Linux Tablet Built Around A BeagleBoard

[Justin] shows us how to make a Linux tablet out of a BeagleBoard. You may remember [Justin’s] work at liquid cooling an Arduino. For this one he moved past the AVR hardware but took the idea of shields along for the ride. The device above is something of a Linux tablet, with a touchscreen shield on top of the BeagleBoard, and one below it for power. He’s selling these as kits which include the 480×272 OLED display as long as you can handle the fine-pitch soldering for those headers. We’re not sure our hands are steady enough for the challenge.
[Thanks Will]

23 thoughts on “Linux Tablet Built Around A BeagleBoard

  1. so.. i don’t see any specs. looks like he’s using about an 8gb SD. thats all i know. i don’t know what i would do with it besides replacing the airbag in a car. i wouldnt want that size touchscreen anywhere else in my car. you think it’s only 2″ thick? i’m thinking its closer to 3″
    too bad we can’t build something as advanced as say, the Inbrics M1. but at least 4x larger, who can pull it off?

  2. Interesting, but @ $300+ that’s very costly.

    I was just looking @ Chinese made iPad knockoffs, there’s quite a few. However you can get one running an Intel processor @ 600MHZ, 16GB hdd space, and for under $300. That’s a much better choice than one of these Beagle Board tablet kits.

  3. but and intel processor is not going to last anywhere near as long as this. This is the same chip as the pandora. They have a pretty massive battery in them, but people have been getting awesome battery life. Like 12 hours on a single charge. I think what would make this a lot better is if it wasn’t the beagle board, which is meant for development, and had a board that could be mounted more flush.

  4. Soldering small pitch ICs or headers is easy, assuming you have a bottle or pen of flux. Just put some flux on the pins, put a small amount of solder on the iron tip, and slowly drag the iron across the pins, not down each individual pin. The solder will wick itself along the pins. Use some solder wick to remove any excess. Flux is your friend.

  5. does this have wifi, cuz IMO theres no point in being handheld if it doesnt have WIFI.. unless, of course, it is going to a little touchscreen, or usb controlled ’emulation station’ for NES,SNES,GB-GBC-GBA, whatever. then not having wifi is ok. but you could always cram it in there anyway if its not and u need it. i dont see any big USB connectors but idk the beagleboard either.
    i just wish so much good shit could fit in that fat hunk of space back in ~1989. back then, something this size would have consisted of 90% air/plastic, an lcd screen and a circuit board. and the processing power of something you could buy at dollar tree today. ok idk about the processing power but it couldnt have surpassed the processing power of the big grey monochrome gameboy

  6. The beagle board does not have wifi on board. I don’t think any of the additions to it featured here add it either. You’d likely have to add an adapter, easiest would be USB.

    I know at some point someone had android running on a beagleboard. Don’t know how current that project is though.

  7. I may be wrong, but did this guy just buy a load of modules and then plug them together?

    He even talks about simply plugging in a MMC and booting into some pre-made software.

    Where is the hack here?

  8. Buy an Archos 7 and install linux. all done, 80X faster, better design, smaller, battery lasts, etc……

    I’m all for a hack, but selling “kits” is just a joke.

    the ONLY use I can see for his kits are to build a “glass” cockpit for a car dashboard.

  9. I agree with don kiddick, this is not a “hack” at all, its a guy showing us how to use his “Beagle Touch” display, which he incidentaly happens to sell for the low price of $248.43, by plugging it into a beagleboard using the provided connectors.
    No cool code, no modification of either product, just a shameless plug for liquidware.

  10. Great work!
    It seems that the commenters have no idea about embedded boards. BeagleBoard is one of the coolest smartphone processor development boards in the market. It has amazing expandability. Justin has done something incredible by hooking up the touchscreen and battery power supply. Which other tablet facilitates communication with other hardware? This does. You can start developing your own tablet applications.

  11. Very cool! 8^P

    The problem that this level hardware at low scale is always so expensive, and something just for enthusiasts with $power$.

    The BeagleBoard is very powerful and can be mounted equivalent solution for more price friendly.

Leave a Reply to mikeCancel reply

Please be kind and respectful to help make the comments section excellent. (Comment Policy)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.