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11 <time type="date">01.10.2013 14:55:24 CDT</time>
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15 <h1>BeagleBone Black project spotlight:<br> Facebook “Like” Counter</h1>
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16 <p>By Tara Stratton</p>
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18 Here’s something we are sure you will ‘Like.’ While at Maker
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19 Faire Bay Area this year, we gave away a few BeagleBone Black
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20 open-source computers to some lucky faire attendees. We heard back
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21 from one of the winners, Christopher Berg, about a creative but
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22 functional project he’s created on the board over the past few
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23 months that would make Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg quite
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26 Christopher made a Facebook “Like” Counter for his wife—an author
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27 who was in the middle of writing her first romance novel and was
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28 interested in tracking the number of ‘Likes’ on her Facebook page.
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29 His device gives his wife a readout of Facebook Likes that is easily
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30 readable and constantly updating. According to Christopher, many of
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31 his projects are inspired by his family—his kids have been the
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32 beneficiaries of many of his projects. (Cool side note—check out
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33 the <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Childs-Quorra-Tron-Costume/">
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34 Quorra from Tron costume </a> he made his daughter for Halloween!)]
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37 <img src="http://i.imgur.com/LT9NDkB.jpg" WIDTH=480 HEIGHT=272
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40 The Facebook Like Counter uses the JSON interface provided by
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41 Facebook to count the number of Likes for a page. Once it reads the
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42 value, the counter updates the display using a simple bit-bang SPI
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46 “It’s currently a really simple setup, but I’m planning on expanding
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47 it to provide more metrics, including books sold, Twitter followers,
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48 etc.,” said Christopher.
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51 The part count for the project is really low. Christopher used the
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52 BeagleBone Black open-source computer (of course) as well as some
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53 jumper wires and a four-digit, seven-segment display that he found
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54 on eBay through some friends at <a href="http://forum.43oh.com/topic/2583-spi-4-digit-7-segment-displays/">43oh.com</a>.
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55 The display uses a PT6961 driver from Oasis. Christopher
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56 noted the display is “dead-easy to control and has a low pin-count.
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57 A few simple SPI commands and you’re good to go.”
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60 But why BeagleBone Black? Christopher said he had his eye on
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61 BeagleBone for a while.
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64 “When the new version came out, including a price drop — I had to
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65 have one,” he said.
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68 After years of experience developing projects such as an electronic
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69 etch-a-sketch, a <i>Bluetooth</i>®-controlled RC car and even a retro VFD
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70 tube clock on several of TI’s development boards, including his
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71 favorite MSP430™ Value Line LaunchPad as well as the Tiva™ C Series
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72 LaunchPad and MSP430FR5739 FRAM Experimenter Board, he felt
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73 comfortable picking up the TI Sitara™ AM335x processor-based
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74 BeagleBone Black computer. In addition, the Ethernet on BeagleBone
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75 Black came in handy for this project.
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78 “When you need a network-enabled board, there’s really no easier way
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79 to go,” Christopher said.
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82 With several years of experience developing on TI’s microcontroller-
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83 based LaunchPads, Christopher admitted that he faced a challenge
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84 with this project since he knew almost nothing about Linux. However,
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85 he said that the Ångström distribution that comes loaded on
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86 BeagleBone Black helped him get the project going without having too
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87 much to learn. He used the Cloud9 IDE that comes pre-installed and
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88 was able to use JavaScript—something he’s already familiar with
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89 since he is a Web developer. Once he started working with the on-
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90 board software, he was able to get the project up and running fairly
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94 “I have absolutely no electronics training, but I’m a great example
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95 that with the right tools, almost anyone can create these types of
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96 projects,” said Christopher.
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99 What’s next on Christopher’s list of DIY projects? He said he’s
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100 always wanted to create a Hexapod using a BeagleBone Black and a 3D
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101 printer. Based on his track record, we can assume it will be awesome!
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104 More details about Christopher’s Facebook Like Counter are available
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105 at <a href="http://forum.beaglefu.com/topic/124-facebook-like-counter-7-segment-display-and-cloud9/">http://forum.beaglefu.com/topic/124-facebook-like-counter-7-segment-display-and-cloud9/</a></a>.
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