BeagleBone-IO

Johnny-Five IO Plugin for the BeagleBone Black, BeagleBone Green Wireless and PocketBeagle.

BeagleBone-IO supports Node.js versions 8, 10, 12 and 14.

Contents

• News & Updates
• Installation
• Usage
  • Standalone Usage of BeagleBone-IO
  • Using BeagleBone-IO with Johnny-Five
• Johnny-Five Features Supported
• Supported Pins on the BeagleBone Black
• Supported Pins on the PocketBeagle
• Supported Pins on the BeagleBone Green Wireless
• Working Without Sudo/Root Privileges
• License

News & Updates

May-2020: BeagleBone-IO v4.1.0

• Support for Node.js 6 removed
• Support for Node.js 14 added

Installation

npm install beaglebone-io

For the best user experience with BeagleBone-IO the recommended Operating System is Debian.

Usage

Standalone Usage of BeagleBone-IO

The BeagleBone Black, BeagleBone Green Wireless and PocketBeagle have four built-in blue user LEDs mounted on the board itself. The IDs for these LEDs are USR0, USR1, USR2 and USR3. All three boards also have an analog input with the ID A0. The program below turns on LED USR3 and logs the value of analog input A0 to the console each time it changes. It's possible to try this program without connecting any additional hardware to the board.

var BeagleBone = require('beaglebone-io');
var board = new BeagleBone();

board.on('ready', function () {
  this.pinMode('USR3', this.MODES.OUTPUT);
  this.digitalWrite('USR3', this.HIGH);

  this.pinMode('A0', this.MODES.ANALOG);
  this.analogRead('A0', function (value) {
    console.log(value);
  });
});

Calling analogRead, digitalRead or i2cRead initiates a new continuous data reading process for a pin not a single read. Further details can be seen at the Johnny-Five IO Plugins Specification.

Analog inputs will be disabled by default on some systems and must be enabled before usage. To enable analog inputs remove or comment out the following line in /boot/uEnv.txt

disable_uboot_overlay_adc=1

Attempting to use analog inputs that are not enabled will typically result in ENOENT error messages:

Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/sys/bus/iio/devices/iio:device0/in_voltage0_raw'

Using BeagleBone-IO with Johnny-Five

To use BeagleBone-IO with Johnny-Five the beaglebone-io and the johnny-five packages need to be installed.

npm install johnny-five beaglebone-io

The next example blinks the default LED with Johnny-Five. The built-in LED with ID USR3 is the default LED on the BeagleBone Black, BeagleBone Green Wireless and PocketBeagle. It's possible to try this program on any of these boards without connecting any additional hardware to the board. Note how the Led constructor is called without any arguments. If no arguments are passed to the Led constructor Johnny-Five assumes that the default LED should be used.

var five = require('johnny-five');
var BeagleBone = require('beaglebone-io');

var board = new five.Board({ 
  io: new BeagleBone()
});

board.on('ready', function () {
  var led = new five.Led();
  led.blink();
});

Pulse an LED connected to P8_13 on a BeagleBone Black or BeagleBone Green Wireless with Johnny-Five. Note that pin ID P8_13 is specific to the BeagleBone Black and BeagleBone Green Wireless so this program can't be run on a PocketBeagle.

var five = require('johnny-five');
var BeagleBone = require('beaglebone-io');

var board = new five.Board({
  io: new BeagleBone()
});

board.on('ready', function() {
  var led = new five.Led('P8_13');
  led.pulse(1000);
});

Pulse an LED connected to P2_1 on a PocketBeagle with Johnny-Five. Note that pin ID P2_1 is specific to the PocketBeagle so this program can't be run on a BeagleBone Black or BeagleBone Green Wireless.

var five = require('johnny-five');
var BeagleBone = require('beaglebone-io');

var board = new five.Board({
  io: new BeagleBone()
});

board.on('ready', function() {
  var led = new five.Led('P2_1');
  led.pulse(1000);
});

Johnny-Five Features Supported

Feature	Support
Analog Read	yes
Digital Read	yes
Digital Write	yes
PWM	yes
Servo	yes
I2C	yes
One Wire	no
Stepper	no
Serial/UART	no
DAC	no
Ping	no

