Tibbo Announces its first Linux-based TPS offering

Pinguinistas of the world, rejoice! Our Tibbo Project System (TPS) family now includes a Linux-based Tibbo Project PCB (LTPP).

Based on the powerful 1GHz Cortex-A8 Sitara CPU from Texas Instruments and carrying 512MB of RAM and 512MB of flash memory, the new LTPP3 board runs our own, highly polished distribution of Linux that is derived from the RedHat line and updated with the latest and greatest kernel and drivers.

The LTPP3 is mechanically and electrically compatible with our Tibbit blocks and size 3 Tibbo Project Box (TPB3) enclosures. This sets the LTPP3 apart from plain vanilla products such as Raspberry Pi and BeagleBone. While offering affordable Linux-based computing in a compact package, these devices do very little toward providing an attractive housing or a quick way to add desired I/O resources. In contrast, Tibbo Project System delivers aesthetically pleasing TPB enclosures to house the board, and a plethora of Tibbit modules and connectors to expand the board’s IO capabilities.

The ingenious feature of the Tibbo Project System is that the top and bottom walls of its enclosures are formed by Connector Tibbits. The result is a neat, professionally looking housing every time, even for projects with the production quantity of one. This eliminates a huge problem of any low-volume production operation – the necessity to fit into and customize (drill, cut, etc.) off-the-shelf enclosures.

Size 3 Tibbo Project System (TPS3) with Tibbit blocks and
Tibbo Project Box (TPB) enclosure (top cover not shown).

There are four distinctive ways in which you can use the new LTPP3.

Use it with Embedded AggreGate

Immediately upon the release of the LTPP3, you will be able to order your Linux TPS system with Embedded AggreGate software. Serving as the board’s execution environment, AggreGate lends LTPP3 its immense power of data collection, processing, and visualization. Further, AggreGate provides a uniform, consistent access to external data, devices, and systems using more than 100 supported communications protocols. Via a specially designed middleware C library, Embedded AggreGate is also able to access the board’s hardware resources, such as GPIO lines, serial ports, as well as Tibbit modules installed in board’s sockets.

Run Node.js applications

LTPP3 comes with Node.js preinstalled. We are currently developing Node.js modules for accessing the board’s hardware resources and installed Tibbit blocks. You can also utilize many existing Node.js modules, such as serialport and socket.io.

Execute TiOS applications

We are currently porting our popular Tibbo OS (TiOS) to Linux. When this work is completed, you will be able to run TiOS as a Linux application and execute existing Tibbo BASIC and Tibbo C code with little or no modifications. Needless to say, the new LTPP3 board will crunch Tibbo BASIC and Tibbo C apps at unparalleled speeds.

Use the LTPP3 as a generic Linux board…

… that comes in an attractive housing and may be extended with Tibbit blocks. Linux can be utilized in myriad different ways. Choose yours and deliver your project on the LTPP3 board and TPS product family.

The LTPP3 board is available for preorder. Deliveries start in May 2016. Click here to order yours.