Chapter 1. Introduction to Banana Pro

Embedded boards are part of our lives. We use them daily, and sometimes even without recognizing or knowing about them. They are included in mobile phones, washing machines, or implemented in our televisions. These little computers work in the background and consume very little power.

This chapter introduces Banana Pro. Banana Pro is an updated version of Banana Pi that's been designed by the LeMaker team (http://www.lemaker.org) from China. LeMaker is a charitable organization and aims to provide educational services by selling its Banana boards and building a community around this technology, similar to what the Raspberry Pi foundation in the UK has done.

Banana Pro is the current flagship of LeMaker. It is compatible with many Linux-based operating systems including Android. In this chapter, Banana Pro is introduced to you along with its connection possibilities. The most popular operating systems in the market today are explained here and the principal installation as well as the boot process is described.

There are already many add-ons available for Banana Pro, such as LCD modules in various sizes, a camera module, or modules that connect to GPIO pins. Sections of this chapter deal with the detailed installation of an LCD module, describing the step-by-step installation and operation of a camera module and provide background information on additional add-ons.

In particular, this chapter includes the following sections:

• Banana Pro
• Getting started
• Operating systems
• Add-ons