Learning about the BeagleBone Black (BBB)

I spent part of my day off learning about the BeagleBone Black (BBB).  I want to replace the Raspberry Pi (RPi) in my Home Environmental Sensor Array with a BBB.  The BBB is a Linux computer just like the RPi but the BBB has both digital and analog inputs and more of them.

Here is some general information I learned.  The BBB is using the sh shell.  The RPi uses the bash shell.  The BBB comes with a version of Angstrom Linux on the internal eMMC card.

I needed a way to power the BBB without the USB connected to a PC.  I had an old Linksys phone device that has a power supply that converts 120v to 5v, 2A.  It will power the BBB.  

Previously, I created an account on the BBB for kbecker with my standard password.  I plugged the BBB in to an ethernet cable and could ssh into it from my Linux laptop.  I tried using FileZilla to connect to the BBB but it would not login.  FTP is probably not enabled for anonymous access or something.

I don't really want to make any changes to the BBB until I upgrade the O/S and put Ubuntu Linux on a bootable mini-SD card.  I don't have a mini-SD card right now.  That is the next thing to do.