FatcatLab EVB¶
EVB is a LEGO MINDSTORMS compatible daughterboard for BeagleBone produced by FatcatLab.
Setup¶
Since the EVB does not have an EEPROM to electronically identify it, some
manual configuration is required to enable it. This is done by editing the
uEnv.txt file in the boot partition:
# FatcatLab EVB
cape=evb
Power¶
EVB is powered from 6 AA batteries (nominally 9V). It is possible to power the BeagleBone + EVB via USB or the 5V jack on the BeagleBone. However, the motors will not move because the motor controller chips are connected directly to the battery voltage.
Warning
When powering EVB from USB, it will shutdown because of low battery. See https://github.com/ev3dev/ev3dev/issues/989.
We are working on a workaround.
More information is available in the hardware driver documentation.
Sensors and Input Ports¶
The EVB input ports are basically the same as the input ports on LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3. There are some caveats though.
- A small number of NXT/I2C sensors require 9V (battery voltage) on input port pin 1 (e.g. the LEGO NXT Ultrasonic sensor and the Codatex RFID sensor). EVB does not provide this voltage.
- Due to a missing GPIO on pin 2, some NXT sensors cannot be automatically detected. These sensors can still be used by manually configuring the port.
More information is available in the hardware driver documentation.
Motors and Output Ports¶
The output ports on the EVB are virtually identical to LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3.
More information is available in the hardware driver documentation
Display¶
EVB has a 2.2” 220x176 pixel color display (16bpp). The backlight is always on.
Buttons¶
EVB has a small joystick for directional input (up, down, left, right) and center (enter) plus a separate button for back (backspace). Pressing more than one button at a time is not supported.
More information is available in the hardware driver documentation
Sound¶
EVB has a built-in speaker. It works just like the speaker on LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3.
More information is available in the hardware driver documentation
LEDs¶
EVB does not have any LEDs.
Bluetooth¶
EVB does not have Bluetooth capabilities. A USB Bluetooth dongle can be used if needed.