Open source hardware hobbyists now have a chipset to play with that's comparable to the powerful processors found in smartphones such as the Nexus One or HTC Incredible.

Texas Instruments has released a new version of its low-power, single-board computer called BeagleBoard-xM. It's based on the same 1-GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor that drives the most sophisticated smartphones today. That gives it far more processing power than the leading open-source microcontroller platform, Arduino, which many hobbyists currently use to create robots, sensors, toys and other DIY devices.

The BeagleBoard-xM has multimedia features similar to the processor seen in the Palm Pre and Motorola Droid, and includes on-board ethernet, five USB 2.0 ports and 512 MB of memory.

"It's a fully loaded, open platform that allows users to run multiple applications and embed them in devices," says Jason Kridner, ARM software architecture manager and BeagleBoard community manager. "We wanted to offer something that's cheap, ups the performance level and has sufficient memory."

The first BeagleBoard debuted in 2008, targeting hardware hobbyists who wanted a powerful chipset to build home-brewed gadgets. But, so far, it has been eclipsed by the simpler open source microcontroller Arduino. Arduino has become a big hit among DIYers powering an eclectic variety of projects including electronic textiles, a fire-breathing dragon and many robots.

BeagleBoard isn't as popular, even though it packs in more technical firepower. Some hobbyists say that could change as open source hardware hackers get more ambitious and move beyond what a simple microcontroller can do.

The 3-inch–square BeagleBoard-xM runs a full Linux operating system with desktop managers and office applications. It also includes a 2-D and 3-D graphics accelerator, a port to add a computer monitor and an S-video port for TV.

BeagleBoard will let hobbyists and open source hardware enthusiasts go where the Arduino won't, says Justin Huynh, a open source hardware hacker.

"A lot of people complain that Arduino is not powerful enough and if you want something that's more technical and intensive it is just not good enough," he says. "So BeagleBoard can be a very interesting alternative."

And at $180, the BeagleBoard-xM is inexpensive enough to be a technical toy for DIYers, says Hyunh.

"What we have seen happen in the Arduino community is now happening with the BeagleBoard," he says.

Here are four cool ideas that use the BeagleBoard:

BeagleBoard Videowall ———————

There are at least two ways to create a large display: Buy a giant TV screen from Best Buy, or MacGyver a solution using multiple PC monitors.

The BeagleBoard Videowall tries the latter. It has six 19-inch LCD monitors networked together over USB to run high definition full-screen video.

"I enjoy the challenge of making the most out of limited resources, and the BeagleBoard is a perfect platform for doing just that," says Måns Rullgård, an embedded software consultant based in England. "It has the power to do really cool things if you get it right, while remaining small both in physical size and power consumption."

Rullgård and his project partners wanted to create "something spectacular" using the BeagleBoard and FFmpeg, open source multimedia libraries and programs.

The resulting Videowall project uses six BeagleBoards, where each board plays a special file containing only the corresponding segment of the video. The files were created ahead of time on a PC. To synchronize the playback across the BeagleBoards, they are interconnected with a USB-based network.

The video wall made its public debut in February in Brussels and it will be shown this week at the LinuxTag conference in Berlin.

Photo: Måns Rullgård

BeagleBrick ———–

"The iPad for Hams," BeagleBrick aims to be a portable, software-defined amateur ("ham") radio station packaged in a nice, easy-to-use interface. The 4-inch x 8-inch "brick" will have an LCD screen, run Linux and include a number of software applications, especially those that offer a visual graph of amateur radio transmissions.

"It’s a combination of ham radio and a computer," says industrial designer and ham radio enthusiast, Robert Thomas, who conceived the idea. "It’s also a web server so it can do a lot of things the iPad can't do yet. It’s really a communications package."

The device could cost about $600, estimates Thomas, who has been working on the idea for a year. He hopes to have the BeagleBrick ready around fall.

"It was designed to be an inexpensive entry point for ham radio enthusiasts, students, educators and other experimenters to study the technology," says Thomas on his website where he offers early details of software for the device.

Photo: Robert Thomas

Home Media Center on the BeagleBoard ————————————

Tired of Boxee? Think Apple TV is an underpowered, overpriced machine? Then try creating your own media center. XBMC, formerly known as the Xbox Media Center, is an open source media player and home entertainment software manager that can run on Windows, Xbox and Apple TV among other platforms.

Now take XBMC and run it on the BeagleBoard and it could birth a new, low-cost low-power media player box that is almost entirely open source.

First, XBMC will have to be optimized for the ARM platform that the BeagleBoard is based on. Over the next few months, with a little help from Google, the project will be underway.

The next step is to get XBMC running on a box with BeagleBoard at its heart. It may not beat Google TV – scheduled to come out this fall – but it will be a big step forward for open source hardware.

Photo: XBMC

BeagleBoard Meets Bug ———————

Bug Labs' open source modules are suitable for building anything from a webcam to your own alarm system. The BugBase, shown in the photo is a a palm-sized computer with storage, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, rechargeable battery, mini LCD and USB port. The platform is the building block for hackers and DIYers who want to create new gadgets in a modular way.

In February, Bug announced that it had moved the BugBase to the Cortex A8-based OMAP3 core from the original ARM11. The result is that BugBase now supports both BeagleBoard apps and Android.

For hackers, it means Android apps can be directly ported onto the Bug hardware. The ultimate goal is to have developers go beyond consumer products and build specialized hardware that can be used in areas such as health care and telematics, says Bug Labs.

Photo: Bug Labs

Top Photo of the original BeagleBoard: koenkooi/Flickr