User Manual

element14 is a trademark of Premier Farnell plc 89

8.0 Cape Board Support

The element14 BeagleBone Black has the ability to accept up to four expansion boards or

capes that can be stacked onto the expansion headers. The word cape comes from the

shape of the board as it is fitted around the Ethernet connector on the main board. This

notch acts as a key to ensure proper orientation of the cape.

This section describes the rules for creating capes to ensure proper operation with the

element14 BeagleBone Black and proper interoperability with other capes that are

intended to co- exist with each other. Co-existence is not a requirement and is in itself,

something that is impossible to control or administer. But, people will be able to create

capes that operate with other capes that are already available based on public information

as it pertains to what pins and features each cape uses. This information will be able to be

read from the EEPROM on each cape.

This section is intended as a guideline for those wanting to create their own capes. Its

intent is not to put limits on the creation of capes and what they can do, but to set a few

basic rules that will allow the SW to administer their operation with the element14

BeagleBone Black. For this reason there is a lot of flexibility in the specification that we

hope most people will find liberating and in the spirit of Open Source Hardware. I am sure

there are others that would like to see tighter control, more details, more rules and

much more order to the way capes are handled.

Over time, this specification will change and be updated, so please refer to the latest

version of this manual prior to designing your own capes to get the latest information.

DO NOT APPLY VOLTAGE TO ANY I/O PIN

WHEN

POWER IS

NOT SUPPLIED TO THE BOARD. IT

WILL

DAMAGE THE

PROCESSOR AND VOID

THE WARRANTY.

NO PINS ARE TO BE DRIVEN UNTIL AFTER

THE

SYS_RESET

LINE GOES

HIGH.