現成Linux平臺的電源選擇

　　基于ARM體系結構的高集成化嵌入式處理器的出現為易于使用和低成本的Linux平臺開辟了一個市場。在短短的幾分鐘內，有一個合適的Linux發行版本，開發者可以塞一個現成的板如BeagleBoard或熊貓板到主機PC和開始創建軟件。這些系統的易用性意味著嵌入式Linux的開發不必局限于專業的開發人員——幾乎所有的用戶都可以參與構建家庭媒體服務器，并且只需要很少的經驗就能為機器人提供核心的智能。甚至連學校也開始使用這些板來教授計算機科學的內容。

　　Figure 1： BeagleBoard layout showing the board’s connectors， several of which can be used to carry power.

　　The aim of the BeagleBoard initiative， for example， was to provide a wide range of users with an embedded， open-source development platform at relatively low cost. Based on the low-power ARM Cortex-A series processor found in Texas Instruments’ OMAP system-on-chip devices， the resulting embedded computer does not need a fan， which means it can run practically silently. Supporting standard interfaces， an entire ecosystem of supporting products has sprung up and， thanks to published interfaces， users are encouraged to develop their own. Similarly， the Panda Board project is based on another ARM-based OMAP embedded processor from Texas Instruments. Another ecosystem has formed around it. There are also Linux computers that are sold by the silicon vendors themselves for evaluation and low-volume， such as the Sabre and Tower System platforms from Freescale Semiconductor.