DevBoard Watch: Time to play the BeaglePlay

The slogan for the BeaglePlay is “making development work into play! ” The idea is that “connections make computing fun” and this board supports a wide selection of sensor and prototyping system connections…

It’s powered by 1.4GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 processing (the 64-bit TI AM625) which means its entering Raspberry Pi-like territory, says our Technology Editor – he covered the board in detail last week, as you can read here.

Linux

What is a BeaglePlay exactly, though? The Beagleboard team answer that question:

“Linux computing made simple and fun with 1,000s of available off-the-shelf sensors, actuators, indicators and connectivity options over mikroBUS, Grove, and QWIIC connections, a TI Sitara AM625 system-on-chip with 1.4GHz quad-core Arm Cortex-A53, PRU and M4 microcontrollers, Gigabit Ethernet, full-size HDMI, USB, 5GHz, 2.4GHz and sub-1GHz wireless, and single-pair Ethernet with power-over-data-line. Camera and touchscreen display ribbon-cable connectors also included.”

Also, it can handle remote sensors – using BeagleConnect technology, over the sub-1GHz IEEE 802.15.4 wireless network, it can connect to a BeagleConnect Freedom (based on the TI CC1352P7 wireless MCU running Zephyr and Micropython) up to 1km away.

Suggested applications range from Edge AI or Vision Analytics to POS Automation or Industrial HMI uses…

A nice graphic for what does what on the board can be seen below.

Measuring 8cm squared, it’s priced at £80.

BeaglePlay spec

You can see some its features specified below:

• Multicore A53s with R5, M4s and PRUs processor, TI AM6254
• Wi-Fi/2.4G, MIMO/5G, SISO M2 1216, TI WL1807 Wi-Fi module, U.FL x2
• TI BLE/SubG CC1352P7 M4+M0 with BeagleConnect firmware
• 2GB(1Gb x 16)-1600MHz 3200Mbps DDR
• Kingston 16GB eMMC
• Gigabit Ethernet with RJ45 x1, single pair Ethernet and power over with RJ11
• Power input with USB Type-C
• HDMI Type-A supports up to Full-HD/1080P with 24-bit RGB
• Support FPC 22pin CSI and FPC 40pin OLDI

For connections:

• 1x MikroBus connector
• 1x USB Type-A
• 1x micro SD socket
• 1x QWIIC
• 1x grove connector
• 1x RTC

You can read more about the BeaglePlay on the Beagleboard website.

See also: BeagleBone board becomes more brainy and brawny