Supported Pins on the BeagleBone Black

Pin ID	Supported Modes	Comments
P8_7 or GPIO66	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_8 or GPIO67	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_9 or GPIO69	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_10 or GPIO68	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_11 or GPIO45	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_12 or GPIO44	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_13 or GPIO23	INPUT, OUTPUT, SERVO, PWM
P8_14 or GPIO26	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_15 or GPIO47	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_16 or GPIO46	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_17 or GPIO27	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_18 or GPIO65	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_19 or GPIO22	INPUT, OUTPUT, SERVO, PWM
P8_26 or GPIO61	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_11 or GPIO30	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_12 or GPIO60	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_13 or GPIO31	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_14 or GPIO50	INPUT, OUTPUT, SERVO, PWM
P9_15 or GPIO48	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_16 or GPIO51	INPUT, OUTPUT, SERVO, PWM
P9_17 or GPIO5	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_18 or GPIO4	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_19	I2C2 SCL	Reserved for I2C
P9_20	I2C2 SDA	Reserved for I2C
P9_21 or GPIO3	INPUT, OUTPUT, SERVO, PWM
P9_22 or GPIO2	INPUT, OUTPUT, SERVO, PWM
P9_23 or GPIO49	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_24 or GPIO15	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_26 or GPIO14	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_27 or GPIO115	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_30 or GPIO112	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_33 or A4	ANALOG	Don't input more than 1.8V
P9_35 or A6	ANALOG	Don't input more than 1.8V
P9_36 or A5	ANALOG	Don't input more than 1.8V
P9_37 or A2	ANALOG	Don't input more than 1.8V
P9_38 or A3	ANALOG	Don't input more than 1.8V
P9_39 or A0	ANALOG	Don't input more than 1.8V
P9_40 or A1	ANALOG	Don't input more than 1.8V
P9_41 or GPIO20	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_42 or GPIO7	INPUT, OUTPUT, SERVO, PWM
USR0	OUTPUT	Built-in user LED 0
USR1	OUTPUT	Built-in user LED 1
USR2	OUTPUT	Built-in user LED 2
USR3	OUTPUT	Built-in user LED 3 / Default LED

Below are two images of the BeagleBone Black expansion headers from the BeagleBone 101.

The header pins that are colored orange in the first image are reserved for the on-board eMMC storage and HDMI and can't be used with BeagleBone-IO. Although P9_25 isn't colored orange it's also reserved and can't be used by BeagleBone-IO.

The following image of the expansion headers shows the GPIO numbers for the header pins.

Supported Pins on the PocketBeagle

Pin ID	Supported Modes	Comments
P1_2 or GPIO87	INPUT, OUTPUT
P1_4 or GPIO89	INPUT, OUTPUT
P1_6 or GPIO5	INPUT, OUTPUT
P1_8 or GPIO2	INPUT, OUTPUT
P1_10 or GPIO3	INPUT, OUTPUT
P1_12 or GPIO4	INPUT, OUTPUT
P1_19 or A0	ANALOG	Don't input more than 1.8V
P1_20 or GPIO20	INPUT, OUTPUT
P1_21 or A1	ANALOG	Don't input more than 1.8V
P1_23 or A2	ANALOG	Don't input more than 1.8V
P1_25 or A3	ANALOG	Don't input more than 1.8V
P1_26 or GPIO12	INPUT, OUTPUT	Optionally for I2C data
P1_27 or A4	ANALOG	Don't input more than 1.8V
P1_28 or GPIO13	INPUT, OUTPUT	Optionally for I2C clock
P1_29 or GPIO117	INPUT, OUTPUT
P1_30 or GPIO43	INPUT, OUTPUT
P1_31 or GPIO114	INPUT, OUTPUT
P1_32 or GPIO42	INPUT, OUTPUT
P1_33 or GPIO111	INPUT, OUTPUT, SERVO, PWM
P1_34 or GPIO26	INPUT, OUTPUT
P1_35 or GPIO88	INPUT, OUTPUT
P1_36 or GPIO110	INPUT, OUTPUT, SERVO, PWM
P2_1 or GPIO50	INPUT, OUTPUT, SERVO, PWM
P2_2 or GPIO59	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_3 or GPIO23	INPUT, OUTPUT, SERVO, PWM
P2_4 or GPIO58	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_5 or GPIO30	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_6 or GPIO57	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_7 or GPIO31	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_8 or GPIO60	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_9 or GPIO15	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_10 or GPIO52	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_11 or GPIO14	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_17 or GPIO65	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_18 or GPIO47	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_19 or GPIO27	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_20 or GPIO64	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_22 or GPIO46	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_24 or GPIO44	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_25 or GPIO41	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_27 or GPIO40	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_28 or GPIO116	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_29 or GPIO7	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_30 or GPIO113	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_31 or GPIO19	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_32 or GPIO112	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_33 or GPIO45	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_34 or GPIO115	INPUT, OUTPUT
P2_35 or GPIO86	INPUT, OUTPUT
USR0	OUTPUT	Built-in user LED 0
USR1	OUTPUT	Built-in user LED 1
USR2	OUTPUT	Built-in user LED 2
USR3	OUTPUT	Built-in user LED 3 / Default LED

