One of the main problems people have when they starting using a Gumstix is the lack of documentation. The documentation is there but its difficult to find and is especially confusing with the new boards and the new open-embedded development system. The Unofficial Gumstix Bible is a collection of documentation that I've put together while I've used Gumstixs as the basis of my balloon flight computers. There are also scripts that I've either written myself directly for the Gumstix or have been given or borrowed. If you would like to contribute to the 'Bible' please email me at jacoxon@googlemail.com .
Gumstixs should perhaps come with a warning, they are 'raw' bits of hardware with lots of options and little documentation, this is potentially a great advantage as there is so much that can be achieved, the system is inviting you to be creative.
Gumstix mainboard (basix, connex or verdex)
Gumstix daughterboard (that brings out the serial lines)
Power supply (either a usb cable or a power jack)
Computer with a accessible serial port
Serial voltage level shifter (either using a max232 chip and circuit or a ready made system)
What Gumstix and daughter combo? - This is a whole seperate topic, i'll get round to answering it another time.
That said when ordering your Gumstix I really recommend getting the screws and spacer packs, as you are getting open circuit boards there is a massive risk of shorting things out or the boards coming lose - this will result in bad things (trust me I've done it). Using the screws and spacers makes the whole thing a lot more solid! Oh and you might as well get the pack from gumstix, finding the appropriatly sized screws and spacers elsewhere is a challenge.
When everything arrives put your boards together - if you got the screw and spacer pack use it.
The next step is connecting to your gumstix, now the options available vary depending on what boards you've got, the versions, firmwares and the operating system on your host computer. However one system definitely works in all cases - serial. I recommend taking the approach at first as once its up and running you can use it to set up other faster and more convenient methods of connecting to your Gumstix.
Setup all the hardware, don't plug in the power supply yet, its important to make sure everything is set up first. Now to connect via serial a cable is needed between the voltage level shifter and the gumstix. This can depend on which board you are using, if its a Waysmall or Console there is no need for the voltage level shifter as these serial ports run at rs232, in this case you need to make a cable that goes from a DB9 socket to a MinDin8 socket. If you have any other boards the exposed serial ports are at TTL voltage levels (3.3v) and so need a converter.
