Hi,
I want to start development on the beaglebone (Rev A5), and I have read the getting started pages on beagleboards website.
There are two options to start development with:(a) Angstrom distribution which I think (not sure) maintains a kernel and uboot for BealeBone (b) SDK from TI which also maintains a kernel and uboot for BeagleBone
Questions:(1) How are the two options different?(2) Which one do developers use?(3) Where to find the latest kernel & uboot releases for BeagleBone board?
Any inputs will be of help
-Prasant
Prasant,
The TI SDK has gone through our system testing and is what TI supports. The Angstrom distribution is put together and tested by the open source community. It often will have features that are still under development, but is a good place to start if you are looking for the latest and greatest.
The TI SDK also comes with host side tools to help in cross-compiling your applications.
As to which one developers use it usually comes down to:
1. What level of support they need. TI SDK has official TI support
2. Whether they need the latest kernel sources. Angstrom has more bleeding edge drivers, including drivers for Cape boards which the SDK does not have.
3. Level of comfort with the build systems like OpenEmbedded. Most people working with Angstrom use OpenEmbedded to tweak the distribution for their needs.
Chase
Hi Chase,
Thanks for the reply. Those points are very informative.
So to sum: TI SDK is a subset of Angstrom but a very stable one. And one can use either depending on the level of expertise. Am I right in understanding?
Prasant
That is pretty close. The SDK is not a pure subset of Angstrom in overall features because both look to enable different types of development. But as far as the kernel is concerned that is pretty close.
What I have seen people do is start with the SDK and if they want features available in the Angstrom kernel they port those into the SDK kernel. It is really about what you are most comfortable with.
Chase,
That is a good suggestion, to start with SDK. Openembedded & bitbake are getting difficult to understand. (Did not find any good doc till now).Lets see how the development experience with BeagleBone is. Anyways thanks a lot for the informations.