Below is an image of the PocketBeagle expansion headers from the PocketBeagle repository on GitHub.

Note that although the image indicates that GPIO109 is available on P1_3 this isn't the case as P1_3 is reserved for USB1-V_EN. In addition, the analog mode capabilities of P1_2, P2_35 and P2_36 are not supported by BeagleBone-IO.

Supported Pins on the BeagleBone Green Wireless

Pin ID	Supported Modes	Comments
P8_7 or GPIO66	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_8 or GPIO67	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_9 or GPIO69	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_10 or GPIO68	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_13 or GPIO23	INPUT, OUTPUT, SERVO, PWM
P8_19 or GPIO22	INPUT, OUTPUT, SERVO, PWM
P8_27 or GPIO86	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_28 or GPIO88	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_29 or GPIO87	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_30 or GPIO89	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_31 or GPIO10	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_32 or GPIO11	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_33 or GPIO9	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_34 or GPIO81	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_35 or GPIO8	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_36 or GPIO80	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_37 or GPIO78	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_38 or GPIO79	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_39 or GPIO76	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_40 or GPIO77	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_41 or GPIO74	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_42 or GPIO75	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_43 or GPIO72	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_44 or GPIO73	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_45 or GPIO70	INPUT, OUTPUT
P8_46 or GPIO71	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_11 or GPIO30	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_13 or GPIO31	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_14 or GPIO50	INPUT, OUTPUT, SERVO, PWM
P9_15 or GPIO48	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_16 or GPIO51	INPUT, OUTPUT, SERVO, PWM
P9_17 or GPIO5	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_18 or GPIO4	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_19 or GPIO13	INPUT, OUTPUT	Optionally for I2C clock
P9_20 or GPIO12	INPUT, OUTPUT	Optionally for I2C data
P9_21 or GPIO3	INPUT, OUTPUT, SERVO, PWM
P9_22 or GPIO2	INPUT, OUTPUT, SERVO, PWM
P9_23 or GPIO49	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_24 or GPIO15	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_25 or GPIO117	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_26 or GPIO14	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_27 or GPIO115	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_33 or A4	ANALOG	Don't input more than 1.8V
P9_35 or A6	ANALOG	Don't input more than 1.8V
P9_36 or A5	ANALOG	Don't input more than 1.8V
P9_37 or A2	ANALOG	Don't input more than 1.8V
P9_38 or A3	ANALOG	Don't input more than 1.8V
P9_39 or A0	ANALOG	Don't input more than 1.8V
P9_40 or A1	ANALOG	Don't input more than 1.8V
P9_41 or GPIO20	INPUT, OUTPUT
P9_42 or GPIO7	INPUT, OUTPUT, SERVO, PWM
USR0	OUTPUT	Built-in user LED 0
USR1	OUTPUT	Built-in user LED 1
USR2	OUTPUT	Built-in user LED 2
USR3	OUTPUT	Built-in user LED 3 / Default LED

Working Without Sudo/Root Privileges

BeagleBone-IO v3.0.0 can be used without sudo/root privileges if an appropriate Debian image and v4.11 or higher of the Linux Kernel has been installed.

The latest recommended Debian image for the BeagleBone that is available today at BeagleBoard.org is Debian 9.2 2017-10-10 4GB SD IoT. This image comes with v4.4.91 of the Linux Kernel. The command uname -r can be used to determine which version of the Linux Kernel is installed.

Assuming that Debian 9.2 2017-10-10 4GB SD IoT has has already been installed the following commands can be used to update to Linux Kernel v4.14.

sudo apt-get update
cd /opt/scripts/tools
git pull
sudo ./update_kernel.sh --lts-4_14

After Linux Kernel v4.14 has been installed it should be possible to use BeagleBone-IO without sudo/root privileges.

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) Julian Duque, Alan Yorinks, Brian Cooke 2017

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.