board
> because you cannot get the CPU specs. Even if you could, you cannot buy the
> CPU. I understand that some of the (video, maybe others) drivers necessary
> to run Linux on the RPi are proprietary, closed source.
>
> On the other hand, the BBB is completely open and uses a more modern CPU
> (ARM v8) and all the design files are open source (software and hardware).
> You can design your own BBB clone based on the public design if you want
> to. You can do it and you won't go to jail.
>
> The RPi is an amazing product at its price point, and the Raspberry Pi
> Foundation has done a great job which benefits so many people at so many
> levels (education, hobby, industrial and robotic, etc) that the world is a
> better place for it, but it is not necessarily the best solution for every
> problem.
>
> Didier
>
> On Thu, Oct 30, 2014 at 6:03 PM, [ts-7000] <
> > wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> How the BBB and RPi differ (a list subject to change/correction):
>> 1) With the RPi the RAM is soldered on top of the CPU, a very critical
>> technology only a few shops can offer.
>> 2) The ARM1176JZF-S (RPi) is vfpv2 which supports floating point
>> exceptions whereas the Am335x chip (BeagleBone) is vfpv3 and does not
>> provide such support.
>> 3) The RPi boots up via the VideoCore GPU whereas the BBB boots up
>> normal. This is one reason my linux-cnc friend (see below) gave up on
>> using the RPi for his real-time stuff.
>>
>> An engineer I know tried to use the RPi for linux-cnc but gave up and used
>> the BB Black (if I remember correctly the main problem was the RPi booting
>> up via the VideoCore GPU):
>> http://blog.machinekit.io/
>>
>> There are a few links for the RPi, BB, and Arduino near the top of this
>> page:
>> http://www.turbocontrol.com/monitor.htm
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Paul
>>
>>
>