BeagleBone Green Gateway SBC offers LAN and WiFi too
May 13, 2020 — by Eric Brown 2,177 views[Updated: May 15] — Seeed has launched a $59.90 “Seeed Studio BeagleBone Green Gateway” SBC that runs Linux on TI’s Sitara AM3358 and combines the Ethernet port of the BeagleBone Green with the WiFi/BLE function of the BB Green Wireless.
Seeed has launched a new model in its line of BeagleBone compatibles that balances the feature sets of the $44 Seeed Studio BeagleBone Green and the $52.90 Seeed Studio BeagleBone Green Wireless. The $59.90 Seeed Studio BeagleBone Green Gateway provides the 10/100 Ethernet port of the BB Green along with the BB Green Wireless’ TI Wilink8 module with 2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.1 LE. The open spec board is equipped with 2x USB 2.0 ports instead of one port on the BB Green and 4x ports on the Wireless.


Seeed Studio BeagleBone Green Gateway, front and back
(click images to enlarge)
The BeagleBone Green Gateway was developed with the blessing of the Beagleboard.org community, which supports its flagship, $62 BeagleBone Black SBC and other compatibles. The SBC runs Debian, Ubuntu, or Android on the same 1GHz, Cortex-A8 TI Sitara AM3358 SoC found on the BB Black, Green, and Green Wireless, and other BeagleBone compatibles listed in our catalog of 136 Linux hacker boards. Loaded with industrial interfaces, the AM3358 offers dual programmable PRU real-time cores.
Like the first two BeagleBone Green models, the Gateway omits the micro-HDMI port of the BeagleBone Black and swaps out the mini-USB port for a micro-USB port. It also adds 2x Grove connectors for connecting Seeed’s I/O and sensor add-ons. Like all the BeagleBone models except for the COM-like PocketBeagle, the Gateway provides dual 46-pin GPIO extension connectors for plugging in Cape add-on boards.


BeagleBone Green Gateway detail views
(click images to enlarge)
Unlike the BeagleBone Black or the previous two Green models, the BeagleBone Green Gateway deploys its AM3358 and 512MB DDR3 via an Octavo Systems OSD335x-SM System-In-Package (SiP) module. This smaller version of the OSD335x SiP, which is used on the robotics-focused BeagleBone Blue, also powers the PocketBeagle.


BeagleBone Green Gateway and portside view
(click images to enlarge)
Other changes from the earlier designs include the addition of a real-time clock with an I2C interface and a 3V battery connector. The Gateway also moves to a 12V DC jack, up from 5V.
— ADVERTISEMENT —
Specifications listed for the Seeed Studio BeagleBone Green Gateway include:
- Processor (via OSD335x module) — TI Sitara AM3358 (Cortex-A8 @1GHz); PowerVR SGX530 GPU; 2x PRU real-time cores
- Memory/storage:
- 512MB DDR3 RAM (via OSD335x)
- 4GB eMMC flash
- MicroSD slot
- Networking:
- 10/100 Ethernet port
- TI Wilink8 module with 2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.1 LE
- 2.4GHz and chip antennas
- Other I/O:
- 2x USB 2.0 host ports
- Micro-USB 2.0 client port with power input support
- JTAG and UART debug interfaces
- Expansion:
- 2x Grove connectors (1x I2C, 1x UART) for Grove add-ons
- Dual 46-pin BeagleBone expansion connector for Cape add-ons:
- 3x serial
- McASP0, SPI1, I2C
- 65x GPIO
- CAN
- LCD
- GPMC, MMC1, MMC2
- EHRPWM
- 7x AIN (1.8V max.)
- 4x timers; XDMA interrupt
- Other features — LEDs; RTC (via I2C)
- Power:
- 12VDC jack or 5VDC via micro-USB
- 3V Battery connector
- Reset, boot, power buttons
- Operating temperature — 0 to 70°C
- Dimensions — 89 x 54.6 x 19.6mm
- Operating system — Debian and Ubuntu Linux; Android; Cloud9 IDE on Node.js w/ BoneScript library; other BeagleBone compatible OSes
Further information
The Seeed Studio BeagleBone Green Gateway is available for $59.90. More information may be found at Seeed’s product/shopping page and wiki.
It is actually the OSD3358-SM. BeagleBone Black Wireless and BeagleBone Blue use the larger OSD3358, but this one has the same SIP as used on PocketBeagle.