node-click-boards

A node.js module to interface with various click boards from MikroElectronica, running with the mikroBUS cape on a BeagleBone Black.

The BeagleBone mikroBUS Cape connects upto four click boards to the BeagleBone Black. As of this writing, there are over 70 click boards available.

Before Starting

You will need a BeagleBone Black running Linux and node. I'm running 3.8.13-bone30 with node v0.10.22.

You may find it useful to get the current image from The Thing System and then deactivating the steward. Instructions on finding the current disk image is located here. If you do that, then:

% ssh [email protected]
% sudo bash
# sh /etc/init.d/steward stop
# update-rc.d steward remove

You may also want to edit the hostname for the device, viz.,

# vi /etc/hostname
# vi /etc/hosts

Regardless, you will want to make sure you are current:

# apt-get update
# apt-get upgrade
# apt-get install i2c-tools

Finally, if you are running off an SD card, you probably want to always boot from that SD card (rather than holding down the boot button). Look for Perform Flash to eMMC here and it will explain how.

You will want to make sure that non-root users (e.g., "debian") can access the devices:

# chmod a+rw /dev/i2c*

Install the mikroBUS driver. To summarize:

% wget http://download.tigal.com/tigal/BBBmikroBUScape/
% tar xpf BB_board_dtbo.tar
# cp BB-MIKROBUS-01-00A0.dt* /lib/firmware/
# halt

Now attach the mikroBUS cape and power-up your BeagleBoneBlack. To see if all went well:

% cat /sys/devices/bone_capemgr.9/slots
...
57:P---L BBB-mikroBusCape,00A1,Tigal-KG,BB-MIKROBUS-01
...

Acknowledgements

In terms of hardware:

• MikroElectronica for developing the click boards product line.

• Tigal for developing the mikroBUS cape.

• Texas Instruments, Digi-Key, and Newark element14 for developing the BeagleBone and BeagleBone Black, the most awesome open-source single-board computer, ever! (At least until they release the next one!)

In terms of software:

• Kelly Korevec's node-i2c module that provides native bindings for i2c-dev to node.

• Timothé Fillion Brunet's node-ADXL2345 module that provides the pattern for writing the device drivers, and was used to derive the driver for the Accel click board.

• MikroElectronica for providing C coding examples for the click board product line.