Designed by a small group of Texas Instruments employees, the $150 BeagleBoard measures just over three inches square. It offers a SD/MMC slot, a USB host port, a DVI-D port, audio jacks, an S-Video output, and an expansion connector.


The original BeagleBoard, top and bottom
(Click either view to enlarge)
The first BeagleBoard (above) shipped in 2008 with 128MB of RAM and a TI OMAP3530 SoC (system on chip). This SoC includes an ARM Cortex-A8 core plus a Imagination Technologies SGX 2D/3D graphics processor and a TMS320C64x DSP core, giving devices based on it considerable bang for the buck.

Later BeagleBoard revisions -- Rev. B, Rev. C, and January's Rev C4, for example -- doubled up on RAM, added an additional high-speed USB port, and provided improved power management. The device now employs TI's OMAP3530 Rev. E, which clocks its Cortex-A8 core at 720MHz and bumps the TMS320C64x DSP to 520MHz.

On June 7, the BeagleBoard, which boasts an open hardware design and active online community, got another improvement in speed. The BeagleBoard-xM (right) features an onboard four-port USB hub, 512MB of RAM, and a 1GHz Cortex-A8 CPU. The latter is initially the TI AM3730, and will be replaced by the DM3730 during the third quarter, according to BeagleBoard.org

A revised Windows CE BSP

Amidst these hardware improvements, BeagleBoard development was Linux-dominated until U.K.-based MPC Data arrived on the scene. The company announced a BSP for the device in February 2009, citing Windows CE 6.0 R2 compatibility and support for the following features:

• DVI-D output (tested at 1280x720p 60Hz)
• USB On-the-go as a client (e.g. for ActiveSync)
• USB On-the-go as a host (e.g. for keyboards or mice)
• Debug serial output
• GPIO driver
• Audio I/O
• Mass storage device using onboard NAND flash

Additionally noted at the time was the BSP's inclusion of TI decoders for MP3, MPEG4, and H.264 that tap into the TMS320C64x DSP. Windows CE images can be downloaded to the Beagle Board's NAND flash via USB, or Windows CE can be booted from an SD card, the company added.

In May, MPC Data announced a Windows CE 6.0 R3 BSP for the BeagleBoard. Among the new features, the BSP was said to support integration with Datalight's Reliance and FlashFX products, which have been separately claimed to make flash memory performance "100 times faster."

Now, it's said, MPC Data is offering a 1.1 release of its BSP, which is said to include additional tools, documentation, and configurable support for both 128MB and 256MB hardware revisions of the BeagleBoard. (We're presuming, however, that the BSP does not yet support the more hefty BeagleBoard XM.)

According to the company, the BSP allows graphics-intensive Silverlight 3.0 application to "run efficiently and with minimal impact on hardware utilization."

MPC Data also announced that it will produce a Windows Embedded Compact 7 BSP for the Beagleboard. The BSP will support hardware-accelerated 2D/3D, with OpenGL, as demonstrated in the video below.

A Windows Embedded Compact 7 BSP for the BeagleBoard
Source: MPC Data
(click to play)

Further information

Further details of the Windows CE 6.0 R3 BSP for the BeagleBoard -- which supports most, but not all, of the device's features -- may be found on MPC Data's website, here. Binary images are available for free evaluation, while a commercial source code license costs $500, according to the company.

More information on the BeagleBoard may be found in our previous coverage, as listed below. Information on the BeagleBoard-xM, which costs approximately $180, may be found on the BeagleBoard.org website, here and in a Google Groups posting here.

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