Welcome to new site for BeagleBoard.org docs!

Quick Start Guide#

This section provides instructions on how to hook up your board. This Beagle requires a 5V > 3A (15W) power supply to work properly via either USB Type-C power adapter or a barrel jack power adapter.

Recommended adapters can be found at Power supplies section. All the BeagleBone AI-64 connections ports we will use in this chapter are shown in the figure below.

../../../_images/ports.jpg

Fig. 154 BeagleBone AI-64 connections ports#

What’s In the Box#

In the box you will find two main items as shown in BeagleBone AI-64 box content.

Note

A USB-C to USB-C cable is not included, but recommended for the tethered scenario and creates a developer experience where the board can be used immediately with no other equipment needed.

Tip

For board files, 3D model, and more, you can checkout BeagleBona AI-64 repository on OpenBeagle.

../../../_images/bbai64-in-box.jpg

Fig. 155 BeagleBone AI-64 box content#

Methods of operation#

  1. Tethered to a PC

  2. Standalone development platform in a PC configuration using external peripherals

Main Connection Scenarios#

This section describes how to connect and power the board and serves as a slightly more detailed description of the Quick Start Guide included in the box. The board can be configured in several different ways, but we will discuss the two most common scenarios.

  • Tethered to a PC via the USB cable

    • Board is accessed as a storage drive and virtual Ethernet connection.

  • Standalone Desktop

    • Display

    • Keyboard and Mouse

    • External 5V > 3A power supply

Each of these configurations is discussed in general terms in the following sections.

In this configuration, the board is powered by the PC via a single USB cable. The board is accessed either as a USB storage drive or via the browser on the connected PC. You need to use either Firefox or Chrome on the PC, Internet Explorer will not work properly.

../../../_images/usb-tethering.jpg

Fig. 156 Tethered Configuration#

At least 5V @ 3A is required to power the board, In most cases the PC may not be able to supply sufficient power for the board unless the connection is made over a Type-C to Type-C cable. You should always use an external 5V > 3A DC power supply connected to the barrel jack if you are unsure that the system can provide the required power or are otherwise using a USB-A to Type-C cable which will always require power from the DC barrel jack.

Connect the Cable to the Board

  1. Connect the type C USB cable to the board as shown in the figure below. The connector is on the top side of the board near barrel jack.

../../../_images/usb-c-connection.jpg

Fig. 157 USB Connection to the Board#

  1. Connect the USB-A end of the cable to your PC or laptop USB port as shown in the figure below.

../../../_images/usb-a-connection.jpg

Fig. 158 USB Connection to the PC/Laptop#

  1. The board will power on and the power LED will be on as shown in the figure below.

../../../_images/power-led.jpg

Fig. 159 Board Power LED#

  1. When the board starts to the booting process started by the process of applying power, the LEDs will come on in sequence as shown in the figure below. It will take a few seconds for the status LEDs to come on, so be patient. The LEDs will be flashing in an erratic manner as it begins to boot the Linux kernel.

../../../_images/led-pattern.jpg

Fig. 160 Board Boot Status#

Accessing the Board as a Storage Drive

The board will appear around a USB Storage drive on your PC after thekernel has booted, which will take a round 10 seconds. The kernel on the board needs to boot before the port gets enumerated. Once the board appears as a storage drive, do the following:

  1. Open the USB Drive folder.

  2. Click on the file named start.htm

  3. The file will be opened by your browser on the PC and you should get a display showing the Quick Start Guide.

  4. Your board is now operational! Follow the instructions on your PC screen.

Update software#

Production boards currently ship with the factory-installed 2022-01-14-8GB image. To upgrade from the software image on your BeagleBone AI-64 to the latest, you don’t need to completely reflash the board. If you do want to reflash it, visit the flashing instructions on the getting started page. Factory Image update (without reflashing)…

sudo apt update
sudo apt install --only-upgrade bb-j721e-evm-firmware generic-sys-mods
sudo apt upgrade

Update U-Boot:#

to ensure only tiboot3.bin is in boot0, the pre-production image we tried to do more in boot0, but failed…

sudo /opt/u-boot/bb-u-boot-beagleboneai64/install-emmc.sh
sudo /opt/u-boot/bb-u-boot-beagleboneai64/install-microsd.sh
sudo reboot

Update Kernel and SGX modules:#

sudo apt install bbb.io-kernel-5.10-ti-k3-j721e

Update xfce:#

sudo apt install bbb.io-xfce4-desktop

Update ti-edge-ai 8.2 examples#

sudo apt install ti-edgeai-8.2-base ti-vision-apps-8.2 ti-vision-apps-eaik-firmware-8.2

Cleanup:#

sudo apt autoremove --purge

Next steps#